Having grown up in the 1960s, The Far SideGary Larson is well-versed in the Golden Age of Television, with a young Larson watching a bevy of classics that spanned decades. It makes sense, therefore, that Far Side parodied many legendary TV shows, but which of Larson's classic jokes was the funniest? In February 2024, we asked you to resolve this issue.
Screen Rant's poll was published as part of our '10 Funniest Far Side Comics That Reference Classic TV Shows' article, with more than 1,900 readers choosing the best of the best of comics that parody shows, including Lassie, Bewitched and The Brady Bunch. Enjoy the runner-up by opening the image gallery below:
Voting was relatively competitive, and even our last-place finisher received the support of 65 people. Classic sitcoms Bewitched, The love boat and Mr. were still remembered fondly, but the best performers were the franchises that are still going strong - Larson's opinion Danger! is in third place, Star Trek second place, and the winner was a dark twist The Flintstones. Check out the winning work below, after the complete results of our poll.
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The funniest Far Side comic that references a classic TV show |
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|---|---|---|---|
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Subject |
Votes |
Percentage of votes |
Position |
|
The Brady Bunch |
65 |
3% |
#9 |
|
Bewitched |
74 |
4% |
#8 |
|
Lassie |
103 |
5% |
#7 |
|
The love boat |
139 |
7% |
#6 (joint) |
|
Mr Ed. |
145 |
7% |
#6 (joint) |
|
The dating game |
190 |
10% |
#5 |
|
The Lone Ranger |
263 |
14% |
#4 |
|
Danger! |
286 |
15% |
#3 |
|
Star Trek |
302 |
16% |
#2 |
|
The Flintstones |
373 |
19% |
#1 |
Flintstones won our vote for best classic Far Side TV parody
Gary Larson Mocked the Modern Stone Age Family
The winner of our poll for Far Side The best classic TV reference shows two saber-toothed tigers reflecting on having just eaten Fred Flinstone - the patriarch of 1960s animation. This wasn't the only time Larson took aim at the residents of Bedrock, with another strip showing the Flintstones mailbox being discovered by archaeologists.
Given the continued love of The Flintstones as a staple of animated comedy, it's no surprise that love carried over into Larson's strip. It is also no surprise that The Far Side would be interested in taking over Flintstonesgiven Larson's obsession with caveman comedy...
Far Side's cavemen are his most famous characters (alongside Larson's ubiquitous cows).
Larson's Caveman Obsession Didn't Stop With The Flintstones
Far Side prehistory comics are iconic
Alongside their omnipresent cows, cavemen are Earth's most iconic stars. The Far Side. Larson created countless prehistoric joke strips The Far Side14-year-old, often taking modern inventions or behaviors and reducing them to their 'first draft' status. Larson's caveman comics depict the invention of the wheel, clothes, and the milkshake, while also charting the many, many ways prehistoric people could meet a sticky end.
One of the central concepts of Larson's caveman comics is that our ancestors had some sort of notion of how the world he must being, and most of his inventions were stumbled attempts to create the world as we know it now - for example, the early version of caveman checkers, which uses just two squares. Larson Admitted His Prehistoric Comics Had One Big Flawsometimes showing cavemen fighting dinosaurs despite the nearly 65 million year difference between them. In Prehistory on the other sideLarson writes:
I always thought I committed some heresy by making cartoons (like the ones above) that mixed dinosaurs with primitive people. I think there should be cartoon confessionals where we can go and say things like, "Dad, I sinned - I drew dinosaurs and hominids together in the same cartoon."
Larson's pop culture references didn't stop at TV — he also created a wide range of jokes poking fun at iconic films like The godfather, Godzilla and The sound of music.
Larson may think he made a mistake in combining humans and dinosaurs, but in doing so he actually contributed to paleontology. Larson's strip describing the tail of a stegosaurus as a 'Thagomizer' (after it flattened a caveman named Thag) provided real scientists with a word for the body part, which had no official designation at the time. Even today, paleontologists refer to the tips of Stegosaurus's tail as the Thagomizer.
The other side didn't stop with TV
Gary Larson's work includes a wealth of classic film parodies
Larson had a great eye for which subjects would stand the test of time, often referencing movies and real-life celebrities that are still relevant today. Jokes include a shaken horse leaving a display of The godfather and an adult version of Disney's Dumbo taking revenge on humanity.
Larson particularly had a soft spot for horror filmswhich perfectly matched his morbid sense of humor. Jaws'Jaws returns, bringing with it its iconic soundtrack, PsychopathNorman Bates trades his knife for a tank, and a truly disturbing chicken becomes the villain of the new Nightmare on Elm Street.
Larson may have loved making fun of TV and movies, but pop culture has bounced back with sly references to The Far Side. Beloved shows like Health and The Simpsons have referenced Larson's comics since they began. Simpsons recreated one of Larson's jokes at the end of an episode, and Homer even met Gary Larson in the 21st season of 'Once Upon a Time in Springfield'.
Gary Larson demonstrated an uncanny eye for pop culture references that would still be funny decades later, and in the process, The Far Side became a cultural landmark that other comedies can be laugh out loud - all fans need to close the loop is a new Flintstones project where Fred, Wilma, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm encounter one of Larson's cavemen.