The Sudden End of The Far Side: The Comic, The TV Show, The Movie?! (Documentary)
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- čas přidán 26. 01. 2022
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The Far Side is a single-panel comic created by Gary Larson which ran from December 31, 1979, to January 1, 1995 when Larson retired and walked away from comics.
The Far Side sold calendars, books, shirts, mugs and so much more Far Side merchandise.
And during that time The Far Side, the comic, was also turned into The Far Side, the cartoon (Tales from the Far Side) and almost The Far Side, the live action movie?!
For more on the movie:
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The bony spikes at the end of a Stegosaurus tail never had a specific name until Gary Larson made a Far Side strip about them, with Neanderthal scientists calling the spikes the "Thagomizer" after their discoverer, the late Thag Simmons. The term Thagomizer is now used by palaeontologists to describe spiked Stegosaurs tails. That is a rare legacy.
They also named a species of louse after him.
I came here to say this, but I knew in my heart it had already been said.
Came here to make sure this had been said. Can't believe Dan got all the way through the episode without mentioning it. What kind of world do we live in when Toy Galaxy glosses over relevant dinosaur facts?
I remember that particular strip and greatly enjoyed it, but I would've never dreamed that it would become a proper anatomical name for the tail of a stegosaurus. 😂🤣
Came here to say something about that too -- !
When the Far Side and Calvin Hobbes folded in the same year…the world became less fun and more gray. I treasure those books.
There just isn't much that captures that "edge". I guess I can't blame creators too much for making so much "safe" strips since they're usually at the mercy of newspapers and publishers, but comics pages can be such a bore these days. I think Pearls Before Swine is the only current one that really strives to go against the grain.
Don't forget the third leg of the absurdist stool. My no 1, w Calvin and far side switching between 2 and 3.
Bloom county all the way.
Getting a Far Side desk calendar every year used to be one of my favorite annual traditions.
It really was!
That was one of my dad's Christmas presents every year until he retired in 1997.
My favorite Far Side fact is that, before his wife set up the whole merchandising thing, the only comic that was available to purchase was the one you showed about the primates and Jane Goodall. Dr. Goodall got such a kick out of it that she wanted to sell the print in order to help her conservation.
And that was only after a representative of Goodall's institute contacted Larson to admonish him for writing the comic. However, when National Geographic wanted to reprint the comic, they looked into things again and it turned out that Goodall herself thought it was pretty funny. She later invited Larson to her facility (where he was jumped by one of the chimps for a bit) and wrote about it as the foreword to one of the Far Side books.
I bought my teenage daughter a collection of The Far Side. She wasn't all that impressed. I couldn't understand it. Then I realized she grew up in a world of wacky humor and clever memes that drew directly from The Far Side. What I originally found crazy and edgy, was now the DEFINITION of what humor is . Gary Larson's The Far Side changed humor forever.
That’s kinda how I viewed George Carlin’s comedy. I didn’t get to hear any of his standup until well into my adulthood, and when I did, I thought, “he’s just saying things that I knew all along, what’s the big deal? Am I just that cynical?” Then it occurred to me that he pioneered that comedic viewpoint, that when he did it, it was new, and I’d already been exposed to other comics who were clearly inspired by Carlin (e.g., Bill Hicks). I still can’t get into it, sadly, but I appreciate it for what it is, for the vanguard that Carlin was to the comedy landscape.
Now I know that, if you want to get your kids into the classics, you have to do it early, before they take everything else in and the classics are just old hat.
I can totally relate. The same thing happened to me with the movie 'Halloween'. I never saw it until adulthood, and was underwhelmed with the experience. "Meh, I've seen it all before." Of course when I realized that this film arguably inspired all of the copycats I've seen before, I grew more of an appreciation for it.
Did the exact same thing with the same result lol
That’s totally metal! In the way that Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath seem tame and cliche today….. but still totally awesome to those able to appreciate!
@@RobCamp-rmc_0 I agree. Part of what I teach my kids is the history of mediums. We read old books, play old board games and video games, listen to older music, etc. Then I let my kids expose me to what's new. Newer board games, newer video games, newer music, etc. My oldest just turned 18 and is in highschool. We have regular dialogues on modern music composition vs classical. We discuss video game history and how new games might be viewed 40 yrs from now.
If you want to turn a kid into a voracious reader, I say start them off with comics. My uncle's would buy me comics as payment for me helping them grocery shop. My mom always took me and taught me about coupons and how to calculate cost per unit, volume, etc. I'd get like 2 or 3 comics as payment. I went from comics to mysteries to scifi, etc. While I don't read as many books as I used to, I love a good book.
Nothing makes me feel old like watching a video about something I loved as a kid sponsored by a hair lose prevention company. ☹️😆
Underrated comment
Word. When I saw that sponsor I thought "I bet this is super-on-point with their demographics tracking."
If any of them worked, there would be no bald people.
There’s a far side idea in that comment
i know, right ?
I grew up with The Far Side Gallery books from my grandfather and good GOD am I thanking him every day for that. Shaped my humor in a huge way 💜💜💜
your gr...your gr...your gr--[turns to dust]
What a great comment. Being exposed to witty and thought provoking humor from a young age can shape someone's who personality. My Pop would sneak old Rodney Dangerfield, Carlin and Red Foxx tapes into the garage and we would listen and laugh for hours.
Far Side, Kids in the Hall, and Monty Python totally helped define my humor
My grandpa also had a lot of Far Side compilation books and tear-outs from the Far Side daily calendars (a few of my teachers had ones related to science, obviously) that I poured over when I was a kid visiting both him and grandma (around the same time that Gary Larson ended the Far Side).
I''m likewise very thankful for being raised with that kind of niche, Nerdy humor and can definitely tell (and am glad) that it contributed to my personality 😂🤣
Creativity is a product of , freedom to express thought not limited by taboos so imprinted in human nature various ways, too numerous to narrate, possibly in the interests of powers that be, not our own , the best impression we can make on the rest of humanity r by the characters created by this liberty , have so far
And Calvin and Hobbes! Don’t forget them
I like how in the Prehistory of the Far Side, Larson admits the time some newspaper accidentally swapped the captions of Far Side and Dennis the Menace, that it improved both strips.
When I was in middle school, we had an assignment in Computer Science class where we had to type up a letter to mail to a celebrity. I choose Gary Larson. I was of the few kids that actually received return mail. Gary didn't actually respond personally, but the press company sent me some promotional materials, a newsletter, one of the published books, and some cool large color prints of some of the comic strips. Even though I didn't get a personal reply, it was still very awesome that Universal Press Syndicate sent me all that stuff. I still have it!
"an assignment in Computer Science class where we had to type up a letter to mail to a celebrity."
I am completely unsurprised, and yet still very sad.
@@RonJohn63 You know, beyond the world of programming computers is the giant world of computer users. Sadly, most programmers have no understanding or empathy for users and whether they find a program intuitive, approachable, organized, easy, hard, difficult, confusing, etc. That's why most-that's right, most-computer software ends up on the trash heap of history.
@@billclinton6040 you obviously don't know what Computer *Science* is.
Hint: it's not "Learning to use computers".
When I was in college in the late 80s, whenever my parents wrote me a letter (all before email and internet was in its infancy) they would include all the Farside and Calvin comics they clipped out of the paper between letters. I would get a good laugh, and post them on the bulletin board in the dorm - soon, i would see groups of kids checking them out all the time. I felt like I was Moses leading the Israelites to the funny land.
I really liked those two, as well; you've got GREAT taste...
Wonder why I suddenly have a Larsonesque image of Moses at a bulletin board? With diagrams? And maps? And the schematic of ED-209? Sheesh - Garys humour/imagination still beavering away in the brain. Thank God!
Brings back memories. My mother did the same thing, plus included clipped comics in my birthday cards.
My dad clipped Calvin and Hobbes and Far Side for me as well. Also Bloom County and Opus. I think all three strips have a loose connection. They have a skewed perspective that has now become quite normal and not even noteworthy but were really unique for their era as compared to the Hagar the Horrible, Beetle Bailey, Peanuts, etc.
Your comment is a great one. One of my best friends in high school had an entire wall of his bedroom covered in corkboard with far side comics pinned to every square inch of the wall. My friends and I would stand in his room reading the walls. When he ran out of room, he started over and removed some of the older ones. This was about 1983.
I worked for Waldenbooks between 1989-2000, and the Far Side calendars were HUGE sellers year after year. The most popular were the desk calendars that had a comic strip you could tear off each day. 365 daily strips for $9.95. I bet Larson and his syndicate made an absolute fortune.
I miss Waldenbooks. They would call me the minute their box of new Animorphs arrived
Why had I forgotten that Waldenbooks even existed until I read your comment. Gawd I used to spend hours in that store every weekend. Better Times.
I also recall that Larson, at one point at least, took special steps to ensure that his desk calandars were recyclable.
These daily desk calendars is how I usually consumed my Far Side fix. My favorite is the horses being led into the huge glue factory and then a smaller building for triple crown winners labeled Super-Glue Factory
I had a couple of those back in the day
My sense of humor was molded by The Far Side, MST3K, David Letterman, and the book Cruel Shoes by Steve Martin. Thanks for this, Dan.
"No, Madame, not the.... Cruel Shoes!"
Ah, I see you also are a man of culture … bully!
Holy shit, I haven't thought about Cruel Shoes in _years._ The Turds!
Oh man... MST3K. I loves me some MST3K.
@@kit2770 Rowsdower?
Dan Larson - of Toy Galaxy, not Gary’s brother - you deserve a shout out for the writing of these episodes. They are always humorous and informative. Great stuff.
The Boba Fett joke made me giggle in a guilty way.
@@CB-ke7eq But is. . .it . . . canon?
Omg I just asked that same question.. is he ?
Daniel Larson Passed Away Way back in 1993.
Came here looking for this.
The Far Side was Surreal Memes before Surreal Memes were Surreal Memes.
Oh man, I had an embarrassing amount of Far Side shirts in the 90s. Great video!
Where can I get any of those shirts?
Zero?
OMG same.... we thought we were so cool back then.
Whatsup WWG? You're the man!!
I have a Far Side mug I bought in the mid 80's, I've had it at every job since, a building on fire going over a waterfall with "Crisis Clinic" over the door. A perfect analogy for every workplace ever.
I grew up in the D.C. area and first started reading The Far Side around 1982-83 when I was a teenager. I cut them out of the newspaper and kept them. When I found out about Nature's Way I went to the Library of Congress and went through the microfiche of the Seattle Times to complete my collection. I have all the books the first few signed by Gary when he came to town for a meet and greet. I made my own t-shirt of my favorite panels which I still have to this day. The man is a legend.
I remember a Robotman and Monty tribute strip where Monty tries to pick up where Gary left off with a strip called "The Far Out Side," and wrote a strip where cannibals were gathered around a caldron full of people with the caption of "No. Too many cooks spoil the broth." This was then followed by Monty making the same exact strip the next day with a different profession in place of the "cooks," and saying no wonder he retired.
As a Belleville, IL native and a follower of McCoy's R&M comic, I remember this very well. McCoy was from Belleville, and his comic, which morphed into Monty's own strip, was hilarious. He still does political comics for the local Belleville paper, but he leans hard right, and it kind of turned me off.
He also worked at the same movie theater that I did when he was a teenager. I have stories....
Gary Larson famously named the tail spikes on the stegosaurus The “thagomizer” named after the late Thag...there was no official scientific term for the tail spikes and paleontologist just started using it. Thank you for your contribution to paleontology Mr. Larson
Was coming to bring up Thagomizer!!!
The Thag Simmons.
I remember reading his explanation regarding Cow Tools. Part of the problem was making one of them look like a saw, so people tried to figure out what the other things were for. He admitted none of them should have been recognizable as a human tool to avoid that line of thinking.
Weren't there entire think tanks put together to figure out "What is the true meaning of Cow Tools?"🤣
When I look at Cow Tools, I do see the saw, but my attention was on the stick next to it. Simplest answer is best answer - back scratcher.
@@HandofOmega Apparently one reader sent a letter saying they had 40 about people with doctorates look at it and no one could understand it. It’s a combination of thinking too hard and the saw throwing people off.
Cow Tools: August 1982. Caused Bizzare Reader Hysteria.
The title "Cow tools" isn't really self explanatory either. "If cows made tools" or "Scientists discover that cows make tools" would've gotten his message across better.
Having Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side comics at the same time was a very formative part of my childhood. They both ended in 1995, but they were wonderous and smart humour that taught me the importance of stopping a beloved series before it got a chance to become stale.
Ala Doonesbury.
That strip should've DIED at the end of Watergate.
That strip was SOOOO LIBERAL and "Hack Tired".
Doonesbury to me was NEVER funny even though
you could TELL they were trying to mix politics with
humor.
That strip was born from Watergate and Vietnam.
It had no usefull place by the end of the
Vietnam - Saigon pull out.
My favorite Far Side comic is two bears sitting around a campfire eating two hunters, when one bear turns to the other and asks how it tastes. The second bear turns and says, "Tastes like chicken".
My dad always shared the Far Side comics with me and my sisters. As kids we understood about half of the jokes, but laughed because my dad laughed. Looking back as an adult, those strips were really, really funny.
When I was a freshman in the late 90s my teacher had a Far Side Calendar. We would look at it and read it, but not understand it very well. I remember watching the first animated special in school in 1994.
I had nearly all these books. I had an extensive collection of many comic strips, from BC to Garfield; Peanuts to Calvin and Hobbs. In 2020 , during the lockdown, I answered an ad from a lil old lady who needed some help with her gardens. Ended up she was an illustrator and had a wall full of pictures with her and nearly every creator you could think of, with small on the spot cartoons they did and signed. Kudzu, Wizard of Id, The Lighter Side, Dennis the Meanace and more. My mother said it had to be fate for me to have crossed paths with her. I left feeling like I did a good thing for her and she had reminded me of better times. ❤
Did she have a pic with Stephan Pastis,the creator of Pearls Before Swine? I myself love and grew up with comic strips.
@@johngavin1175 there were more than I could even name and remember. But earlier that year she had lost a son to a car accident. I had also went through a potentially fatal wreck the same month. SOMETHING brought together that weekend.
@@chefjrmz Sorry to hear that. Sounds like a great meeting. I wish I had the talent and patience that these cartoonists have. Have a good one.
Wow, common ground here! I also had and to some extent still have a large collection of comic strip paperbacks that gave me a huge appreciation of humor plus augmented my vocabulary from early on. From early Peanuts to Wizard of Id, BC, Beetle Bailey, Tumbleweeds, Andy Capp, Far Side, Calvin & Hobbs, Foxtrot, Dilbert, Doonesbury, the list keeps going. Growing up, all of my now adult kids have sharp (irreverent & off-the wall) senses of humor which makes for great get-togethers. They all want my remaining books for their kids.
I grew up in a town that had a morning and an afternoon newspaper, both of which I delivered daily as a paperboy. Both papers had their own lineup of daily comics; neither of them repeated strips.
I had morning customers who would subscribe to the afternoon paper due to that paper having both The Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes.
It was a sad day when The Far Side disappeared from our local paper's Sunday Comics. To date it's been replaced by Close to Home, which comes across as a Far Side wannabe without the wit or intelligence. It just tries to be weird because that's what The Far Side felt like to many.
What do you think of "Lio"?
@@HandofOmega I've never heard of it before, but after Goggling it I have to say it's pretty awesome!
@@snukastyle Yeah, it's almost the only strip I actively seek out when I pick up the paper now...like some odd love child of The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes!
One of my favorite Far Side books was "The Curse of Madam C", a collection of strips that included a self-insert short story in which he encounters an anthropomorphic cow disguised as a gypsy woman.
my favorite that i used to this day- especially during my 20 yrs in the Marines... The Farside " School for the Gifted" where the man is pushing on a door that says "pull".. my favorite. ... soo many times that had a place in my journeys... any veteran would agree i think.
Yep. I once posted a copy of that on a notice board in our bomb disposal school :)
I’m glad you did this one - Far Side was and still is a huge part of my life! I used to clip out the daily strips and tape them to the wall in my room, still have years of daily calendars + books, and just yesterday related a work incident to the one titled “At the genius academy” with a kid pushing on a door marked “pull”. 🤓
🤣
I had friend who made a poster of that strip re-letter it to "School For the Gifted". Every time someone did something so outrageously stupid, we would put their name on that poster. Then Gary sent a letter....🤬
Just when I even suspected that TG might be running out of pop culture topics to address, you guys dig up this gem. The Far Side is/was genius. Kudos for this! 😎
I remember visiting the Far Side exhibit at the San Francisco Academy of Science. I loved the giant microscope, how you felt apart of the Far Side, when you looked up... and saw a giant eye looking back at you. The Far Side is one of the greatest things printed in a news paper.
Never knew about Tales Of animation...but know what I'm watching tonight! Thanks so much!!🥳
I was a youth of 9 or 10 living in West Germany when I discovered The Far Side in 1988. Larson (I know, no relation) and Watterson had a huge impact on mental development. Thank you for another great look into why I am the way I am, it surly saves on therapist bills.
i started college in 1995, the year that Gary Larson retired. i loved reading The Far Side in the newspapers so started collecting his compilations during that time. most of my friends did not get his weird humour back then... today i have two teenage kids... they started reading my Far Side books since they were kids. and i finally have those close to me who share this weird sense of humour. thank you Gary Larson for all the laughs and guffaws...
Oh, so is a revue Calvin & Hobbes coming soon?
I graduated high school in 1985, Bloom County, Calvin and Hobbs and of course Far Side kept me sane. Absurdity and wild conjectures of the simple madness of existence is what keeps me going
This and "Calvin and Hobbes" were my absolute favorite comic strips as a kid and really helped solidify my sense of humor, along with "The Simpsons" 1995 was a rough year for me.
The video doesn't mention it, but Peanuts also ended around the same time, and it was puzzling to a child why they all seemed to "quit" in unison.
@@DisgruntledDoomer I thought that was the case also then I looked and Peanuts ended in 2000. Pre-9/11 stuff blends together in my head now lol
Wow! Thank you for this. I am old enough to remember when this strip came out. (I seem to say that a lot.) Since I grew up very close to Tacoma, and also ended up getting a degree in science, I always felt a special connection to "The Far Side." It has been often imitated, but never duplicated. Also, thanks for mentioning the insects named after him! My favorite is the one that only lives on owls.
My favorite: “…and down here we keep Fluffy, but we’re afraid he’s gone mad” (with the scene showing a couple showing a guest their deranged dog building a giant dog robot in the dungeon-like basement).
"He said on record that he was embarrassed by how much money he had made from his comics."
Other comic writers back in the day: 😠😭
Really that's *_why_* he was embarrassed
Indeed. He probably had many comic writer friends and knew he made a lot more than they did while thinking that their work wasn’t worse than what his own. Quirky way of being humble. It’s rare to make a living only through creative works
He had a good gameplan with syndicating fast and striking while the iron was hot.
Can't really be a good judge of personality from afar, but as he was looking for a job in the Humane Society I don't think fame and personal gain were at the top of his priorities, and it would've been hard for him to understand (because let's face it, it really isn't something one would call "just") that because his comic is so popular he'd make so much money while his friends just couldn't find the same level of recognition and financial benefit from doing basically the same job.
Oh my how I miss The Far Side daily calendars. Every day started with a big laugh.
Thanks for speaking clearly, enunciating properly and not having obnoxious content intros 👏🏻 Makes this all worth it
I love reading The Far Side comics in the Sunday newspaper. I was sad when it left and was replaced by that Diet version "Closer To Home."
Usually, listening to someone explain a joke ruins the joke. Except when Gary explains "Cow Tools" - that was unexplainably funny.
A rare case where the explanation of the joke was funnier than the joke.
Gary Larson and Chris Claremont are the two men responsible for getting me into comics.... and it's been a downward spiral ever since. Great video other-unrelated-Son-Of-Lar!
Been a fan of the Farside for decades. I truly miss it. Gary Larson was comedic genius.
the loss of The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbs in the same year was an absolute deathblow to the funny pages.
The timing on that Larson Trivia Beat had me laughing so hard I had a mini asthma attack. Thanks for that.
During the 80's and up to the mid 90's we went to my grandparents house religiously every Sunday just to visit. My grandpa read the paper every Sunday so reading the comics became the highlight of the trip. Never realized all the awesome comics I was reading. Even I noticed by the end of the 90's the comics section had gotten smaller and not as good. Good times.
I'm glad to hear he is drawing again. Larson [No relation] has a unique world view and voice that we're always happy / terrified to experience ....
Great episode! I recently came across my old Far Side books and gave some of them to a co-worker for her son.
The entire story of "The Far Side" is a "Far Side" in it's own rite.
In Sweden we had a comic magazine with the Far Side as the main comic. The name of the magazine? -"Larson" of course.
The Magazine was in print for about 20 years, until the license for The Far Side ran out. It couldn't continue with that name without Gary Larsons cartoons. So some changes was made, and it went on with the other comics. Business as usual.
All I'm saying... is that I've never seen Dan Larson and Dan Larson in the same room at the same time.
He did a number featuring bombs and bomb disposal that I SO wish I’d kept.
In particular there was one where two policemen are watching a bomb disposal officer (also called Bob) working on a device. The text went something like:
“It’s a complicated device, full of sophisticated anti-handling devices. And Bob’s wife left him last night, so you know his mind’s not on this”
The look on the second policeman’s face was priceless…
I can read Far Side compilations all day, everyday.
Excellent commentary, Dan ! A beloved strip given its proper due. You've made it entertaining and enjoyable. You never fail to inform and entertain.
Once again, amazing writing! These episodes carry such depth and thoroughness of research, the cleverest of wit, and the intriguing draw of nostalgia...keep up the excellent work!👏👏👏👏
Cow Tools is a very, "because it made *me* laugh," joke, which is my favourite kind of joke.
I took a cartooning class in art school with a man named Eric Reeves who did the penciling for Garfield. We took a trip to PAWS, the studio in Muncie Indiana where the strip is produced. There is an unwritten rule in the comic strip industry that if you reference a strip in yours, you send the original work to the creator of the strip you referenced. Well...Garfield = A MASSIVE WALL OF ORIGINAL ART of strips referencing Garfield.... including an original Gary Larson The Far Side strip.
So cool.
Excellent video! So much I didn't know!
I'm curious, why break your "it has to have been made into a toy" rule? No complaints! Just curious.
There were The Dark Side Toys. I had a poseable cow with a recliner that had the branding.
Great story. I wasn’t aware of the rule. That’s great.
*"Garfield* = A MASSIVE WALL OF ORIGINAL ART of strips referencing *Garfield."*
Garfield references Garfield, so they send the original work to themselves? That makes no sense.
@@RonJohn63 Other strips referenced Garfield. So the creators of those strips sent their originals to Garfield (Jim Davis), and Jim had them on his office wall. What about this doesn't make sense?
@@andybaldman what you just wrote makes perfect sense. But that's not what OP wrote.
Awesome video! Thanks for doing it!
This comic strip was so influential that our campus pub was named 'The Far Side'. It had 6x6 foot paintings of his cartoons on the walls that would regularly get swapped out during the semester for new ones. Thanks for the memories!
I always learn so much from these videos!
The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes were huge parts of my childhood, even if I didn't understand exactly what was being said sometimes. Great video as always.
Same. So much of who I am was molded by those two strips and I proudly own both complete collections on prominent display in my bedroom.
Same here! Both comics have exceptional re-read value
Gary Larson: "I don't know, I believe in the purity of the form, the integrity of the art. Well, I guess a couple calendars could buy me guitar lessons. Maybe save some whales."
Bill Waterson: "I will let every tiger on Earth die before I put Hobbes on a mug."
My parents would get me the daily Far Side calendar for Christmas for YEARS!!
Such a great time.
Gary Larson and The Far Side are utterly legendary. I didnt realize there was a 'complete far side' anthology, need to save my pennies for it
I found a near-mint copy of The Complete Far Side at a local used book store for $70, and it now sits proudly next to my copy of The Complete Calvin & Hobbes.
Just a point of warning, if you go for The Complete Far Side, it's a heavy bastard clocking in at nearly 15 pounds, so if you're planning on buying it online, there may be extra shipping charges added on.
It goes on sale from time to time (usually in January after Christmas didn't sell out) for 60 or less on Amazon
I found it on Amazon ... the pennies need to be stacked high, but I'm doing it ... hope to get my own copy in time for a little birthday binging this year ...
‘Udderly’ legendary.
@@k.c1126 Mine is on friday, so I wouldnt have enough time sadly
"The real reason dinosaurs became extinct" was a powerful anti-smoking message. For me, anyway.
I bought a greeting card with that cartoon on it for my then girlfriend in an attempt to get her to stop smoking...!
I'd see that in doctor's offices while growing. Sadly, it didn't stop me from smoking when I turned 18.
@Toy I: There was another one of a dinosaur with a powerful "anti-Rectal Thermometer" message!
Farside comics was one of the only few connections my stepfather and I had. Thanks for this.
I love every single episode you write, keep up the good work
I loooove The Far Side... I even went to the local library to borrow all their copies of The Far Side compilation books.
The compilation book set would make a wonderful Xmas present...in fact, I might gift myself it.
Always love learning more about the things that shaped my childhood and my sense of humor. My brother and I were obsessed with The Far Side as kids, buying/being given all the Far Side Gallery books, years and years of either monthly or daily calendars, and I even had the School for the Gifted t-shirt.
Calvin and Hobbes is also one of the cornerstone comics for me and the obsession ran just as strong. I would love yo see you do an exploration of the strip and creator like you did here.
I'm from a small town and my very first exposure to The Far Side was in the late 80's during a high school competition which took place in a large city. A few friends and I were checking out the shopping mall (also a new experience) and we wandered into a bookstore. As we perused, I noticed a Far Side collection book prominently displayed near the front of the store. I started reading (How could I not after seeing the book's cover illustration?) and soon called my friends over to join me. We were laughing in no time. I've been a huge fan ever since.
The first time I saw "The Wrong Trousers," I happened to channel-switch into it on PBS in the middle of the heist sequence. I thought it might have been a stop-motion adaptation of The Far Side.
Very informative. I enjoyed the entire presentation.
Thank you for making this. ❤
A new episode of Toy Galaxy with Dan always brightens my day!
Boy this took me back. I use to love those comics as a kid. They were so dark yet so laugh out loud funny at times despite the tone of them. People today truly have missed out.
Used to have the T-shirt with the large lady looking for a lost dog but it was stuck between her rear end. Always had a laugh with that shirt. I wonder if I can get another one.
Far side has been a staple in my friends and families lives for years. It was a good time and the jokes were pretty funny. Interesting story on the movie never happened.
You guys are the highlight of my Friday mornings. Your videos are the first thing I watch here in South Africa with my morning coffee ☕
Always loved the Farside! Thanks for another great video!
A single pane window into thousands of absurd parallel universes as well as the more weird corners of our own. I sought out The Far Side everytime I picked up the paper as a boy.
This was really interesting, thanks for the video 😄
The pure joy of going into a bookstore and finding a new Far Side gallery...
There is nothing even in the same league as The Far Side. We love them so much, we bought some of the collection books, picked out about 30 of our favorites (no captions), framed them, and put them up all over the house. We switch them around sometimes, just to throw people off. My favorite still: The chef getting ready to throw the ball at the wooden target that would trigger a lobster to drop into the boiling water. A huge component of these comics is the drawing and the way he so simplistically represents all manner of creature.
I had one of the smoking dinosaurs from a Far Side display somewhere. That was 30 years ago and it has been lost to time.
There was a substitute teacher i had in middleschool,
His name was Mr. Robsinson.
He was a hardass. Dude would go out of his way to test you mentally, and if you failed he’d chew you out in front of the class. At the time we thought he was just mean, but really he was building our character and teaching us not to take things personally.
Anyhow,
One day during class he pulled aside and introduced me to these comics.
And he specifically told me “i think you’re the only guy in this class who’d really get these jokes”
After that, him and i just clicked.
Went from getting sent out of class every time we’d have him as a substitute, to getting right along and he’d have a few pannels to show me each time I’d see him, even if i didn’t have him for any of my classes that day.
He’d see me in the hall and call me in to visit the other class for a few minutes so we could look up more.
Funny how common ground works like that.
Loved The Far Side! One of the first strips I remember seeing was shortly after The Des Moines Register picked it up. It was a Sunday strip that had a caption that said “Dog Hell” and was a drawing of several dogs wearing letter carrier hats and bags delivering mail while a devil in the background watches over them.
Thank you! Very timely considering we are now living on the far side!
You guys are crushing it!
Good stuff. Thanks!
I might not be a Larson, but my father's name is Lars, and I'm (obviously) his son.
Reading The Far Side and Bizzaro from a young age made me the man I am today.
"However, there was no question that, on the south side of the river, the land was ruled by the awesome Tyrannosaurus-Mex."
It's odd that Gary Larson was fighting digitized comics when even Bill Watterson wasn't.
In terms of Larson's influence on current comics, Darby Conley said in the first Get Fuzzy collection something to the effect of, "There are two types of cartoonists, those that have tried to copy The Far Side and those that lie about it."
Great video! I will always love the punchline, "Well, somethin's happenin'... There goes my head!"
I have a Far Side I cut from the paper maybe 45 years ago.
The one with the chickens discussing advanced physics with the cows.
Absolutely hilarious.
I never had a problem with Cow Tools, it just made me laugh at the weirdness of it.
He poked so much fun about the absurdidies of life and people, the backlash about that one just makes it even better, lol.
I have a collection of my favourites of Larson’s Far Sides strips. They were snipped from my daily paper for years. Now my grandchildren enjoy them.