The Far Sideran from 1980-1994, but many ofGary Larson’s most memorable panelscome from the early years of the cartoon’s run, while many classics from the later stage of Larson’s career remain underappreciated by a wider audience. In fact, some of Larson’s greatest comedic achievements came during the ’90s.
From theunhinged final year ofThe Far Side, back through the early years of the 1990s, this list takes a look at some deep-cut examples ofLarson’s output from the final “act” of his career.
The ’90s were, in many ways, a distinct phase ofThe Far Side;while it continued to play with familiar tropes, and recognizable stock characters, Larson definitely took more creative chances than he did in previous eras, resulting in a bevvy of iconic comics that deserve a second look.
10Gary Larson Takes One Last Bite At His Classic “Lost In The Desert” Gag
First Published: July 22, 2025
Characters lost in the desert, desperate for a drop of water to keep themselves from dying of dehydration? ForThe Far Side, this was the stuff of high comedy, asGary Larson returned to this trope constantlythroughout the years. This panel, published in the final month ofThe Far Side, puts a somewhat different spin on it,proving Larson was always innovating on even his most classic gags,right up until the end.
“Well, it was a private table,” a man says to his wife, as they sit at one of two tables, inexplicably placed in the middle of a vast sea of dunes, as he looks over his shoulder and sees another couple crawling on their belliesacross the sand, headed for the table next to theirs.
9This Far Side Cartoon Blow The “Cats Vs. Birds” Conflict Out Of Proportion
First Published: July 25, 2025
In this late-eraFar Sidecaptionless classic, a woman returns home to find thather pet bird has been blown up in its cage, using dynamite, the box of which, along with the detonator, are still scattered on the floor, as a contented housecat lounges on the couch, a thought bubble over its head reading “I know nothing.”
In this case, Larson takes the trope of the pet cat’s perennial war on the pet bird, and pushes it to a hyperbolic place in order to evoke a solid belly laugh from readers.
Escalation is an essential trait of all comedy, and Gary Larson demonstrated a special ability to takeordinary situations and turn them into outrageousFar Sidemoments.In this case, Larson takes the trope of the pet cat’s perennial war on the pet bird, and pushes it to a hyperbolic place in order to evoke a solid belly laugh from readers.
8The Far Side Cuts To The Chase With This Underrated Classic Cartoon
First Published: July 03, 2025
“Sorry, Kevin, but my friends have all advised me not to run with you any more,” a man in jogging clothes says to a similarly attired pair of scissors, who looks up at him in confusion. It is an uproarious example ofThe Far Side’stendency to anthropomorphize inanimate objects, and it also representsGary Larson’s knack for twisting folk sayingsby taking them too literally.
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Here,the illustration makes it clear that the context is not at all what readers expect when they think of the phrase “running with scissors,“which changes the meaning of friends' advice not to do so in a deliriously funny way. Larson should also be lauded for managing to imbue such an absurd joke with a touch of pathos, as readers can’t help but feel bad for “Kevin” the scissors.
7The Far Side Reminds Readers That One Person’s Pantry Is Another Peanut’s Nightmare
First Published: August 12, 2025
Once more, with this cartoon,The Far Sidereached the heights of anthropomorphic hilarity, this time envisioning a world of animated nuts, withan adult peanut telling two younger peanuts a spooky campfire story about two kids, like them, who wind up in a creepy cellar and find “these strange jars…” labeled “creamy” and “crunchy.”
The humor stems from the opposite tactic; what makes it a classic joke is that readers can easily figure out where this horror story is headed.
Often,Gary Larson left readers with more questions than answers, as many of his punchlines amounted to theFar Sideequivalent of cliffhangers.Here, the humor stems from the opposite tactic; what makes it a classic joke is that readers can easily figure out where this horror story is headed, much more quickly than the characters in the cartoon, as the two young peanuts are about to be traumatized when they find out what is in the jars.
6The Far Side’s “Bears Vs. Hunters” Rivalry Gets Even More Tangled In This Hilarious Panel
First Published: June 20, 2025
Few rivalries became hallmarks ofThe Far Sidemore than the endless back-and-forth between human hunters and their prey, particular bears, who tended to fight back the most. That is the case in this cartoon, which features a pair of huntersfinding another acquaintance of theirs “trussed up like a Christmas present, with his hunting license shoved in his mouth,” with one of the men commenting that it is “the same as the others.”
In other words, there isa backstory to thisFar Sidecartoonreaders only get a hint of, but it’s clear the hunters know who the culprit is. “I want this bear, Dave,” one of them says, “I want him bad,” making it clear the cycle of vengeance is going to continue.The imagery here is seemingly intentionally absurd, to undercut its abstract darkness, but for some readers, it might have the reverse effect, coming across as even more unsettling.
5"Roadkill Tours” The Far Side Gives Fans The Day Trip Nobody Wanted
First Published: June 06, 2025
Strange business ventures were anotherFar Sidestaple, and “Roadkill Tours” is certainly one of thestrangest examples from Gary Larson’s ouvre. In this panel,a guide drives a bus down a road through the desert, noting that “most of these things,” meaning the carcasses scattered across the pavement, “are jackrabbits, but keep your eyes peeled for an armadillo as well.”
“We’re about five miles now from the dead steer,” the driver adds, putting a cap on this surrealFar Sideversion of a “slice of life” cartoon.The humor here stems from the absurdity of the premise itself; the fact that no one in their right mind would ever take such a tour, yet in the illustration, the bus is depicted as packed.
4Gary Larson’s Peak At The Home Life Of Mice Highlights His Awareness Of Human Nature
First Published: July 19, 2025
“You wanna end up like your father, a career lab rat?” an angry rodent mom shouts at her offspring, after it says it wants to “quit school,” as the mouse of the housesits in a recliner, clutching a newspaper, suffering from a severely, and absurdly, swollen head, the result of some unknown experiment for medical science.
If one were to pick just one of Gary Larson’s many abilities as a humorist to say was the reason behindThe Far Side’ssuccess, many would say it was his ability tocapture deeply familiar human moments, even if he did so through an absurdist filter, using animal characters, and generally approached with a tone of total irreverence.In other words, as much as Larson was poking fun at human foibles, it took a deeply nurtured understanding of people to be able to do so effectively.
3This Far Side Classic Will Leave Readers Scratching Their Heads, And Watching Where They Step
First Published: July 31, 2025
Captioned “scorpion school,' thisFar Sidecomic features exactly that,a training class for baby scorpions in which an instructor holds up a giant fake (at least, presumably) human toe, preparing them for a potential encounter with a barefoot humanout in the wild.
Few artists like to hear the question, “so where do you get your ideas?” and that wasespecially true for Gary Larson, which in itself is funny, because his work was so evocative of that question.Even among the legions of people who findThe Far Sidefunny, there are only a select few who can achieve the zen-like ability to commune with the absurd that Larson had to exhibit in order to conjure a scenario like this one.
2The Far Side Tackled Tough Topics Through Truly “Out There” Humor
First Published: June 12, 2025
ThisFar Sidesquid cartoonartfully manages the balance between its absurdist details and its premise, which actually depicts a very complicated human dynamic. In fact, it is the absurdity of the cartoon that allows Gary Larson to find humor in the sensitive topic of infidelity.
In the panel, a squid named “Darren” sits at dinner with his wife and a friend, oblivious to the fact that “under the table, his wife and Raymondwere playing ‘tentacalies,'” the mollusc version of “footsie.”
This kind of intimate moment between lovers, right out in the open with one of their spouses there, has been played for laughs in comedies before,but Larson’s conversion of the characters into undersea animals takes the question of good taste out of the equation, as it’s clear he’s playing a whole different ballgame.
1The Far Side Reveals The Hilarious Secret Behind Jittery Little Dogs
First Published: August 07, 2025
“Dogs acting like humans” is one ofThe Far Side’smost beloved tropes, and with this panel, Gary Larson brilliantly offers an explanation for why certain types of pet pooches are so hyperactive, bydepicting a tiny dachshund getting up on a footstool and making itself a cup of espresso at the crack of dawn.
“While their owners are asleep,” the caption explains, “nervous little dogs prepare for their day.” This represents an arguably perfect harmony between illustration and caption; the words and picture work together to make the joke clear, but in a way that still leaves space for readers to take a beat to figure it out for themselves, a classicFar Sidetechnique for keeping fans engaged.
