The Awful Story Of Cow Tools

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  • čas přidán 3. 08. 2021
  • Cow tools is one of the most infamous cartoons of all time, with its bewildering appearance hanging over the reputation of “The Far Side” for years.
    Professor Jelly in this video talks about the cartoon and it’s impact on society and creator Gary Larson.

Komentáře • 112

  • @GeoffreyToday
    @GeoffreyToday Před 2 lety +207

    It's a pretty simple comic. They're cow tools. Tools designed by cows for cows to use. A cow looks at those tools and understands them. We are not cows, which is why we look at those tools and don't understand them. Just as a cow would not understand a table full of human tools.

  • @themostfabulousthing5269
    @themostfabulousthing5269 Před 2 lety +204

    "Awful comic" My friend you are starting at a work of art above all else, curve your tounge!

    • @Lem_On_Lime
      @Lem_On_Lime Před 2 lety +8

      The idiom is "Curb your tongue", btw, as in 'keep it within it's boundaries.'
      Also, I agree, calling this art "awful" is a rough start.

    • @diamondmemer9754
      @diamondmemer9754 Před 5 měsíci +1

      ​@@Lem_On_LimeI genuinely cannot tell, why would it be funny?

    • @SugerFreeJazz
      @SugerFreeJazz Před 3 měsíci

      ​@diamondmemer9754 cows can't build tools. Its just an absurd idea to think a cow built a bunch of crappy tools. That's all, that's why it's funny. The beauty is in the simplicity.

    • @diamondmemer9754
      @diamondmemer9754 Před 3 měsíci +1

      @@SugerFreeJazz this is the type of joke an AI would make, it literally lacks the spark that makes it human
      If you laugh at this, you would laugh at a robot generating random words
      Just think about that

    • @SugerFreeJazz
      @SugerFreeJazz Před 3 měsíci

      @@diamondmemer9754 your still not getting it. It's in the vain of jokes like the aristocrats. Its "anti-humour" and like all good forms of humour It subverts expectations, it does it here by being nothing more then it is.

  • @dirtyredcommie
    @dirtyredcommie Před 2 lety +97

    Don't talk shit about cow tools - it's a work of art

    • @dustria
      @dustria Před 8 měsíci +1

      The more misunderstood it is, the more of a work of art it is. There are lots of people that literally believe that.

    • @diamondmemer9754
      @diamondmemer9754 Před 5 měsíci +2

      ​@@dustriathat's not how that works at all
      The only feelings it transmits is a sense of superiority to people who think they get it

    • @hawawah8671
      @hawawah8671 Před měsícem

      If he never said what it was supposed to mean people would discuss it in college art classes.

  • @LoganSmith1
    @LoganSmith1 Před 2 lety +106

    The fact that you don't get the joke makes it even funnier

    • @waydehollis3606
      @waydehollis3606 Před 2 lety +10

      Norm MacDonald is smiling

    • @sandy4747
      @sandy4747 Před rokem +3

      Exactly. If there had ever been anyone on this planet who understood this panel, it would have been Norm.

    • @diamondmemer9754
      @diamondmemer9754 Před 5 měsíci +4

      That is the opposite of how jokes work, that's called a false sense of superiority

    • @awkwardukulele6077
      @awkwardukulele6077 Před 4 měsíci

      Jesus, you don't stop at not getting _the_ joke, you don't even understand *jokes.* As a whole.
      It's not a false sense of superiority if everyone else actually _is_ better than you, bud. @@diamondmemer9754

  • @matthewmoran7033
    @matthewmoran7033 Před 2 lety +38

    "This isn't even a cow, it has horns!" As if cows don't have horns...

    • @danebradbury5940
      @danebradbury5940 Před 7 měsíci +1

      Bulls

    • @orfeo793
      @orfeo793 Před 5 měsíci +4

      @@danebradbury5940 female cows too, they are just removed most the time in the US

  • @JakobSins
    @JakobSins Před 2 lety +34

    simple answer to this video: the cow made tools

  • @nullname0
    @nullname0 Před 2 lety +89

    Cow tools was ahead of it's time in humor.

    • @breakbreakbreakbreakbreak
      @breakbreakbreakbreakbreak Před 9 měsíci +2

      yeah i can't tell if jelly really just doesn't appreciate the cleverness of it, or is just trying to do the same thing with this pointless video. well it did come up with looking up cow tools, so... success?

    • @mango-vb5vd
      @mango-vb5vd Před 6 měsíci

      It was the precursor to shit posts

    • @diamondmemer9754
      @diamondmemer9754 Před 5 měsíci +3

      ​@@breakbreakbreakbreakbreakhow exactly is it clever?
      It's like one of those shitposts you see hundreds of on any site who are only occasionally funny just because they make fun of how ridicolous shitposts are

    • @maxdavis7722
      @maxdavis7722 Před 5 měsíci +1

      @@breakbreakbreakbreakbreakit’s clever?

  • @hamurabi1066
    @hamurabi1066 Před 2 lety +30

    cows have horns. many US farmers clip them, but cows do in fact grow horns.

  • @elmerfudd5738
    @elmerfudd5738 Před 2 lety +18

    "Cow Tools" was pure bovine genius

  • @misterpootisbird5027
    @misterpootisbird5027 Před 2 lety +12

    The joke is that cows aren’t very good at making tools

  • @matbillings2533
    @matbillings2533 Před 2 lety +30

    Cows have hooves. Have you ever tried to make a tool with hooves?! If I was a personified cow with hooves my tools would probably also look like they were made out of mashed play-dough lol!

  • @alanguile8945
    @alanguile8945 Před 2 lety +18

    One of his funniest cartoons and its reassuring you don't have a clue!

  • @villageidiot181
    @villageidiot181 Před 2 lety +20

    It’s not a bad cartoon 💀

  • @leecowell8165
    @leecowell8165 Před rokem +9

    Larson was way before your time and pretty sick. beyond sick at times. Two polar bears are looking through the top of an igloo. One says to the other "I love these things crunchy on the outside with a chewy center". Buncha cowboys are sitting around a campfire but one of them has his legs crossed... "Don't do that, Larry". Boneless chicken ranch.. the pane has a buncha chickens drawn around a barn flopped all over the place.. on the road, on the gate, on the roof... no bones. He drew many panes that drew quizzical looks and comments. The guy just thought completely outside-the-box.

    • @janebrown1706
      @janebrown1706 Před 9 měsíci +1

      Or the ducks(?) commenting that blah blahs house is on fire cos the crocs' mouth is burning.

    • @diamondmemer9754
      @diamondmemer9754 Před 5 měsíci +1

      I can probably make a funnier joke without even trying

    • @ohno3736
      @ohno3736 Před 4 měsíci +2

      The first one isn't even hard to get though? Seems to me like you guys are hyping him up for no real reason

    • @diamondmemer9754
      @diamondmemer9754 Před 4 měsíci +2

      @@ohno3736 yeah people without an ounce on creativity being surprised by the most basic jokes in existence, I don't think they'd be able to handle a cartoon

  • @seneca983
    @seneca983 Před 27 dny +1

    1:27 Horns don't mean it's not a cow. Cows too have the ability to grow horns. It's just that the horns are often removed because they're an unnecessary hazard.

  • @PeterWhite66
    @PeterWhite66 Před rokem +2

    As an old farm boy I can assure you that cows do have horns. Some farmers remove the horns to prevent injuries.

  • @kensvideos1
    @kensvideos1 Před 2 lety +6

    You may not understand cow tools but the cow does, how do you think she built that barn?

  • @woodrowmeeks5009
    @woodrowmeeks5009 Před 2 lety +5

    Cows do have horns as well as bulls.

  • @saravis56
    @saravis56 Před 2 lety +5

    Cows have horns.

  • @Merennulli
    @Merennulli Před 2 lety +14

    So was the thumbnail intentionally to try to invoke the same sort of effect?
    I was reading Larson's explanation for his new comics (basically, he tried out digital drawing and got inspired) and googled "Cow Tools" based on him mentioning it because I had forgotten this comic. One of the top Google images was your thumbnail that strangely repeated it like a conveyor belt of more tools and that's what got my attention to read Google's description of it - which is where I saw your video's title and decided to watch.
    Basically, by being weird with the thumbnail in a way I couldn't understand, you got my attention enough that I looked in and watched the video in much the same way you describe Larson's rise the year following Cow Tools. Obviously, being a search result for a 39 year old comic is probably not as effective as being in 70 newspapers already making it into people's homes, but whether intentional or not I thought it was neat this followed a similar pattern.
    I wasn't able to read yet when this comic came out, but I am old enough that it was in my lifetime, and it still seems strange to me that so many people wrote to the newspaper for an explanation of an absurd comic. I guess it's like how today his publisher would be inundated with emails and tweets, but more expensive.

  • @metaronin
    @metaronin Před 2 lety +10

    dont diss the mutton hammer

    • @headsupdisplay2189
      @headsupdisplay2189 Před 2 lety +2

      The "mutton hammer"? Yes, well done....almost as good as the "Thagamizer"...

    • @metaronin
      @metaronin Před 2 lety +2

      @@headsupdisplay2189 named after the late Thag Simmons

  • @JPiXeL
    @JPiXeL Před rokem +2

    this comic panel belongs in a museum for how inhumanely perplexing it is

  • @schmietwechdeschiet4340
    @schmietwechdeschiet4340 Před rokem +2

    not sure what's worst, people pretending to understand this or darksouls people pretending to know the lore

  • @joshuaevans4301
    @joshuaevans4301 Před rokem +2

    Part of the joy of "Cow Tools" is the people who just don't get it. It's the original shitpost

  • @kriscollinstunes
    @kriscollinstunes Před 10 měsíci +2

    1:29 cows can have horns

  • @fatwod
    @fatwod Před 3 měsíci

    Explain this one...."On a clear day, Eugene rose and looked around him and, regrettably, saw who he was?" Anyone? Totally Stumped!

  • @KicksPregnantWomen
    @KicksPregnantWomen Před 2 lety +7

    cow tools

  • @BigPeterG
    @BigPeterG Před měsícem

    "Selling over fourty-five -_- 0_0 MEWLION"

  • @hughgordon6435
    @hughgordon6435 Před rokem

    Its the look of study on the cows face? Almost as if he's actually trying to work out which tool to use

  • @ShaneMorris
    @ShaneMorris Před 2 lety +5

    You don't like Dali either do you?

  • @PixelSlayer247
    @PixelSlayer247 Před 5 měsíci +1

    I got the comic first try as a little kid, does that make me smart or dumb?

  • @steve-ph9yg
    @steve-ph9yg Před rokem +4

    Aww the kid didn’t get it what a surprise.

    • @diamondmemer9754
      @diamondmemer9754 Před 5 měsíci +2

      You also don't get it, there's nothing to get

    • @sneggron
      @sneggron Před 3 měsíci +1

      ^guy who didn't get it

    • @diamondmemer9754
      @diamondmemer9754 Před 3 měsíci +1

      @@sneggron explain it then

    • @sneggron
      @sneggron Před 3 měsíci

      one cannot simply explain art that is transcendental in nature. It must be felt to be understood.

    • @diamondmemer9754
      @diamondmemer9754 Před 3 měsíci +1

      @@sneggron what does this even make you feel? It's not even interesting enough to enjoy it ironically

  • @1badjesus401
    @1badjesus401 Před rokem

    FUN FACT: cows have developed ability to use crescent wrenches.

  • @eatatjoes6751
    @eatatjoes6751 Před rokem

    It's simple, but God I hate its reputation - the cow can't use the tools.

  • @Very_Silly_Individual
    @Very_Silly_Individual Před rokem +3

    He was just ahead of his time. None of us could've understood at the time

  • @ricardokowalski1579
    @ricardokowalski1579 Před 10 měsíci

    "even the hollowest nut wants to be cracked"

  • @woodrowmeeks5009
    @woodrowmeeks5009 Před 2 lety +1

    Saw, rake, hammer and sander...me thinks.

  • @rendavis25
    @rendavis25 Před 8 měsíci

    Cows can and often do have horns. Not just bulls.

  • @stillWaters137
    @stillWaters137 Před 7 měsíci +1

    No opposable thumbs or critical thought. Damnable shame. But how did they make the tools, let alone use them? Cows are cute & delicious & curious...that's it. Check out videos of their response to music. It's adorable. Eat a steak. Pet one. The end.

  • @janebrown1706
    @janebrown1706 Před 9 měsíci

    Oh I love it! Is this the one where public servants wrote in and said their mental health depended on a Daily fix of the cartoon and could he please explain it. When I was broke I cut them out if the paper and put them in a scrap book. That was 1992 and I've still got it. Best one is the Neanderthals and a Phillips rock!

  • @breakfastline
    @breakfastline Před 2 lety +3

    Cattle has horns lmfao?

  • @lordofnut3272
    @lordofnut3272 Před 2 lety +3

    But it looks funny

  • @zammcut
    @zammcut Před 2 lety +4

    Great video man , very well put together

  • @diamondmemer9754
    @diamondmemer9754 Před 5 měsíci +2

    This is the boomer version of Pickle Rick

  • @GoodWoIf
    @GoodWoIf Před 15 dny

    Good video.

  • @tomellis4750
    @tomellis4750 Před 3 měsíci

    Professor? Of what?

  • @milestrius9666
    @milestrius9666 Před rokem

    i have many thoughts i might share later about this “debacle” shame on you

  • @dirtyredcommie
    @dirtyredcommie Před 2 lety

    Thank you

  • @valcaron
    @valcaron Před 9 měsíci

    Far Side is too sophisticated for zoomers.

  • @zikuronsan6362
    @zikuronsan6362 Před 2 lety

    ?????

  • @Altusfonz
    @Altusfonz Před 2 lety

    Great video bro

  • @Blitzuro
    @Blitzuro Před 2 lety

    How’s this a meme

  • @tvdv3416
    @tvdv3416 Před 2 lety +1

    Cows have horns.