10 Funniest Far Side Comics About Cows

Between 1980 and 1995, cartoonist Gary Larson wrote and illustrated The Far Side. Published as a single-panel comic strip, it relied on surreal, non-sequitur humor aimed primarily at adults. Unlike traditional newspaper strips such as Peanuts or Garfield, Larson avoided recurring characters, introducing a fresh set of figures and scenarios in almost every installment.

Larson still favored several recurring motifs. He frequently drew dinosaurs engaged in human behaviors, such as eating breakfast cereal with a child prize inside or smoking cigarettes to explain their extinction. He also set cartoons around cavemen dealing with domestic life and satirized historic events.

Cows remained Larson’s most iconic subject. Across 4,337 individual strips produced during the run of The Far Side, cattle routinely took center stage, secretly plotting schemes or mimicking human habits. In an interview with The New York Times, Larson reflected on his interest in the animals:

“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.”

The following ten strips highlight some of the most memorable cow-centric cartoons from Larson’s body of work.

10. A big realization

Published on October 16, 1981, this cartoon features a cow suddenly understanding what she has been eating in the pasture. Larson’s work often balanced intricate visual gags with simple, direct punchlines, and this panel succeeded on pure silliness.

9. No one wants to hear that

In this comic from July 8, 1982, Larson subverts an old storytelling trope. Travelers in rural settings were once depicted sleeping in barns when farmhouses lacked space. Larson inverted the premise, showing a cow receiving the unwelcome news that the barn had reached capacity.

8. A very famous comic

Printed on October 28, 1982, the “Cow tools” strip showed a cow standing beside a table filled with bizarre, crudely shaped implements. The cartoon puzzled readers, prompting newspapers to receive numerous letters from audiences searching for a hidden scientific meaning.

The confusion grew so widespread that Larson issued a statement to clarify the gag. Larson explained:

“The cartoon was intended to be an exercise in silliness. 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”

7. Cow gossip

Appearing on July 29, 1987, this panel delivered another role reversal. Humans often criticized unkempt rooms by comparing them to barns, so Larson flipped the perspective, showing cattle complaining that their barn smelled like a human house.

6. For indoor cows

From September 25, 1986, this strip works purely as a visual gag. Larson depicted a proud owner showing off a large plastic exercise ball containing a cow, completely bypassing any elaborate setup to focus on the absurd image.

5. Two of Larson’s favorites

Larson combined his interest in paleontology with his love of cattle in a panel from February 16, 1983, which portrayed dinosaurs in bovine form.

His dinosaur strips sometimes left an impact outside the funny pages. In a strip from May 27, 1982, a caveman lecturer pointed to the spiked tail of a Stegosaurus and identified it as the “thagomizer,” named after “the late Thag Simmons.” Paleontologists eventually adopted the term, making “thagomizer” the accepted anatomical name for that skeletal structure.

4. Sneaky cows

On January 6, 1984, Larson briefly departed from his standard single-frame layout. The resulting sequential strip showed cows standing on two legs and chatting, only to drop back onto all fours whenever an oncoming car passed by.

3. A valuable lesson

Published on January 22, 1983, this classroom-themed panel extracted humor from human confusion around basic bovine anatomy.

2. Proper line etiquette

On May 13, 1983, Larson leaned into darker humor. The cartoon showed cows waiting in line at a slaughterhouse, contrasting an ordinary social courtesy with a grim setting.

1. Really sneaky cows

Appearing on February 12, 1986, this panel showed cattle quietly conspiring against humans. The combination of quiet malice and absurd farm animals made it one of Larson’s standout strips.

Source: Polygon