One of the joys of The front side is creator Gary Larson’s dexterity when it comes to twisting familiar words to give them a completely unexpected new meaning. Larson’s ability to find humor in popular phrases and iconic idioms was arguably unparalleled at his peakand produced some of his most memorable punchlines.
This comedic device allows Larson to literalize figurative speech, a tactic he has used to great success many times over. The front side run, resulting in some of his greatest work.
These panels succeed, in large part, because they embody the absurdist side of Larson’s humor, while still giving the reader something recognizable to grab onto. In other words, the cartoons represent some of The front side Most balanced, effective humor, making them sure to get a reaction from the reader, one way or another.
10
If anyone knew “Out of Left Field,” it was Far Side creator Gary Larson
First published: March 16, 1993
“And then WHAM“, a bystander explained to a police officer, As she stands on a city street corner next to the body of a man crushed by a giant baseball, “This thing just comes out of left field.” Most readers will probably recognize this idiom, which uses the geography of a baseball field to describe something completely unexpected happening. More than that, fans of The front side Especially will know that there is an appropriate bit of terminology to use when discussing Gary Larson’s sense of humor.
Here, Gary Larson uses the phrase in the context of the shocking death of the victim, who was crushed by a giant falling object – except by making the object an actual giant baseball, Larson skillfully doubles the meaning of the woman’s words.
9
The front side is not a place for cinematic endings
First published: May 25, 1992
Gary Larson loved wild west motifs and cowboy tropes, which allowed him the perfect outlet for the subversion of familiar iconography and idioms. That’s because, for Larson—and so many Americans of his era—the popular conception of the Old West was lodged in his mind by the decades-long ascendancy of cowboy movies in Hollywood. Perhaps the most famous phrase these films spawned was the concept of “riding into the sunset” equating with an upbeat ending for a hero.
in this For side Comically, Larson hilariously flips that by having One cowboy drags the other, who was burned to a crisp and still in flames, into a tavern, shouting that “Dang fool tried to ride into the sunset!” It’s a pitch-perfect inversion, one that reminds readers that The front side It was a rare place where it settled down peacefully and relaxed.
8
The pet birds of the far side are lucky that their cages keep them back
First published: March 11, 1992
To “rattle someone’s cage,” metaphorically speaking, is to annoy or upset them. This For side Cartoon uses two of the strip’s many pet birds to make this literal, vi Two birds in their respective enclosures are depicted in the middle of a confrontation, with one declaring to the other, “really yes? Well, maybe I’ll just come over there and shake your cage!“
Related
The term comes, of course, from the idea of shaking a captive animal’s cage to deliberately star, and so in a sense, what Gary Larson is doing here is actually not a subversion of the phrase’s purpose, but a return to its original meaning. . This is a particularly fascinating application of Gary Larson’s skill with wordplay, as it showcases a deep familiarity with the etymology of common phrases such as this one.
7
The most exclusive club of the far side – Apples not welcome
First published: January 2, 1991
In this panel, Gary Larson takes the idea of ”forbidden fruit”—something one wants, but can’t have—and delightfully literalizes it, but then goes a step further and twists the meaning of the saying as well. The front side Version of forbidden fruit is An apple is refused entry to the “citrus club,” as a banana bouncer blows to him that “We don’t allow your gender here.”
That is, the apple is forbidden to enter; It’s a silly subversion of the phrase, but that’s the beauty of it. Here, Larson shows his knack for finding the unexpected in the familiar, which was in many ways the essence of The front sideAnd that was at the heart of the strip’s most obscure punchlines, as well as its most outrageous.
6
Gary Larson “understood business” when it came to playing with common phrases
First published: April 9, 1990
This is another example of a comic in which Gary Larson circles back to the beginning of a familiar phrase, as He depicts a horde of Vikings marching on a castle, all of them carrying reviews, as the defenders above the walls shout in terror that “They mean business!”
This idiom takes “business” and makes it synonymous with any serious activity – in this case, comedically extrapolated to an extreme in Patented For side Harvest, meaning the sacking of a city. Apart from Larson’s Vikings, only a few of the many that appeared over The front sideReally have business on their minds, as their spears and swords have been replaced with breakcases. Once again, by representing the phrase literally, Gary Larson exposes its inherent stupidity, to great comedic effect.
5
Knocking on death’s door is one thing – but after dinner?
First published: May 7, 1986
In one of Gary Larson’s best Grim Reaper jokes, A traveling salesman “knocks on death’s door” – literally, interrupting “The deadJust as they settle in the evening. Larson’s jokes about mortality are often tongue-in-cheek like this, with nods to the different ways people talk about death and dying.
“Knock on the dead door“is generally used to describe someone who is ill, who seems to be on the precipice of the end of their life. This can be envisioned as a shock that is welcomed, as death ushers the deceased through the door to whatever comes next; the The crux of the joke here is the way Larson specifically targets that image, instead of flipping it so that his clapper is actually a nuisance, inconveniencing the repairmen in their off hours.
4
What else would the far side great whites be dressed for?
First published: August 7, 1985
The front side is known for often being thick, but there were times when Gary Larson’s punchlines were deliberately on the nose—and like this For side Shark panel shows, this may be the most unambiguously funny installments of the strip. This straightforward joke features Two great whites dressed in their finest, ready to go out on a fancy date, with one remarking to the other, “Well, if you’re almost ready, I’m dressed to kill.”
Here, Larson emphasizes the hyperbole of the “dressed to kill” idiom, expressing just how strange it actually is that the height of fashion sensibility is equated with violence. He does this by putting the words in the mouth of nature’s perfect predators, sharks, in one of The front side Most surprisingly thought-provoking cartoons.
3
Gary Larson answers one of life’s most inscrutable questions
First published: July 15, 1985
“If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound?“is one of philosophy’s most enduring thought experiments, having stimulated the minds of countless people over the past several centuries. Although its roots are uncertain, this unanswerable question over time has become ubiquitous – giving Gary Larson the perfect opportunity to provide his own answer. In this For side Panel.
Not only does Larson’s fallen tree make a sound, it really won’t shut up, first meeting its fate, but then getting sidetracked into a digression, saying “This reminds me of a story…“ Before his word balloon runs out of space. This is as simple as it is effective; Because everyone knows this question lacks an answer by design, offering one is an almost-instant shortcut to a laugh.
2
Sometimes on the far side, hell was a lack of options
First published: July 10, 1985
with The front sideGary Larson sets many cartoons in hell, mining the depths of the underworld to reach peak hilarity. Here, Larson literalizes the phrase “damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” by Describes an unfortunate soul, a pitchfork in his back, forced to make this inevitable choice, as an impatient devil mutters, “Come, come – it’s one or the other.”
Related
The humor in this cartoon rests on the completely literal interpretation of the phrase, which is accentuated by the details of the panel, especially the posture of the protagonist, as juxtaposed with the look of frustration on the devil’s face. Given that the phrase represents a choice between two equally undesirable outcomes, few artists have ever represented this more fully than Gary Larson does here.
1
All work and no play makes for boring rodents – but a genius far side cartoon
First published: February 15, 1985
Without question, this is one of The front side Funniest takes a familiar phrase. It features a trio of mice, one working on a complex equation on a white board, While others read weighty tomes such as “Is the Universe Wrinkling?” and “social anarchy in rodents,” – as a fourth mouse enters the room and warns them: “You, the cat is gone and everyone is so dead serious.”
Spread the word “While the cat is away, the mice will play,” this panel features Gary Larson’s iconic anthropomorphic animals, as well as The front side Creator’s passion for science, all in the service of a delightful twist on a classic saying, which both takes the idiom literally and flips it on its head. In other words, this is one of Gary Larson’s most perfectly executed punchlines, and one of The front side Most effective cartoons.
;