Life is hard, and living in it is hard. The Far Side . Gary Larson understands how difficult everyday tasks can be for adults. And let’s face it, growing up is hard, but luckily, Gary Larson knows how to make these everyday life situations funny. He takes the mundane, sometimes frustrating, everyday tasks that people have to deal with and turns them up to 11 for the sake of humor.
Larson’s unique plot twists make for some of the funniest and most believable comic strips ever created. These are comics in which characters struggle to get out of bed and start their day, struggle to get in bed to sleep, and sometimes just plain struggle . These same characters wake up unable to get dressed and are generally sick or depressed. These are all things the average adult struggles with on a daily basis. Gary Larson reminds everyone that they face the same absurd challenges.
10 “Concert Tomorrow Night”
First published: November 21, 1980
Sleep problems are surprisingly common among adults, especially those who suffer from anxiety. This gentleman is suffering from anxiety about a bad concert before an orchestral performance the following evening. He imagines himself conducting the orchestra, but all the members contribute varying degrees of baffling performance. Most are misusing their instruments, and one, for some reason, is simply eating a banana.
The funniest Far Side comics are about nightmares, and this one is one that’s soaked in the sweat and nerves of the person who sees it. Murphy’s Law is a legitimate fear for many people. The idea that everything that can go wrong will go wrong always sets them up for failure. or prevents them from attempting anything at all.
9. The author of Moby Dick also had a creative crisis
First published: February 6, 1982
Writing is hard. Not everyone is an author or needs to write a manifesto, but the task of jotting down notes, journal entries, or basic word-related assignments at work can be daunting when the right words don’t come to mind. As a writer himself, Gary Larson knew exactly how to illustrate writer’s block and the frustration it causes. It’s a reminder that anyone can struggle with writer’s block , even the author of one of the greatest books of all time, Moby-Dick .
The opening lines of Herman Melville’s Odyssey begin with the memorable words, “Call me Ishmael.” It’s a simple phrase that’s considered one of the most iconic first words of a book, but Larson reminds readers that it likely took Melville a lot of mental effort to come up with that line. It likely required some intense name-casting during the drafting process.
8. “First the pants. THEN the shoes.”
First published: April 7, 1983
Getting out of bed in the morning isn’t as easy as it sounds, both in terms of motivation and practice. In terms of motivation, it’s hard to find the strength to drag yourself out of the comfort of sleep to enter another mind-numbing workday. Then the lack of motivation gives way to a struggle with the practice of getting out of bed, particularly putting on your clothes in the right order. At first glance, needing a note to remind you to put your pants on over your shoes sounds silly, but for many people, it’s a reality.
Some people need this reminder every morning to start their day and help them get through it. This is not just a joke to be taken literally, but an allegory on the topic of depression. Intentional or not, this is something that outcasts are familiar with.
7 “The brewing continued until late at night”
First published: September 5, 1985
There’s no greater pain than waking up on the wrong side of the bed. This struggle is made even worse when someone makes the mistake of drinking alcohol the night before. Everyone has met a hungover person who seems a little more irritable than usual as they recover. Gary Larson suggests that perhaps it’s not the kegger that’s making them irritable, but rather the equally irritable scorpions nesting in their shoes when they wake up.
Often when someone is having a hard time during the day, it feels like they have had a rock stuck in their shoe all day. Maybe they have had a scorpion stuck in their shoe the whole time. This unfortunate situation is the epitome of a bad day, but laughing at this comic can actually lift someone’s spirits from an outside perspective.
6 “Yo! Nice Dave!”
First published: December 11, 1986
Remembering how hard it is to get out of bed, Farmer Dave faces the same problem as Larson’s other sleep-loving characters. They say the early bird gets the worm, and there’s no bird breed earlier than Gary Larson’s favorite animal, the chicken. More accurately, roosters are the early birds, but Gary Larson is obsessed with chickens, so they’re a more suitable replacement for this world. Farmer Brown sleeps a little longer than he probably should, and his chickens become impatient with their farmer , who puts off tending to his coop.
Even though his job is on the farm and he’s technically at home, finding the motivation to get out of bed isn’t always easy. Maybe the bed is just too comfortable to leave. Luckily, for this farmer, the clucking of his chickens is all the motivation he needs.
5 “Pull”
First published: November 24, 1986
Sometimes, when someone encounters an obstacle in life, it is like someone is pushing a door that says “Pull.” Ironically, in these situations, it only takes a person to snap out of their state of psychological shock to finally realize when it is time to start pulling the cord. “Pull” the door instead. Unfortunately for the Far Side Nerdy Guy, he needs to understand this way of thinking in a literal sense, but he is not very good at coming to this much-needed conclusion.
This ranks among the most viewed and loved strips in The Far Side of History . While people shouldn’t be judged for their mistakes or simple blunders, it’s hard not to raise an eyebrow when a student from the Midvale School for Gifted Youngsters has trouble opening a door.
4 “The bluebird of happiness has been absent from his life for a long time, Ned is visited by the chicken of depression”
First published: January 20, 1988
This is one of the more overt examples of the struggle within The Far Side comics. In fact, it goes beyond just struggle and extends to depression, much more overtly than the more implied examples. Ned hasn’t been happy in a long time, and instead of the Bluebird of Happiness, he’s visited by the Chicken of Depression. It’s almost like a visit from the Angel of Death, except it’s a feeling akin to death rather than death itself, and the angel is replaced by Gary Larson’s favorite animal.
This is perhaps The Far Side’s most literal comic, and one that has more philosophical undertones than humor. It’s not often that The Far Side forces readers to think about more than the joke itself, and perhaps even look inside themselves and understand what the reader is going through.
3 “I’m starting to feel dependent.”
First published: April 29, 1991
When a person is struggling with mental health or can’t shake their worst traits, therapy is often the best option. Gary Larson understood the importance of therapy, which is why so much of The Far Side focuses on the topic. Therapy is a valuable tool that helps people recognize when they are becoming overly dependent on others and learn to achieve independence in their lives.
This therapist helps a pet realize how overly dependent he is, even though dependence is the very nature of a pet. Pets exist to depend on their owners and fight for survival if they don’t. Then again, maybe the point isn’t to focus on the cat’s dependence, but rather to make readers realize that their dependence doesn’t make them any different from pets.
2 “Gus… Have you tried playing poker with dogs?”
First published: August 10, 1992
Struggling artists know how difficult it is to try to satisfy their passions while getting little or no results. Worse, some artists find themselves in creative stagnation before they can even hope to come up with a concept that could change their lives forever. For the artist Larson mistakenly identifies as Gus Nickerson, that life-changing contribution to the art world was the “Dogs Playing Poker” oil painting, which was turned into a series of paintings. Despite the praise the painting has received since 1894, Larson reminds readers that “Nickerson” struggled to grasp the concept.
Cassius Marcellus Coolidge is the name of the artist who actually created the “Dogs Playing Poker” piece of art.
Just as a writer works through dozens of words before settling on the perfect draft, an artist goes through many drafts of an illustration. There is a good chance that Nickerson went through many interpretations involving different animals before it was finally seen by the public .
1 “The Curse of Writer’s Block”
First published: June 7, 1993
Another artist who is often overlooked due to their difficulties is the songwriter. Songs require as much hard work and practice as a novel or a work of art. It is clear that every significant addition to pop culture has come from a place of struggle, and the classic “Jeepers Creepers” Lyrics are no different. “Jeepers Creepers” is a catchy song that never gets old and feels timeless. but it took a huge amount of time to write the lyrics and turn them into a classic.
The song “Jeepers Creepers” The lyrics were written by Johnny Mercer and the music was composed by Harry Warren. It was originally performed by Louis Armstrong.
The point is that everyone has something they struggle with, whether it’s an office job or something more creative. Even something as mundane as falling asleep (or battling insomnia) presents its own challenges. The Far Side is about taking the mundane things everyone struggles with and reminding everyone, in the funniest way possible, that they’re not that far apart.
