Need a Laugh? Here's 10 Far Side Comics Loaded With Dark Jokes

The Far Side is a comic strip that is famous for throwing an absurd lens on the entire world, depicting every day, borderline mundane activities in the weirdest ways imaginable. Everything from taking a train or waiting at a crosswalk becomes utterly ridiculous, and the type of humor used in any given Far Side strip ranges wildly as well. Sometimes the pure absurdity of a joke is enough to get the laugh, but other times, The Far Side delves into some pretty dark humor.

For the most part, The Far Side’s jokes are appropriate for readers of all ages, and even the ones that ride that line between appropriate and inappropriate usually contain jokes that would simply go over a younger reader’s head. And that proverbial line is exactly where these particular Far Side comics can be found, as they are examples of the comic strip’s ability to deliver some pretty dark jokes in an utterly absurd way that only The Far Side is capable of. Here’s 10 Far Side comics loaded with dark jokes!

10 Intrusive Thoughts

This Construction Worker has Some Pretty Dark Intrusive Thoughts in The Far Side

A couple of construction guys are sitting on top of the frame of a new building, enjoying their lunch. At least, they were enjoying their lunch, until one of them started telling his coworker, named Frank, about his intrusive thoughts. The construction guy asks Frank if he ever gets an "urge" whenever he's sitting so high up in the air, as if a voice inside of him is urging him to do something terrible. Initially, it seems like the construction worker is alluding to suicidal thoughts, but then it's revealed that he's having homicidal thoughts, and that Frank should be a bit concerned.

Thankfully, the construction guy is just voicing his own intrusive thoughts to Frank, and isn't actually plotting any murders. However, even considering something like that is just plain dark, especially for a generally light-hearted comic like The Far Side.

9 Bear Suicide

Bears have an Interesting Way of Taking Their Own Lives in The Far Side

A mama bear and a papa bear walk into their house to find another bear named Leonard - presumably their son - stuffed in the living room with a note on his chest that reads, "Goodbye world". The mama bear exclaims, "Oh my God! It's Leonard!... He stuffed himself", which is a conclusion she came to after seeing the note on his chest. In other words, this bear took his own life, and he did so by having himself stuffed, which is as tragic as it is absurd.

A bear - or any other animal - getting stuffed is a process that happens after the animal is already dead. It's not a method one would use to kill the animal, which is why this particular comic depicting the outcome of a 'suicide-by-stuffing' is hilariously ridiculous, while still being incredibly dark.

8 Chicken Baker

This Chicken is Willing to Do the Unthinkable to Bake Her Cake in The Far Side

A chicken is baking a cake in the kitchen, with all the ingredients laid out in front of her. However, there's one obvious ingredient that the chicken baker is missing: eggs. She does, however, have several eggs behind her in her nest - eggs that she had recently laid herself. Those eggs presumably have her future children in them, but this chicken is considering doing the unthinkable for the sake of her cake.

The idea that a baker - chicken or otherwise - would sacrifice their own children just to bake a cake is utterly hilarious in the darkest way. While the chicken baker is considering the unthinkable, it's possible that she won't go through with it. However, even considering something like that is insanely dark.

7 Mary HAD a Little Lamb

The Far Side Turns a Popular Children’s Rhyme into a Dark Joke

A woman named Mary is sitting at her dinner table, carving into a slice of lamb that she had just cooked, and enjoying every bite. Indeed, the comic strip makes it clear that Mary had multiple servings, so it's obvious she was enjoying her meal. While someone eating lamb isn't an especially dark scene, as that's a dish that is served at most fine dining restaurants, this scene becomes incredibly dark when considering what it's referencing.

This Far Side comic is a dark retelling of the children's rhyme "Mary Had A Little Lamb". In this version, Mary did, in fact, have a little lamb - before she ate it. At which point, Mary had a little lamb... for dinner. It's pretty messed up no matter how one looks at it, which is why it's utterly hilarious.

6 Vengeful Chicken

This Chicken has a Twisted Sense of Vengeance in The Far Side

A family sitting down for dinner is stunned into silence when their beloved dog, Fifi, suddenly rips his own head off to reveal he isn't Fifi at all, but a chicken in a Fifi costume. The chicken then announces that she is the same chicken the family thought they were eating, but in reality, they are actually eating their own dog, Fifi. The chicken then starts laughing maniacally, with the caption of this comic reading, "Scene from 'Dinner on Elm Street'".

This chicken wanted vengeance on this family, as they were going to eat her without giving it a second thought. So, the chicken enacted her own brand of twisted vengeance upon them, literally murdering their dog and making them eat it. It's messed up, but kind of understandable, and definitely morbidly hilarious.

5 Bear Bedtime Stories

Bears Have a Sick Way of Telling Bedtime Stories in The Far Side

A mama bear is trying to put her cubs to bed, but they refuse to go to sleep before hearing a bedtime story, even if it is the same bedtime story they've heard a number of times before - complete with visual aids. The mama bear puts two human skulls on her paws and puppets them as if they were toys, recounting the time these people wandered into their cave and were eaten by them.

The thought of people being killed and eaten by a family of bears is dark enough, but add to that the idea that those same bears keep the bones to use as visual aids to recount that moment over and over as a bedtime story is just next level. These bears are sadistic, and relish their kills more than they should, and that is just plain dark.

4 Bug Paradise

An Insect’s Dream is Humanity’s Nightmare in The Far Side

Nuclear explosions are going off all throughout this city, and presumably the world, as humanity has reached its end by-way of a nuclear holocaust. Billions of human lives are being snuffed out in an instant, and the ones that survive will assuredly die painful deaths later on. Indeed, this Far Side comic depicts armageddon, which is something that people should only have to see in their nightmares. And, while all this horror is happening all around them, a bunch of bugs are dancing on a leaf, celebrating their new paradise.

This comic is a play on how cockroaches can survive nuclear explosions, and how they will inherit the Earth if humanity kills itself through nuclear war. And, in The Far Side, that extends to all chitinous insects, and by the looks of it, they couldn't be happier.

3 'A Goat in a Cloud Bank’

These Pilots Don’t Know They’re About to Crash Into a Mountain in The Far Side

A couple of pilots are flying their plane through the clouds, when suddenly, they see a mountain goat seemingly standing on a cloud bank. One of the pilots turns to the other and says, "Say... what's a mountain goat doing way up here in a cloud bank?", and while that is a pressing concern, it kind of detracts from the dire reality of the situation.

This goat isn't somehow floating in the clouds, the plane is about to crash into a mountain, and every second the pilots are confused about that is one more second they aren't trying to prevent the deaths of their passengers and themselves. The pilots' stupidity is comical, but the fact that they and their passengers are all about to die is decidedly dark.

2 The Fate of D.B. Cooper

The Far Side Reveals What REALLY Happened to D.B. Cooper

D.B. Cooper is a legendary outlaw who hijacked a plane and threatened to blow it up unless he was given $200,000 and parachutes. After receiving his money and parachutes, and allowing the other passengers to leave, D.B. Cooper instructed the flight crew to refuel and continue flying. At that point, Cooper jumped out of the plane with his parachute and his money and vanished, never to be seen again. D.B. Cooper was never caught, and his real identity was never discovered. And, in The Far Side, it's revealed why.

According to The Far Side, D.B. Cooper landed right in the middle of "Ben & Vera's Rottweiler Farm", and was torn apart by dogs. That's why he was never found, and why his identity was never discovered, because after the rottweilers got hold of him, there was nothing left.

1 Baby-Eating Snake

This Snake is About to Pay for Its Unspeakable Crime in The Far Side

A snake is trying to leave a baby's room, but because of the size of its last meal, the snake's belly is too big to fit through the crib - and that last meal was the baby itself. The snake is noticeably annoyed that it's too fat to slither out of the baby's room, and honestly, it should be terrified, because this snake is about to be a dead snake the second the baby's parents discover what it has done. Indeed, this snake will assuredly pay for its unspeakable crime, but that doesn't erase the horror of what it has done.

Any kind of 'dead baby' joke is automatically dark, but literally seeing the baby in the stomach of this snake makes this particular one even darker. And that's why this is one of the 10 best Far Side comics with dark humor!

The Far Side

Writer

Gary Larson

Colorist

Gary Larson

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