Bottoms Up! 10 Hilarious Far Side Comics All About Bars
The Far Sideis best known for its memorable character designs, and for creator Gary Larson's idiosyncratic style of humor – but Larson's use of certain recurring settings, including bars and restaurants, should not be overlooked. In fact, some of the funniest Far Side comics took place at the local neighborhood watering hole.
Throughout The Far Side, Gary Larson returned to the bar setting repeatedly in order to deliver jokes in which the location tended to be an important piece of the punchline.
Bars, taverns, and other drinking establishments offer a unique context for observing human behavior, and these Far Side comics emphasize that – even when, it familiar Larsonian fashion, these human behaviors have been transposed onto animal characters. In fact, just as Far Side comics set in living rooms captured their subjects at their most vulnerable, Larson's barflies – and bar chickens, and bar elephants – were often his characters at their most human.
10 Gary Larson's Warped Interpretation Of Masculinity Is Peak Far Side Social Critique
First Published: December 9, 1982
In this Far Side cartoon, Gary Larson insightfully lampoons male bravado, riffing on the idea that trying to find romance at the bar can be intimidating, and make insecure men feel "small" – which Larson twists by doing more than just depicting a man who is literally tiny compared to the woman next to him, but also by inverting the traits the man thinks he has to display in order to win her attention.
That is to say, however flawed it might be, the conventional rules of flirtation suggest that "act[ing] shy and vulnerable" is not the way to attract a potential partner, yet that is exactly what the small man in this Far Side comic reminds himself to do. In all, this might be one of The Far Side's more highbrow jokes, and it certainly offers one of Gary Larson's most valuable bits of commentary on contemporary society.
9 The Far Side Reminds Readers That A Horse Walking Into A Bar Isn't The Impressive Part
First Published: January 22, 1981
This is another elevated Far Side joke, given the way that it combines a classic joke set up – "a horse walks into a bar" –with an age-old piece of colloquial wisdom – "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink" – by having a surly bar patron poses the second half of this maxim as a confrontational question to the horse's owner's implied bragging about bringing his equine companion into the establishment in the first place.
In addition to the multi-layered punchline, the illustration makes this arguably one of the greatest Far Side comics of all time; from the irate look on the questioner's face, to the derisive look on the horse's face, this panel is compositionally perfect in a manner that only a select few Far Side cartoons truly achieve.
8 The Far Side Didn't Always Need To Be Flashy To Get Readers' Attention
First Published: June 16, 1981
The Far Side, especially in its original run in newspapers, was most frequently published in black and white; some cartoons were published in color, while others were colorized for The Complete Far Side, released nearly a decade after Gary Larson's retirement. This comic – featuring two chickens at a bar, ignoring the ostentatious advances of a peacock seated at the adjacent table – is often cited as an example of Larson's precise, deliberate use of color, but it also speaks to why he didn't always need it.
10 Best Far Side Comics With Stories Too Ambitious For One Panel To Contain (From the Back Half of Gary Larson's Career)
As Gary Larson's career progressed, his jokes became more involved, leading to ambitious punchlines that a single Far Side panel couldn't contain.
That is, Larson's best illustrations tend to elict a strong response in the reader's imagination; while the color in this panel adds a dimension to the work, even without it, what the peacock represents in this comic is clear, and the joke is conveyed strongly one way or the other.
7 From Bulls In China Shops To Elephants In Bars, The Far Side Could Get Chaotic Fast
First Published: April 12, 1983
In this hilarious Far Side elephant comic, an anthropomorphic pachyderm tries to play peacemaker, holding back his enraged friend as the second elephant leaps to its feet and knocks over their table, ready to crush a human patron, who apparently told an off-color, speciesist joke. The punchline certainly lives up to The Far Side's reputation for absurdity, as the one elephant tells his angry friend, "I'm sure he didn't know you were an elephant when he told that last joke!"
For all the times The Far Side's human and non-human characters co-existed peacefully – and as often as they did, it was at the bar – it is these moments where the disparity between the two was put into sharp relief that represent some of Gary Larson's best cross-species jokes from over the years.
6 Gary Larson Another Tense Moment At The Bar, Far Side Style
First Published: January 31, 1985
In this Far Side panel, a parakeet takes offense at a fellow patron who won't stop staring at it – except, as another bird explains to it, "back off, Bobby Joe...that's just your reflection." This punchline is especially potent because of the way it doubles as commentary on both the behavior of pet birds, and of intoxicated bar patrons.
Parakeets, in particular, are known for becoming agitated at the sight of their own reflections – and while it might be a hyperbolic example of drunkenness, more than one excessively inebriated person has taken offense at their own visage in the mirror, at least in popular culture. Gary Larson captures the essence of both of these phenomena in this cartoon, making it an especially memorable Far Side bird comic, and a stand-out Far Side bar comic.
5 The Far Side Reminds Tourists To Be Careful When Crawling Local Bars
First Published: January 14, 1986
This Far Side bear comicfeatures a human hiker attempting to enter a bar called "The Woods," only to be rebuffed by a bear with a mop, who explains that the bar is closed, and also that "we don't like your kind in here anyway." It is an amusing cartoon, but one with a bit of an edge to it, as it acknowledges that many bars are not welcoming to any and all customers – a truth that Gary Larson skillfully highlights the inherent surreality of, by making this an interaction between an ursine employee and a human interloper.
The Far Side Complete Collection
While The Far Side is best known for its ability to find bleak humor in everyday life, this panel also represents Larson's ability to do the opposite – to take dark truths and make light of them.
4 Not Every Far Side Comic Had To Have Bite – Sometimes Gary Larson Just Had Fun With Puns
First Published: July 7, 1986
In this Far Side snake cartoon, two female serpents having a girls' night out look askance at a male snake grinning at them from the end of the bar, with one commenting to the other, "stay away from that character down there, Barb – he's poison, for sure." While there is certainly a note of Gary Larson's knack for observational comedy here, there is no venom to his social critique here, so to speak.
Instead, this is simply a classic Far Side pun, a lighthearted linguistic joke through which Larson uses his non-human characters to explore humanity's use of figurative speech, all via a slice-of-life scene that highlights the trials and tribulations of modern dating through the author's unique perspective. In effect, this is a prominent example of why Gary Larson's use of animal characters served a vital purpose in his work.
3 One Of The Far Side's Most Underappreciated Characters Blows Off Some Steam At The Bar
First Published: January 8, 1987
When asked to cite The Far Side's most memorable characters, most fans will be quick to name Gary Larson's ubiquitous cows, or the countless chickens that occupied the artist's panels over the years. Only the most hardcore readers will instead cite the many panels featuring prehistoric human Thag, or the many cartoons over the years starring the consummate mad scientist's sidekick, Igor.
In one of Igor's most amusing appearances, Larson depicts him sitting in a crowded bar, bending the ears of his fellow patrons, telling them all about how his employer treats him like "a gofer," citing examples such as "Igor, go for brains!" and "Igor, go for dead bodies!" to the increasing discomfort of his drinking buddies. It is a hilarious example of Larson's ability to take a familiar element of pop culture and drop it into an entirely new context, in order to find out what ridiculous scenario would result.
2 The Far Side Reminds Readers That Truth Only Starts With The Dictionary Definition
First Published: November 22, 1991
In this strange and wonderful Far Side cartoon, an ostrich tries to woo a woman sitting next to him at the bar, telling her that "according to the dictionary definition [it is] just a large flightless bird," but that it is, in fact, "much, much more than that," if only "Doris" will take the opportunity to find out.
10 Funny Far Side Comics That Prove the Suburbs Are a Terrifying Place
The image of idyllic suburban life was often turned on its head by Gary Larson's The Far Side, which made the neighborhood a dangerous place.
Once more, Gary Larson hilariously pokes fun at the dating scene, taking a too-familiar pick-up line – in essence, the bird is giving its variant on "I'm not like these other guys" – and showing what a farce it actually is, in The Far Side's trademark style. The joke here is particularly effective because of its level of detail, from the crowded bar setting to the verbose dialogue of the ostrich as it makes its case to "Doris" for getting more well acquainted.
1 The Far Side Blends The Dangers Of Civilization & The Wild In This Sublime Cartoon
First Published: April 6, 1992
Here, Gary Larson returns to the idea of a bar in territory unwelcoming to human visitors – this time, as "Nyles" emerges from "the safari club" only to discover a gang of thuggish-looking bison crowded around his vehicle, smoking cigarettes, waiting with ill-intent for him to come outside.
With this Far Side cartoon, Larson perfectly blends the idea of getting into trouble by going to a bar in an unfriendly part of town with the dangers of the undomesticated animal world. This is just one of many examples of jokes through which the author explored the thin line between so-called "civilization" and the anarchy of the animal world, and in this case, The Far Side's creator was able to deliver that message while also striking a precisely hilarious balance between the two worlds.
- Writer
- Gary Larson
- Colorist
- Gary Larson
