1993 was the penultimate year ofThe Far Side, and during the course of the year,Gary Larson produced as many memorable hilarious cartoons as ever – and just as many obtuse and hard to figure out punchlines, which left readers asking “What the?“These cartoons represent some of the strangestLarson illustrated in the final stretch of his careeras a cartoonist.
It’s not that Larson’s humor got weirder asThe Far Sideprogressed, but rather, that he got better at crafting weird punchlines that still managed toget a reaction out of his readers. Still, it is fair to say that the author took greater creative risks in the latter stage of the comic’s run.
That is, Gary Larson became more willing to play withthe formula forThe Far Sidethat he had created over the years, and often, his more experimental cartoons turned out to be some of his most perplexing.
12The “Blink-And-Miss-It” Catagory Of Far Side Jokes (Where’s The Punchline?)
First Published: July 06, 2025
Far Sidejokes can be grouped into a few different categories, including “subtle” and “obvious” – with this panel being an example of the former, perhaps to a fault. Inthis Far Side Viking cartoon, the raiders are in the middle of a pitched battle,as they attempt to scale the walls of a castle using suspiciously modern-looking ladders, including one with the warning “this is not a step” printed on the first rung.
With so much action going on – relatively speaking, for aFar Sidecomic – readers' attention won’t necessarily be immediately drawn to this small detail, which amounts to the comic’s punchline. While certainly amusing, it can be argued that the joke here is too subtle, and too far from jumping out at the reader, making them far more likely to ask “What the?” than laugh here.
11These Far Side Factory Workers Make Slaughtering Chickens Fun (Who Hits The Most Threes?)
First Published: August 04, 2025
In anothercaptionlessFar Sidecartoon, workers at “Red Hen Poultry Co.” are shown going about their days, the majority of them crowded around a conveyor belt, chopping various pieces of chicken as they role by. Again, the joke is not immediately obvious here, until readers realize thatin the background of the panel, against the factory’s far wall, is a basketball hoop, splattered with spots of blood, hanging over the barrel labeled “gizzards.”
This is precisely the sort of thing people do to liven up their workplace, but given the nature of their job, it is particularly grizzly – though that adds to the humor, but only once readers have had a moment to acclimate to the comic and identify its sly humor.
10An Elaborate Psychological Experiment Reaches Its Conclusion (Is This The Far Side’s Most High Concept Joke?)
First Published: June 22, 2025
ThisFar Sidecomic is the opposite of too subtle, as its humor is rooted in the excessive expositioncoming from an experimental psychologist, whoexplains to a man in a military uniform, sitting behind a desk, in front of a large portrait of himself, that he is not “the dictator of Ithuania, a small European republic,” but rather “Edward Belcher,” a man “from Long Island.”
Gary Larson Called This Far Side Comic “Almost Universally Misunderstood,” But Why Is It So Confusing?
Many Far Side cartoons get more attention for being confusing, but Gary Larson called one surprising 1987 panel “almost universally misunderstood.”
The Far Side’shumor was usually smart – when it was dumb, it was deliberately so – and often layered, but this ranks among its most “high concept” punchlines, asGary Larson manages to cram an entire convoluted plotlineinto a soliloquy from a single character. Still, the end result is the same; though funny, this cartoon’s deviation fromThe Far Side’susual style of punchline will have many readers narrowing their eyes at it, unsure whether to laugh or not.
9Not Even Gary Larson Can Explain This Cartoon (Is That The Point?)
First Published: August 10, 2025
By far, this is one ofGary Larson’s most unusual, experimentalFar Sidecomics.Far Sidejokes tended to succeed or fail depending on how well their image and caption worked together. Here, however, Larson delivers a deliberately nonsensical sequence of panels, which are paired with a meta-caption, which reads:
“And so,” the interviewer asked, “Do you ever have trouble coming up with ideas?” “Well, sometimes,” the cartoonist replied.
Larson notoriously disliked doing interviews, andhated being asked where his ideascame from. This cartoon is a direct confrontation of that, offering up what may be the least disguised appearance of the artist’s own perspective on the page.While the disconnect between caption and image could be a bug in someFar Sidecartoons, here Larson turns it into a feature, and the result is unusual, with readers as likely to be mystified by the comic as made to chuckle.
8Sometimes The Far Side Was More About Vibes Than Making Sense (How Was That Worm Playing The Drums?)
First Published: July 24, 2025
InanotherFar Sidecartoon that eschews a caption, a bird isdepicted with a worm dangling from its beak, freshly plucked from beneath the surface of the earth – where, just moments before, the worm had been minding its own business, playing drums.The drumming worm is a strong absurdist element, of course, but where readers might find themselves asking “What the?” with this cartoon is the connection it asks readers to make.
That is, it requires the knowledge that birds hunt by using vibrations – meaning a drumming worm would make itself a target in short order. Still, the worm playing drums is likely the concept that will stick with readers, as of course the creatures' lack of appendages make any instrument difficult, but the drums especially tough.
7The Far Side Takes A Close Look At Hummingbird Accessories (Is This Gary Larson’s Most Inscrutable Cartoon?)
First Published: July 06, 2025
In thisFar Sidepanel, Gary Larson mixes ornithological fact with a strange flight of fancy, resulting in one of his most quixotic and hard to parse cartoons. According to the caption,the collection of items here depict the “structures, organs, and accessories (shown actual size) pertaining to Mellisuga helenae, the world’s smallest hummingbird.”
The Far Side Complete Collection
Fans of the far side can’t pass up this master collection of Gary Larson’s finest work. Originally published in hardcover in 2003, this paperback set comes complete with a newly designed slipcase that will look great on any shelf. The Complete Far Side contains every Far Side cartoon ever published, which amounts to over 4,000, plus more than 1,100 that have never before appeared in a book and even some made after Larson retired.
At first, Larson illustrates an egg, a nest, a heart, and so on, but by the end of the panel, he has moved on to “keys” and “lunchbox,” in a ridiculous lateral move from reality to make believe. Still, the grouping of all these items together is likely to cause readers to ask “What the?” even after they understand the premise of the joke, as its humor seems a little too niche, as if this were a case of the artist catering to an audience of one: himself.
6Gary Larson Delivers A Weird Pun Before Leaving Town (Did The Far Side Artist Phone This One In?)
First Published: June 28, 2025
Gary Larson only produced two newFar Sidecartoons in July 1993, before taking the rest of the month off – yet both are arguably"What the?” comics, as is the case here, witha panel depicting a train rounding a curve as “Engineer Matthews” gets on the intercom to tell his passengers they’re about to “hit some pretty bad trackulence,” as they approach a bumpy portion of the rails.
The humor here is rooted in the riff on “turbulence,” which is the kind of joke that frequently led people to wonder how Larson came up with it. Admittedly, this cartoon has the feel of having been rushed out the door as the author prepared for another one of the increasingly common hiatuses he took in the later years ofThe Far Side, which likely contributed to why it may not have totally connected with readers.
5The Far Side’s Squirrels Hype Themselves Up (Isn’t It Kind Of Endearing?)
First Published: June 17, 2025
“Nuts! Nuts! Get ‘em! Nuts! Nuts! Get ‘em!” a group of squirrels huddled together on a tree branch shout, as the caption informs readers that, “before starting their day, squirrels must first pump themselves up.” This reads as one of Gary Larson’s perennial attempts tomap human behavior onto animals withThe Far Side, and vice versa, though it is perhaps not as successful as he often was.
Nevertheless, there is a certain charm to this cartoon, as the squirrels and their sunrise chant might not be the most relatableFar Sideanimals, but they and their behavior are certainly amusing. There is something slightly hypnotic about “Nuts! Nuts! Get ‘em!” which makes this panel have a chance at beingaFar Sidejoke that sticks in readers’ minds, even if they’re not entirely sure why.
4Ruining A Nice Work Shirt Is The Worst Feeling (What Exactly Is A Pocket Squid For?)
First Published: July 15, 2025
Anyone who has ever made a habit of carrying a pen in their pocket – protected or otherwise – will know the scourge of ink stains, and in thisFar Sidecartoon,Gary Larson extrapolates a ridiculous punchlinefrom that familiar experience. “Once again, Vernon has a good shirt ruined,” the caption explains, “by a cheap pocket octopus.”
12 Far Side Comics From 1992 That Make Readers Go “What the?” (Including One Of Gary Larson’s Most Obscure Jokes)
By 1992, The Far Side’s reputation for obscure humor was well established, and Gary Larson continued to expertly deliver inexplicable punchlines.
The “pocket octopus” premise will have many readers not just asking “What the?” but shouting it, yet Gary Larson still manages to make this cartoon’s punchline landby having all the characters in the illustration wearing “pocket octopai,” suggesting that it is a common accessory in thisFar Sideworkplace; yet what it is, and why, will remain forever elusive to even the most astuteFar Sidefan.
3Gary Larson Documents Slander Among Snake Researchers (Is This The Most Confusing Far Side Comic Of The Year?)
First Published: August 20, 2025
In thisFar Sidecartoon, a researcher at a laboratory studying snakes and other reptiles reacts with dismay when two of his colleagues show up. “They’re skinheads, you know,” he tells another coworker standing next to him. Visually, this is one of Gary Larson’s most detailed panels, which helps immerse the reader in the setting at this moment – which is great, because the caption begs for further context that is nowhere to be found.
In other words, Larson’s fictional world in this panel seems very real, and detailed, but the end result is a punchline that will leave many readers mystified, with more questions than answers. The confusion is a result of this being amongThe Far Side’smost obtuse jokes; that is, while not impossible to understand by any means, it is far from easy to decipher.
