10 Funniest Far Side Comics About Cows

Gary Larson wrote and drew The Far Side from 1980 to 1995. The single-panel strip was known for surreal, non sequitur jokes aimed mostly at adults, an unusual approach for newspaper comics at the time. It also had no recurring characters. Unlike Peanuts, with its gang of kids, or Garfield, with its humans and animals, each Far Side panel introduced new characters and a new scenario for a single joke.

Larson did return to certain subjects. Dinosaurs were a favorite, often shown doing ordinary human things, such as eating breakfast cereal with a free kid inside or smoking cigarettes. Larson also explored prehistoric domestic life through cavemen and poked fun at historical figures and events.

But cows may be the strip’s most memorable recurring subject. During his 15 years working on The Far Side, Larson created 4,337 comics and returned to cows again and again. He portrayed them doing everyday human things, or behaving villainously behind people’s backs, especially farmers’. In a 1998 interview with The New York Times, Larson explained his fascination: “I’ve always thought the word cow was funny,” he said. “And cows are sort of tragic figures. Cows blur the line between tragedy and humor.”

Here are 10 of the funniest Far Side comics about cows. With so many to choose from, the ranking is open to debate.

10. A big realization

From October 16, 1981, this comic shows a cow realizing she has been eating grass. Some Far Side jokes are thoughtful and subtle, while others are simple and silly enough for children to enjoy. This one is an easy gag for anyone to appreciate.

9. No one wants to hear that

This comic, from July 8, 1982, turns an old travel convention around. In movies, travelers who weren’t welcome or trusted in a farmer’s house might be sent to sleep in the barn instead. Larson’s role reversal is simple and funny, though the setup may feel a little dated.

8. A very famous comic

This may be one of the best-known Far Side strips, but its fame came less from the joke itself than from the public reaction.

Published on October 28, 1982, “Cow tools” shows a cow behind a table with a collection of crude-looking instruments. Newspapers that ran the strip received letters from readers who said they didn’t understand the joke. Many assumed it contained a subtle or scientific idea, as some of Larson’s comics did. The response came so quickly that Larson issued a press release the next day to explain that the joke was straightforward.

“The cartoon was intended to be an exercise in silliness,” Larson wrote. “While I have never met a cow who could make tools, I felt sure that if I did, they (the tools) would lack something in sophistication and resemble the sorry specimens shown in this cartoon. I regret that my fondness for cows, combined with an overactive imagination, may have carried me beyond what is comprehensible to the average Far Side reader”

The joke was simply that cows are bad at making tools. Readers had overthought it.

7. Cow gossip

From July 29, 1987, this comic offers another role reversal between cows and people. The old expression says a bad-smelling house smells like a barn. In Larson’s version, a cow’s insult is that a barn smells like a house.

6. For indoor cows

This panel, from September 25, 1986, is a straightforward sight gag. One woman proudly describes her plastic cow ball, while the other woman’s reaction is left out. Larson often made the punchline do all the work, without needing a setup or a visible response.

5. Two of Larson’s favorites

Dinosaurs were another frequent subject for Larson. In this panel from February 16, 1983, he combines dinosaurs and cows, leaving it up to the reader to decide whether they are dinosaurs depicted as cows or cows depicted as dinosaurs.

One of Larson’s dinosaur comics also contributed a name to paleontology. In a comic from May 27, 1982, a caveman professor points to the spikes on a Stegosaurus’s tail and tells a class of cavemen, “Now, this end is called the thagomizer… after the late Thag Simmons.”

The strip became so popular, and the joke so beloved, that “thagomizer” eventually became the official name for the spiky tail structure on Stegosaurus and related dinosaurs. Before then, the structure had no name.

4. Sneaky cows

Larson sometimes broke from the single-panel format to tell a more traditional joke with a setup and punchline. In this strip from January 6, 1984, cows stand upright when cars aren’t looking. That format was unusual for The Far Side, but the strip’s flexibility set it apart from comics with stricter structures and regular casts of characters.

3. A valuable lesson

From January 22, 1983, this cow lesson is a simple, funny example of a Far Side joke at people’s expense.

2. Proper line etiquette

This comic, from May 13, 1983, shows how dark Larson’s humor could be while still being silly. You wouldn’t see a joke like this in The Family Circus.

1. Really sneaky cows

From February 12, 1986, this comic is another example of Larson combining dark humor with silliness. It may be his funniest cow strip.

Source: Polygon