The Far Side and cows are synonymous, but these deep-cut cow cartoons tend to fly under fans' radar. From underrated classics, to panels where Far Side creator Gary Larson didn't fully connect with his comedic swing, these cow comics are the ones that don't get their praises sung nearly enough.
Far Side readers can learn a lot from studying its cows. What's noteworthy is that cows' role as Larson's go-to comedic animals evolved over time, and it's easy to pinpoint the moment they took a great leap forward: "Cow Tools."
The October 1982 Far Side panel "Cow Tools" is the most recognizable cartoon Gary Larson ever produced. It's also among the most polarizing to this day. The Far Side's corpus of cow comics can be divided into the pre- and post-"Cow Tools" eras.
This list looks at Far Side cow cartoons leading up to, and in the aftermath of, "Cow Tools" publication; by the end of this list, the cow was fully the "mascot" of The Far Side.
In this early Far Side cow cartoon, a herd of cattle are out in the pasture on a pleasant, sunny day, when one has a startling moment of self-discovery. "Hey! Wait a minute!" the bewildered bovine shouts, half-chewed bits of turf flying out of its mouth as it realizes, "this is grass. We've been eating grass!"
The eyes of another cow nearby go wide in confusion, while one in the background jerks its head up, its attention caught. This joke goes beyond absurdity, representing The Far Side at peak silliness. As far as cow comics go, it shows that a year ahead of "Cow Tools," Gary Larson's cow humor was still rounding into form.
Reversal of perspectives was a key part of The Far Side's comedic sensibility. This is a classic example, yet it's not exactly part of the pantheon of legendary Far Side cow cartoons. Here, a pair of cattle watch as a marathon runs by, and one says: "I'd hate to be in a box canyon with those coming at me!"
This is actually one of Gary Larson's most memorable stampede jokes, and he made his fair share during The Far Side's run. What makes this a truly great, underrated Far Side, though, is how it revels in revealing the thin line between animal behavior and human activities.
"I'm sorry, but we haven't any room," one cow says to another in this Far Side comic, telling them that instead of coming into the barn, "['they'll] have to sleep in the house." It's a perfectly amusing Far Side cartoon, for sure, but it's also understandable why it has been overlooked in favor of other cow jokes.
The Far Side is known for its witty humor, but some of Gary Larson's jokes are so smart that the punchline flies right over readers' heads.
It seems as though, with this cartoon, Gary Larson was possibly riffing on the Biblical story of Mary, Joseph, and the innkeepers from the Bible, which wouldn't have been out of the ordinary for The Far Side. Yet Larson didn't really follow through here, and the joke doesn't fully land as a result.
This is an underappreciated Far Side take on the "animals talk in secret" bit. It presupposes that not only do farm animals speak English, they hold lively discourses on theoretical equations at an advanced level. That is, until the farmer comes in to milk the cows, at which point everyone switches to their native tongues.
This cartoon represents one of Gary Larson's common comedic themes: that strange and hilarious things are always happening right under people's noses. For readers, being let in on the secret was key to getting big laughs with a Far Side cartoon like this one.
Notably, this was one of the last pre-"Cow Tools" Far Side cow comics. After 1982, Gary Larson's comedic relationship with cows, and cows association with Far Side, changed forever.
This cartoon kicks off the post-"Cow Tools" era of The Far Side, and it's fair to read it as a response to the "controversy" surrounding that cartoon following its October 1982 publication. In this panel, a teacher stands next to a simple drawing of a cow labeled "cow." He points to a student with a raised hand and says, "I believe there's a question in the back."
Gary Larson didn't think "Cow Tools" was the mind-bending, "unexplainable" comic it developed a reputation for being, and he reluctantly found himself explaining his joke to people once it became a media sensation. This Far Side joke, where the punchline is, "what question could this student possibly have?," feels designed to subtly poke fun at readers, and reporters, who made a lot out of a little with "Cow Tools."
If the last entry was a response to "Cow Tools," so was this one. This seems to be a case of Gary Larson going, "okay, I'll give them another weird cow comic, but I'll give it to them The Far Side way." The result was a cartoon about dinosaur cows. "Sixty-five million years ago, when cows ruled the Earth,' the caption explains.
The Far Side was Gary Larson's master class in getting big laughs with the least amount of page space, fewest words, and sparsest cartoons.
Strange, yes. But not mystifying like "Cow Tools." Notably, after this panel was published in early '83, Larson actually put cows on the shelf for a while, apparently unsure how to follow up his masterpiece. There was only one more Far Side cow comic that year, over six months later, but in the years to come, Larson went on a run, producing some of his best bovine belly-busting jokes.
Here, Gary Larson recycled the "cows talking in secret" joke. This Far Side cartoon is told across a sequence of three images. Three cows standing on their hind legs are chatting when a fourth, serving as "spotter," shouts "CAR!" The whole herd goes back to grazing, literally "acting natural," as a human couple drives past the pasture. When they're gone, the cows all stand back up.
It's a simple joke, but it's important to note that 1984 was the year The Far Side "broke." That is, when it really became a nationally syndicated cartoon, going from dozens to hundreds of newspapers across the country. '84 was many fans' first introduction to Gary Larson's work, and while jokes like this might not be as memorable today, they helped make someone a Far Side reader for life.
There's a large timeskip between last entry, from January '84, to this one, from fall 1985. That's because virtually every Far Side cow cartoon Gary Larson produced during that span of time is a certified classic. For anyone debating the precise parameters of The Far Side's "golden years," or its peak, look to the cow cartoons of the mid-80s to make the case for '84-'86.
This panel is a hidden gem. It depicts a domesticated cow in a bubble, or "plastic cow ball," as Larson dubs it. "This is always amusing," her owner says, and she's right, it is funny, but at the time this cartoon was published cows had thoroughly become a staple of The Far Side, and some cartoons, like this one, were bound to get lost in the shuffle.
Cows are technically absent from this Far Side cartoon, but their presence looms large. Which is what qualifies it as an underrated Far Side cow joke. In the panel, a group of chickens with a grudge sow disharmony on the farm by defacing the barn with graffiti and making it look like a cow did it.
And the funny thing is, the caption tells us their plan worked, to the detriment of the poor off-panel cow. "Eventually, the chickens were able to drive a wedge between Farmer Bob and Lulu," it reveals, though to what end remains one of The Far Side's great unanswered questions.
"Happens every time..." a beleaguered bovine says in this Far Side cartoon, caught in the middle of its herd with a shower cap on, a towel slung over its back, having had bathtime interrupted when everyone else was startled by a thunderstorm.
"I just get in the shower and someone yells 'stampede'," the cow complains. It's a low-key relatable Far Side joke; people's precious moments to themselves are always getting interrupted at the worst possible time, and it's no different for cows. It's a solid Far Side joke, but for "best" bovine punchline, it has some heavyhitters to compete with.
Speak up, Far Side fans. What other underrated cow cartoons deserve more attention?
