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Stuff You Should Know

A Tribute To The Far Side

Published September 25, 2025
View Show Notes

About This Episode

Hosts Josh and Chuck pay tribute to Gary Larson's single-panel comic The Far Side, tracing its origins from Larson's quirky family and love of biology through his break into syndication and eventual global success. They analyze what makes the humor work, walk through several iconic panels, and explore Larson's perfectionism, his choice to end the strip before it declined, and his deep connection with the scientific community and conservation. The episode closes with a listener correction about the relationship between dolphins, orcas, and whales.

Topics Covered

The Far Side Gary Larson Comics industry Comedy Art and creativity Pop culture Science communication Wildlife conservation Nostalgia Nerd culture

Disclaimer: We provide independent summaries of podcasts and are not affiliated with or endorsed in any way by any podcast or creator. All podcast names and content are the property of their respective owners. The views and opinions expressed within the podcasts belong solely to the original hosts and guests and do not reflect the views or positions of Summapod.

Quick Takeaways

  • Gary Larson's The Far Side ran for 15 years, became globally popular in 1,900 newspapers, and sold tens of millions of books and calendars, yet began as a small local feature called Nature's Way in the Seattle Times.
  • Larson's humor drew heavily on his love of animals, biology, and science, creating surreal single-panel scenes that required readers to imagine the before and after, rather than spelling everything out.
  • The Far Side was initially divisive among newspaper editors and readers, with some seeing it as brilliant and others rejecting it as too weird or offensive, illustrating how far it was from the prevailing style of comics pages at the time.
  • Larson carefully limited merchandising, avoiding out-of-context character products and worrying about appearing to cash in, and ultimately ended the strip partly out of fear of slipping into mediocrity.
  • Several Far Side ideas crossed into real science culture, including a louse and a (later-invalidated) butterfly named after Larson, and the joking term "thagomizer" for a stegosaurus' tail spikes being semi-formally adopted by paleontologists.
  • Iconic panels like "Midvale School for the Gifted," "Cow Tools," and the thagomizer gag show how Larson balanced absurd premises with tiny visual details that amplified the joke.
  • Larson had a strong following in the scientific community, with figures like Stephen Jay Gould and E.O. Wilson praising his work and museums mounting exhibitions of science-related Far Side cartoons.
  • The final Far Side strip, structured as a two-panel Wizard of Oz homage, served as a self-aware, graceful farewell that acknowledged both the strip's characters and Larson's desire to go home from daily cartooning.
  • A listener mail segment clarifies that while orcas are dolphins, in phylogenetic terms all dolphins are whales, correcting a previous statement on the show.

Podcast Notes

Introduction and hosts' personal connection to The Far Side

Show opening and tribute framing

Josh introduces the show and Chuck, noting that Jerry is present but has briefly stepped away[1:22]
Chuck explains this episode fits into their informal "tribute series" about things they love[1:33]
They state the subject is the cartoon The Far Side by Gary Larson, known from funny pages and books[1:48]

Far Side's timing in Josh's life and impact on his humor

Josh says the strip ran from about his 5th or 6th grade years through the end of college, the perfect time to be awakened to Larson's humor[1:58]
He notes The Far Side helped shape his sense of humor during those formative years[2:08]
Josh observes that you already need to find the humor funny to begin with, but once you do, it can shape your humor going forward[2:20]

Discussion of how Far Side's influence changed how its humor feels today

Josh says the cartoons are still great if you look at them now, but something feels different compared to when they first came out[2:24]
He suggests that Far Side had such a big cultural impact that it normalized that kind of offbeat humor, making it less distinctive now[2:41]
• He notes that when Far Side debuted, nobody else was doing humor like Gary Larson, but its popularity made that style 'normal'
Chuck counters slightly, saying they are still amazing and he has had a great time recently rereading many of them[2:24]

What makes The Far Side as a single-panel cartoon distinctive

Difference between comics and cartoons

Josh distinguishes a comic strip (multiple panels telling a story) from a cartoon (a single panel that conveys everything in one image, sometimes without words)[3:38]
He compares the difference to prose versus poetry, noting that a good poem is harder to write because it must be very efficient[3:55]
He says a one-panel cartoon must convey movement of time and cause-and-effect in one image, often with more impact than a strip[4:03]
• This constraint makes what Larson did even more impressive in Josh's view

Visual style and recurring archetypes

Chuck notes The Far Side ran for 15 years and has been gone for about 30 years, but Larson's drawing style is instantly recognizable[4:28]
He emphasizes that Larson did not use ongoing named characters like in Family Circus[4:41]
Instead, Larson had visual archetypes: the beehive-hairdo woman with cat-eye glasses, the freckle-faced crew-cut kid with glasses, lots of animals, etc.[4:53]
• These recurring figures appeared, but they were not developed as characters with stories or recognized names
Josh adds that sometimes figures would have names in a caption or dialogue, but you could not point to them as fixed, recurring individuals[5:07]
He frames them as interchangeable archetypes, which ties into the later discussion about comedy, art, and science intersecting in the strip[5:18]

Gary Larson's background, family influences, and early interest in biology

Family humor and upbringing

Chuck says Larson was born in 1950, raised in Tacoma, Washington, and got his sense of humor from his family[5:35]
Larson has said his older brother and parents had a "wacky" sense of humor; his dad sold cars and his mom was his secretary[5:39]
Larson has remarked that he only heard outsiders describe his family's humor as "wacky" or "left of center" later; the family itself didn't label it that way[5:55]

Brother's influence and love of animals

Josh notes Larson's older brother introduced him to a love of nature, taking him to Puget Sound beaches to collect live animals and keep them in cages, terrariums, or aquariums[6:23]
Larson later realized that keeping wild animals captive like that was not ideal, but as a kid it sparked his interest in animals and biology[6:37]
Josh quotes Larson describing his brother showing him the beauty of a jellyfish and then using the same jellyfish to smack him in the face, which Josh calls hallmark big-brother behavior[6:55]
Chuck says Larson sounds like a classic tormenting big brother but in a loving way[7:01]
They note Larson has always been into animals and is now very engaged in animal treatment and conservation in retirement[7:13]

College path and regret about changing majors

Chuck says Larson attended Washington State University in 1972 ("go Cougars")[7:21]
Larson initially majored in biology but didn't want to stay in school more than four years and wasn't sure what he could do with a biology degree, so he switched to communications[7:29]
He has said he regretted the switch and called it one of the most idiotic things he ever did[7:38]

Early cartooning career and the birth of The Far Side

Odd jobs and creating Nature's Way

Josh says after graduating with a communications degree, Larson held jobs like playing banjo, working in a music store, and serving as a Humane Society investigator[7:57]
While working as a Humane Society investigator, Larson created a strip called Nature's Way, which looks essentially like early Far Side under a different name[8:17]
Chuck recounts that Larson had no formal art training but loved his own style[8:43]
In 1976 he sold six cartoons to Pacific Search, a regional science magazine, for $90[8:57]
He then sold a handful to another local magazine for $3 to $5 each[8:58]
In 1979 Larson got a weekly Nature's Way gig at the Seattle Times for $15 a week, which Josh says is about $85 in today's dollars[9:07]
• Chuck notes that Larson realized while on a few days off from work that he disliked his job and wanted to try something else, prompting him to push his cartoons

Breakthrough at the San Francisco Chronicle and syndication

Josh says the Seattle Times pay was not enough to live on, but Larson had a foothold in a major local paper[9:23]
In 1979 Larson took a trip to San Francisco with a single copy of his portfolio and got it to the right people at the San Francisco Chronicle[9:33]
The Chronicle staff contacted him the same day, expressing strong enthusiasm for his work[9:43]
They agreed to run his strip, changing the name from Nature's Way to The Far Side, and offered syndication through their in-house syndicate in about 30 papers[10:03]
• Josh describes this as a beyond life-changing opportunity, especially given Larson's minimal experience and lack of training

How unusual it was to get into the comics page

Josh, drawing on research from contributor Laura Clauston, stresses how remarkable it was that Larson broke into comics pages, which are generally stodgy and resistant to change[10:29]
Clauston highlighted that comics-page real estate is limited and dominated by long-running strips, making Larson's entry with such a strange cartoon "nuts"[10:29]
Chuck compares the comics page to valuable real estate where classics never seem to leave, so new work has trouble breaking in[10:51]
He cites cartoonist Georgia Dunn (Breaking Cat News) saying there are more dead men than living women in the funny pages, underscoring how hard it is to break in at all[11:01]

Early reception, divisiveness, and cultural impact

Editors' mixed reactions and divisive early response

Josh recounts stories from the syndicate salesman who pitched The Far Side to papers and received wildly varied reactions[11:25]
One Buffalo newspaper editor told the salesman, "This is not a Buffalo product," and asked him to leave[11:49]
The salesman said editors' reactions were so diverse and unpredictable he never knew if he'd be invited for coffee or told to get out[12:08]
Chuck notes that some people instantly loved it and thought Larson was brilliant, while others hated it or didn't get it[12:11]
Josh finds it hilarious in retrospect that The Far Side was ever considered offensive or divisive, given how normal that style of humor feels now[12:29]
• He argues that this shows how much Larson changed the culture, making previously shocking humor commonplace

Seattle Times cancellation and perfect timing

Chuck notes that the same week Larson met with the Chronicle, the Seattle Times told him they were dropping his strip[17:14]
Larson blamed the cancellation partly on where it was placed-next to a kid's crossword puzzle, which was a bad spot for his offbeat humor and led to complaints[17:20]
He has said that if the Seattle Times had fired him a week earlier, it would have crushed his confidence and he probably would not have gone to San Francisco[17:31]
Josh adds that a Chronicle syndication head initially tried to talk Larson into turning The Far Side into a strip with recurring characters, which Larson refused[17:48]
Josh jokes that given all these contingencies, ours may be the only universe in the multiverse where The Far Side exists[18:08]

Slow but steady growth to massive popularity

Chuck says The Far Side started in 30 papers and grew to 80 papers after three years, which is modest for a syndicated cartoon[18:26]
A few years later it reached 200 papers and then finally exploded, peaking at 1,900 newspapers[18:47]
At its peak Larson made a lot of money from books and calendars; in 1983, 1984, and 1985 his books were on the New York Times bestseller list[19:04]
Chuck says all but one of his 23 books made the Times list, with 41 million combined book copies and nearly 80 million calendars sold[19:07]
The Far Side was translated into 17 languages, which Josh finds surprising but plausible[19:31]

Awards and cautious approach to merchandising

Josh notes Larson began winning major awards around 1985, including best newspaper panel awards and an Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year award in 1994[20:21]
Despite making "mad bank," Larson limited merchandising, insisting his images not be taken out of context[20:34]
• He did not allow dolls or random character-only products; merchandise could use whole panels on items like t-shirts or mugs
Chuck says Larson also did not want fans to think he was cash-grabbing and was very sensitive to how people perceived his work[21:08]

Content, tone, and notable controversies in The Far Side

Religious and animal-related complaints

Josh says Larson frequently depicted God as a character-typically as a large, powerful figure with long flowing hair-which upset some religious readers[22:18]
Cat lovers resented the many Far Side panels where dogs preyed on cats[22:28]
Larson has said he never set out to offend; he was simply following his humor and ended up upsetting some groups unintentionally[22:34]

Philosophical core of Far Side humor

Josh emphasizes one of the great qualities of The Far Side is that it is not making overt commentary on issues; instead it captures absurd moments in life or the universe[22:42]
Characters are interchangeable so any person (or animal) can be the one experiencing the absurd moment[22:54]
Josh cites biographer Cary Soper, who said the point of The Far Side is that we are all fools flailing against the universe, and the strip drops in on those moments[23:12]
• Chuck calls this description "brilliant" and says it sums up the strip well

Iconic Far Side panels and why they work

Early Experiments in Transportation

Chuck describes a panel labeled "Early experiments in transportation" showing three cavemen holding a stone wheel with another caveman strapped to it, about to be pushed down a hill[23:54]
He explains the gag: they have not thought it through, and the strapped caveman will get crushed when the wheel rolls[24:06]
The humor relies on the reader imagining the next moment rather than Larson drawing a second panel with the bones breaking[24:14]
• Chuck points out an extra detail he loves: a caveman halfway down the hill holding a stone tablet to record the results, adding another layer to the joke

Midvale School for the Gifted

Josh describes the famous "Midvale School for the Gifted" panel with the glasses-wearing crew-cut kid desperately pushing on a door clearly labeled "pull"[25:26]
Chuck says the brilliance lies in the way the kid is leaning into the door, implying he has been pushing for a long time[25:26]
• He notes that Larson conveys the sense the kid has been standing there for an hour just through the body posture, which he calls "the magic of The Far Side"

Cow Tools and overthinking the joke

Josh brings up the 1982 "Cow Tools" panel, which baffled readers and sparked a pop-culture moment of people trying to decode its meaning[26:19]
The panel shows a cow standing behind a table of bizarre crude tools; one looks like a saw while the others are unidentifiable, with a barn in the background[25:26]
Because so many readers were confused and frustrated, the syndicate asked Larson to publish a letter explaining the cartoon[26:45]
Larson explained that if a cow ever made tools, they would be unsophisticated and weird-looking, and the joke is simply that these are lousy "cow tools"[27:16]
• Josh notes that people were looking far too deeply for hidden meanings instead of taking it at face value as an absurd cow-making-tools gag

Lupus Lipophobia and extremely specific fears

Josh mentions Cary Soper's choice of a quintessential Far Side panel: "Lupus lipophobia"[28:46]
The caption defines lupus lipophobia as fear of being chased in your kitchen by timber wolves while wearing socks on a newly waxed floor, which is exactly what is happening in the image[29:03]
Josh notes that part of the humor is that this person's extremely obscure phobia is actually coming true in the cartoon[29:18]

Dog Threat Letter and Larson's perfectionism

Chuck describes the "Dog Threat Letter" panel showing two cats inside a house, a broken window, glass on the floor, a dog bone, and a ransom-style letter reading "arf arf arf"[29:55]
The implication is that a dog wrapped the 'threat letter' around a bone and threw it through the window, but the cats are calmly reading it with their backs to the viewer[30:17]
• He points out an extra detail: a framed cat portrait on the wall that adds to the atmosphere
Larson regretted drawing the dog running away outside the hole in the window, wishing he had left the dog out entirely, but Chuck thinks the panel is great as is[30:36]

Houdini's undoing and obsessive detail

Josh cites another example of Larson's obsessive regret: a panel showing Harry Houdini dead, unable to escape Chinese finger traps, now a skeleton slumped against a wall[30:55]
Larson later wished he had tilted Houdini's skull slightly more downward, a minuscule visual adjustment no one else noticed[31:15]
Josh comments that to everyone else the cartoon was already hilarious and fine, illustrating how hard Larson was on himself[31:25]

Workload, sabbatical, retirement, and discomfort with fame

Daily grind and 1988 sabbatical

Chuck notes Larson drew seven panels a week for the daily paper, which is demanding even for a one-panel cartoonist who wants each panel to be great[34:54]
In 1988 Larson took a 14-month sabbatical; by then he was married to anthropologist Toni Carmichael[35:04]
During the sabbatical they traveled to the Amazon and Africa, and he lived in New York for a few months taking jazz guitar lessons from guitarist Jim Hall[35:15]
Chuck recounts a story that Larson drew one of Jim Hall's album covers and jokingly asked for a million dollars, then instead traded the art for guitar lessons[35:19]
After the sabbatical, Larson returned to producing five panels a week instead of seven[35:40]

Fear of mediocrity and decision to end the strip

Josh says that even after reducing his workload, Larson felt fatigue and became worried his creativity would decline[36:00]
Larson specifically feared starting to produce mediocre cartoons, which Josh identifies as a hallmark concern of a serious artist[36:07]
Josh argues that for someone like Larson, mediocrity is worse than producing something outright bad, and this influenced his decision to walk away[36:25]

Shyness, interviews, and the final strip

Chuck says Larson was never comfortable in the spotlight, gave few interviews, and often felt he messed them up[37:01]
In one interview he froze when asked where The Far Side is and how to get there, later describing himself as rooted like "the proverbial rabbit caught in the headlights" (Josh notes he likely meant deer)[37:11]
Chuck recalls that the final original Far Side strip ran in 1995 and was structured as a two-panel Wizard of Oz homage[39:21]
In the first color panel, a man named Gary who resembles Larson stands with Glenda the Good Witch surrounded by Far Side archetypes while she tells him he has always had the power to go home if he quacks three times and thinks "there's no place like home"[38:31]
The second black-and-white panel shows Gary waking in bed in Kansas, surrounded by family and friends who resemble Far Side characters, explaining his dream just like the end of The Wizard of Oz[38:48]
• Josh and Chuck both praise it as a beautiful, perfect way to end the strip and compare it to the much-loved ending of the original Bob Newhart show

Post-strip projects: animation, children's book, and influences

Animated specials Tales from the Far Side

Chuck notes Larson made two animated films: Tales from the Far Side and Tales from the Far Side II in the 1990s[39:25]
Josh says he hasn't been able to find them easily; the only place he saw one was on a Russian website blocked by their work computers[39:37]
He describes a clip where a realistic cow hoof plays a video game called Stampede featuring stampeding Far Side cows, with the only sound being the cow's breathing[39:55]
Chuck intentionally avoids the animated versions because he worries they might alter his perfect mental image of The Far Side[41:08]

Children's book and childhood literary influence

Chuck notes Larson wrote a children's book in 1999 titled There's a Hair in My Dirt: A Worm's Story about a princess from a worm's point of view[40:55]
Josh mentions a 1950 children's book Larson loved called Mr Bear Squash You Flat, about a bear who sits on animals' houses and gets comeuppance, which influenced his sensibility[41:25]
They mention that someone once tried to develop a live-action Far Side movie, and Chuck is relieved it never happened, believing it could not have been good[41:52]

Connections to science and conservation

Recognition from scientists and named species

Chuck says The Far Side was full of science and nature themes, and by 1998 the head of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Harold Varmus, said Larson's influence was pervasive[42:25]
Varmus remarked he had seen many scientific seminars with a Gary Larson slide in them[42:49]
Josh notes that parasitologist Dale Clayton named a chewing louse found on the South African white-faced owl Strigiphilus garylarsoni in honor of Larson[43:00]
Clayton wrote to Larson saying the name was meant to honor the enormous contribution Larson had made to biology through his cartoons[43:14]
Larson wrote in The Prehistory of The Far Side that he was honored, and that book is even cited in the scientific paper describing the louse[43:42]
Chuck adds that a butterfly species was once named for him (S. larsoni) in 1990, but about 14 years later it was found not to be distinct and the name was removed[43:54]

The thagomizer and a joke entering scientific vocabulary

Chuck describes a 1982 panel showing a caveman teaching about the spikes on a stegosaurus tail, calling them the thagomizer "after the late Thag Simmons"[44:24]
Paleontologists started informally using the term thagomizer for that structure, and it became a semi-formal name[44:47]
Josh notes that museum displays at places like Dinosaur National Monument and the Smithsonian have used the term thagomizer in signage[44:53]

Nerd culture, exhibits, and scientific forwards

Josh points out that Larson celebrated and gently mocked nerds at a time when "nerd" was a genuine insult, helping to glorify them rather than degrade them[45:34]
In 1987 the California Academy of Sciences mounted an exhibit of science-related Far Side comics that toured to places including the National Museum of Natural History[45:53]
Evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson wrote the foreword for Larson's children's book There's a Hair in My Dirt[45:57]
Paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould wrote the foreword for The Far Side Gallery 3 and called Larson the national humorist of natural history[46:17]

Jane Goodall cartoon controversy and reconciliation

Josh recounts a 1987 cartoon where an ape grooming another ape finds a blonde hair and accuses the other of doing research with "that Jane Goodall tramp"[46:40]
Sue Engle, executive director of the Jane Goodall Institute, was furious and wrote an angry letter to the syndicate denouncing the panel as offensive and in poor taste[47:02]
She warned that readers might question the editorial judgment of any paper running such an "atrocity"[47:25]
Jane Goodall herself was in the field at the time; when she later saw the cartoon, she thought it was funny and felt Sue had overreacted[47:35]
Goodall eventually wrote a foreword for one of Larson's Far Side books, and the cartoon was licensed to support the Jane Goodall Institute[47:52]
Josh notes that Larson donated proceeds from a 2007 Far Side desk calendar to Conservation International, underscoring his genuine conservationism[48:04]

Larson today, website, and ongoing mystique

Current low profile and digital experiments

Chuck mentions that current photos of Larson are rare; most available images are older black-and-white shots, with only one or two recent pictures online[47:57]
Josh notes that Larson launched an official website and occasionally posts new material or archival work[48:26]
Larson has experimented with digital drawing tools and said he was enjoying making some new things, prompting fans to hope for a full return that he has expressly denied[48:58]
Josh corrects himself for speaking about Larson in the past tense and clarifies that he is very much alive[48:16]
They joke about how thrilling it would be if Larson listened to the episode[49:13]

Listener mail: correction on dolphins, orcas, and whales

Email from listener Josh about cetacean classification

Chuck reads an email from a listener named Josh, a long-time fan, who writes to correct a previous statement about orcas being dolphins and not real whales[49:27]
The listener explains that while orcas are dolphins, in phylogenetic terms all dolphins are whales, so dolphins are a type of whale[50:07]
Josh jokes about the listener dazzling them with the word "phylogenetics" and initially feigning skepticism[49:56]
They say they looked it up and confirm that all dolphins are indeed whales, thanking listener Josh for the solid correction[50:07]
Chuck encourages listeners to email the show, giving the stuffpodcast@iheartRadio.com address[50:31]

Lessons Learned

Actionable insights and wisdom you can apply to your business, career, and personal life.

1

Protecting the integrity of your creative work sometimes means saying no to obvious opportunities and even walking away while you're still successful to avoid sliding into mediocrity.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Where in your work or projects are you tempted to keep going simply because it's successful, even if your energy or quality is starting to dip?
  • • How might your long-term reputation change if you chose to stop or scale back before the quality of your work noticeably declines?
  • • What specific boundary around quality or output could you define this week that would help you protect the integrity of what you create?
2

A distinct point of view often emerges from combining seemingly unrelated interests-in Larson's case, a love of biology, odd family humor, and single-panel cartooning.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What unusual combination of interests, experiences, or skills do you have that most people around you don't share?
  • • How could you intentionally bring two of your "unrelated" passions together in a project to create something that feels uniquely yours?
  • • When will you set aside time to map out the intersections between your hobbies, professional skills, and curiosities to look for new ideas?
3

Humor and storytelling can be powerful tools for making complex or niche subjects-like science and natural history-accessible and memorable to a wide audience.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What complex topic in your work or life do people around you struggle to understand that you could explain with a simple story or humorous analogy?
  • • How might using a playful tone or visual metaphor change the way others engage with information you regularly share?
  • • What is one idea you work with frequently that you could try to explain in a single, vivid image or short anecdote this week?
4

Serendipity often favors those who keep moving forward even when their situation feels tenuous; timing and persistence can turn a near-failure into a breakthrough.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Can you recall a time when bad news or rejection arrived just before a surprising opportunity, and what did you learn from that sequence?
  • • How could you respond differently the next time a project or role ends abruptly, so you're still open to the next possibility that might appear?
  • • What current setback in your life could you treat as a signal to take one proactive step-like reaching out, pitching, or applying-that you might otherwise avoid?
5

Being willing to be misunderstood at first is often the price of doing something genuinely new or offbeat, especially when your work challenges prevailing tastes.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Where are you currently holding back an unconventional idea because you're worried some people 'won't get it'?
  • • How might your willingness to tolerate mixed reactions open the door to a more engaged and loyal audience over time?
  • • What is one small experiment you could run this month to share a weirder or more distinctive idea with a controlled audience and see how it lands?

Episode Summary - Notes by Tatum

A Tribute To The Far Side
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