12 Far Side Comics With Straight Up Fire 10/10 Punchlines

The Far Side was “fire,” as the kids say. That’s figuratively, but also literally true for the cartoons collected below, which collected some of Gary Larson’s funniest jokes about things going up in flames. Which, unsurprisingly for a comedic genius obsessed with mayhem, was a pretty frequent occurance in Far Side canon.

The Far Side launched in 1980, but it wasn’t until circa 1984 that Larson’s career really started to heat up. The Far Side went from a spark to a raging inferno in the mid-80s, growing from a niche, local curiosity to a national treasure. The comics here span all three “acts” of Gary Larson’s career, highlighting how he never stopped finding flames funny.

These panels will be fuel for your burning love of The Far Side. Each one is funnier than the last, and they all display the virtues that made The Far Side a singular work of creative vision. These Far Side comics are full of action, wordplay, irony, dark and silly humor alike, smart and dumb humor alike, and many more of the things that made Gary Larson one of the leading popular humorists of his generation in the 1980s and 1990s.

12

The Far Side Reveals The Great Chicago Fire Was A Cow Conspiracy

First Published: March 13, 1980

“It seems that agent 6373 has accomplished her mission,” one bovine says to another as they watch Chicago go up in flames. It’s one of The Far Side’s first cow comics. It’s also one of the cartoons that set a precedent for The Far Side’s “alternate history” strain of jokes.

This punchline turns the apocryphal accident in “Mrs. O’Leary’s barn” that kicked off the conflagration and turns it into a conspiracy by cows to take down human civilization. This is arguably one of the most iconic examples of Gary Larson’s “outsider” style of humor, which often put him at odds with humanity.

11

The Far Side’s Bravest Soul Tries To Bring Contraband Into Hell

First Published: May 27, 1980

Here’s another early Far Side cartoon from the strip’s first year, which helped make hell a recurring location for Gary Larson. In the panel, two demons haul a man into the Devil’s office after catching him trying to bring a secret fire extinguisher into the fiery pit of damnation.

The guy was “trying to smuggle [the extinguisher] in under his coat,” one demon explains. It’s a remarkable act of hubris on behalf of a soul that has been consigned to suffering for all eternity. The real hilarious bit, though, which Larson would return to time and again, was giving hell a bureaucratic vibe, with Satan sitting behind a desk and looking like a beleaguered boss.

10

The Far Side’s “Crisis Clinic” Is In Serious Jeopardy

First Published: January 7, 1982

This is an all-time unforgettable Far Side visual. It’s also an A+ example of The Far Side’s style of ironic comedy. The cartoon depicts a “Crisis Clinic” that is in the midst of a crisis of its own; not only is the building consumed by fire, but it is also floating downriver toward a massive waterfall.

Don’t overthink the “why?” or the “how?” of it all. Anything could happen in the world of The Far Side, as long as it as absurdly funny. That’s certainly the case here, in a cartoon that embodies the principle of “Murphy’s Law”: anything that can go wrong (no matter how improbable) will go wrong.

9

One Of The Far Side’s Most Shocking Captionless Jokes Speaks For Itself

First Published: June 24, 1983

The Far Side was populated by plenty of morally questionable characters, but the guy in this cartoon might low-key be the most egregiously unhinged of the lot. He’s often overlooked, because the wordless Far Side joke here requires readers to put 2 + 2 together: this evil artist set the forest on fire so he could paint a burning landscape.

It ranks up there among Gary Larson’s darkest punchlines. The punchline isn’t exactly subtle, but it does take a beat to register with readers, which is its secret strength. Readers’ attention will naturally go to the painter first, then the roaring forest fire he’s capturing on his canvas. Finally, that’s when they’ll notice the box of matches at his feet.

It’s also an easy joke to misunderstand, at least for people who don’t “get” The Far Side’s humor. Gary Larson loved nature. Of course, the joke isn’t that the forest is burning. Instead, the punchline, whether it evokes a laugh, or a gasp, is the shocking revelation that the artist arranged the conflagration.

8

The Far Side Plays With Multiple Meanings Of The Word “Fire” In This 10/10 Cartoon

First Published: June 25, 1984

This panel is perfection in action, as far as The Far Side is concerned. It’s a clever play on words, for starters. Actually, play on “word” to be specific, since it only needs one. Like so many iconic Far Sides, the cartoon features a character facing a cruel twist of fate due to a comedically tragic misunderstanding.

That is, an army officer lighting a condemned man’s final smoke is going to get shot by his own firing squad because a woman in a nearby burning building shouts “FIRE!” at the most inopportune time. For a single static image, this Far Side joke has so many moving parts, it’s nothing short of remarkable.

The Far Side was replete with “wrong place, wrong time” moments, and this ranks up there with the best of the best. Its mid-1984 publication date puts it right at the time The Far Side was becoming a national phenomenon, and this cartoon confirmed Gary Larson to be a certified comedic genius.

7

The Far Side Discovers Someone Unexpected “Inside The Sun”

First Published: August 27, 1986

Like any self-respecting cartoon, The Far Side’s humor was fundamentally childish. That’s not a pejorative. The comedy of The Far Side sprang from Gary Larson’s deep reservoir of curiosity, his willingness to ask “What if?” and supply the most unserious answer possible.

Take the question: “what is inside the sun?” Gary Larson loved science, so he surely knew full well the mechanics, or at least the broad strokes, of the nuclear fusion that powers a star at its core. But with The Far Side, he imagined an alternative: a guy whose job it is to flip a giant switch between the “rise” and “set” setting.

Obviously, it’s a tough gig, what with the heat and all. Larson’s man on the inside (of the sun) is, amazingly, wearing long pants, but up top he’s down to his undershirt, which is horrifically sweat stained. Still, he’s used to the climate; he’s got his feet up on the desk, reading the “Sun Tribune,” as he’s surrounded by oscillating fans.

6

The Far Side Asks: “Is Being Annoying A Sin?”

First Published: October 1, 1987

Now, let’s check back in on hell, in order to meet a candidate for The Far Side’s most insufferable nerd. The Far Side featured countless nerdy characters over the years, but this one sets the high bar for not understanding “time and place.” In this panel, a group of the eternally tormented are tortured even further as they wait in line for some unknown, but presumably horrifying punishment.

How? By the guy among them who thinks he’s funny. “Hot enough for ya?” the guy turns to the man next to him and asks, as flames roar around them. It’s a dumb joke, without a doubt, but exactly the kind that The Far Side was created to be a vehicle for.

5

The Far Side Did “Fish Out Of Water” Comedy Unlike Any Other Cartoon

First Published: October 19, 1988

The good news: these Far Side fish made it out of their bowl before it went up in flames. The bad news: now they’re going to die an equally horrible death unless they get in a new bowl ASAP.

“Now we’re equally screwed,” the fish father says to his wife and kids, as they watch the bowl burn, improbably, despite being full of water. It’s a classically absurd Far Side cartoon, with a dash of the macabre thanks to the dire implications of the joke. It’s also one of many signs, like all the cartoons discussed here, that Gary Larson found humor in scary things. The idea of a house fire is terrifying, but used in a surreal context, and it can be converted into laugh-out-loud comedy.

4

The Doldrums Of Everyday Life Can Be Hell, According To The Far Side

First Published: July 16, 1990

It’s a seemingly idyllic evening at home for this couple, as the wife sits in her armchair reading a book, and the husband sits in his adjacent chair reading a newspaper, and their dog curls up cozily in front of the TV set. Except the lamp, and the husband’s newspaper, and his chair, and the dog, are all going up in flames.

Except while this would ordinarily be catastrophic, in this instance it’s no big deal. Because these characters are two more of The Far Side’s resident demons. “Dog’s on fire,” the demon wife nonchalantly says, telling her husband, “I think it’s your turn to put him out,” which tells readers this a regular occurrence.

It’s a classic Far Side punchline, which expertly mixes the familiar and ridiculous, a formula for deliriously funny cartoons that paid off time and again for Gary Larson and fans of his work.

3

The Far Side’s Peak Physical Comedy In A Single Fame

First Published: March 31, 1991

Here’s one of The Far Side’s greatest instances of physical comedy. It’s another panel that manages to pull off action in a still image. In the cartoon, a group of firefighters position a trampoline so that a woman can jump to safety out of an upper floor of a burning high-rise apartment building.

Only the building across the street is on fire too, and when she hits the trampoline she bounces with such force that it sends her flying into an open third floor window of that building, with flames shooting out of it, putting her in even more immediate danger. It’s a hysterical joke, executed perfectly in cartoon form, which makes it an example of The Far Side at its pitch-perfect calibration of smart and dumb humor.