Gary Larson The Far Side shows his love for nature from start to finish, but even in this contest, it’s hard to deny that he has a special soft spot for creepy crawlies. Mosquitoes, lice and wasps appear heavily in The Far Sidebut worms are the favorite. In fact, they have the rare honor of being the subject about which Larson wrote an entire children’s book – 1998 There’s a Hair in My Land!: The Story of a Worm.
These are the 13 funniest Far Side comics starring earthworms, from earthworm jokes and parties to their complicated relationships with birds of all kinds. Don’t forget to vote in our end-of-article poll to decide the official number 1.
13
Battery
Far Side never hid how dark nature can be
It’s a famous expression that says the early bird catches the worm… but that’s only true if they can find them. Birds use a variety of senses to hunt for earthworms, and sometimes even use vibration to lure them to the surface. However, none of this is necessary when a worm is groaning in a battery just below the surface. Larson’s composition effectively “hides” the joke from the reader’s first glance, showing the expected image of a bird eating a worm. Only when they look closer do readers understand exactly how this terrifying interaction happened.
Part of loving nature is recognizing how brutal it can be, and Larson’s strip is almost disturbing when you see the screaming, wide-eyed face of the worm in question. In The complete other sideLarson reveals that he didn’t use recurring characters because he wanted to portray a world where his characters would be “smashed, poked, shot, decapitated, eaten, stuffed, poisoned and run over about twice a week.” This unfortunately goes double for Far Sidethey are insects.
12
Worms Alfredo
Larson turns an old joke to make it new
Any other comedian would find a way to swap spaghetti for worms, faced with a human’s horrified reaction. In fact, many comics, TV shows, and movies feature jokes about humans accidentally eating bugs. However, in the world of The Far SideIt is the animals who are upset, as a customer at a poultry restaurant is made to receive an unacceptable human meal.
11
Still hungry
Larson changed this caption at the last minute
In this strip, two charitable birds attempt to feed a distracted father’s baby, but some interspecies confusion leads to an unusual choice of sustenance. In The complete other sideLarson explains that he often conceived his comic images separately from their eventual captions, creating a funny image and then crafting the ‘final question’. Indeed, in this case, the comic almost came out with a completely different subtitlewith Larson making the change at the last minute:
Look, but don’t touch it – otherwise mom will throw it away.
In Prehistory on the other sideLarson says that a certain amount of hate mail was essentially guaranteed whenever his comics showed bad things happening to children or animals. Despite this, he did not limit himself to a baby being fed worms, but also showed them being eaten by snakes and crocodiles, trapped in baby bottles, and stolen by vengeful chickens.
10
Punk Worms
Larson opts for a simple visual joke
Sometimes, Far Side is all about the look, representing ‘Punk Worms’ with a series of piercings made from the only option the worms would actually have on hand – fishing hooks.
9
Cow stomach
Larson didn’t stop at the worms
The Far Side is so beloved because it sometimes demands a little more from readers, with jokes that depend on prior knowledge of culture or biology. In this case, the joke is based on the fact that cows’ stomachs have four compartments (sometimes overlooked for having four compartments). stomachs), then presents tapeworms as protagonists who would have a very different view of this ‘curiosity’.
8
It’s a worm!
Larson ‘adapts’ the famous story
This comic strip requires a little knowledge of the classic tale ‘The Little Dutch Boy’, popularized by Mary Mapes Dodge’s 1865 children’s novel. Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates. In the story, a boy notices a small leak in a dam, plugging it with his finger to prevent it from growing. The child stays in place all night until he is found by some adults from the city, who pick up the slack and celebrate his heroism. In Larson’s world, the poor kid isn’t just out in the cold all night – he’s also being attacked by fish who mistook his city-saving finger for a worm.
7
Little softies
Far Side loves its grumpy old men
The Far Side often embraced the ‘grumpy old man’ stereotype, creating bizarre characters to lecture the younger generation about how different things were in their time. His victims include young worms, puppies and the Renaissance artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni.
6
This is Larry
Far Side explores the animal kingdom
That Far Side The gag relies on the misconception that if you cut an earthworm in half, both halves will regenerate into separate worms. ‘Earthworm’ is a general term that encompasses many species with varying behaviors, leading to confusion about their biology. The species known as flatworms he can They regenerate into two separate beings, while earthworms are capable of regenerating their tails from certain cuts. However, even in this case, the tail dies, instead of generating a new head.
5
The wrong ending
A great visual joke that only works on worms
Larson often shows his animal characters socializing like humans, but with a unique twist introduced by their own instincts. In this case, worms party like everyone else, but their tubular bodies mean you can spend hours talking to someone without realizing their head is somewhere else.
4
More worms?
Far Side is strangely obsessed with fishing and death
In this track, Far SideWorms go from characters to murder weapons, while a fish wife turns her husband into the victim of an invisible fishing rod. Far Side has a strange obsession with combining fishing and death – a concept that makes sense when you consider how often Larson adopts the animals’ perspective on human behavior.
3
Chef Minhoca
Larson wrote an entire book based on this joke
This strip works with the same central concept as Larson’s There’s a hair in my dirt!showing a worm judging the substance so gross that humans use it to describe terrible flavors. (“This tastes like dirt.”)
Larson’s book follows a family of worms who discover a long golden hair stuck in their meal. The story satirizes normal fairy tales, revealing that the hair belongs to a “beautiful maiden” who met a difficult end, emphasizing how animals view humans. very differently from how they see themselves.
2
Practical Jokes About Invertebrates
Larson grew up on practical jokes
In The complete other side, Larson describes his family’s sense of humor as a huge influence on his worksaying that the whole family owned “a deep and sincere appreciation for the many uses of a good gorilla mask.” Larson talked about how his brother playing with him growing up inspired him The Far SideThe ominous tone, even writing, “This is my brother’s fault” in reference to The Far Side as a whole. That influence is incredibly clear here, as one worm brother plays a trick on the other.
1
Construction birds
Our #1 Pick for Larson’s Best Comic
In our #1 pick, Larson subverts the comedic premise of a worker discovering what his partner packed for lunch. The joke isn’t just funny in and of itself – which other Was the bird waiting? – but the recreation of workers sitting high above the city on beams is a genius visual that makes the context immediately clear.
Those are our picks for the 13 funniest earthworm comics in the world. Far Side history – be sure to vote below to choose your own #1 and see which comics other readers found funniest.