Life is hard, and so is living inThe Far Side. Gary Larson understands how difficult everyday tasks can be for adults. And let’s face it, adulting is hard, but thankfully, Gary Larson knows how to make those everyday life experiences funny. He takes the mundane, sometimes depressing, everyday tasks that people are forced to deal with and amplifies them to 11 for humor.
Larson’s unique twists make for some of the funniest andmost relatablestripcomicsever produced. These are comic strips that feature characters struggling to get out of bed and start their day, struggling to getinto bed to sleep, and sometimes just plainstruggling. These same characters wake up unable to dress themselves and generally languish in malaise or a funk. These are all things that the average adult struggles with daily. Gary Larson reminds everyone they’re dealing with the same absurd struggles.
10"Concert Tomorrow Night"
First Published: August 16, 2025
Sleep struggles are something surprisingly common in adults,especially for those plagued with anxiety. For this gentleman, he is plagued by the anxiety of having a bad concert ahead of his orchestral performance the next night. He imagines himself leading the orchestra, yet everyone involved is chipping in varying degrees of baffling performances. Most use their instruments incorrectly, while one, for some reason, is just eating a banana.
The most hilariousFar Sidecomics are about nightmares, and this is one that is drenched in sweat and nerves from the person having them. Murphy’s Law is a legitimate fear for many people.The idea that anything that can go wrong will go wrong always sets them up for failureor stops them from trying altogether.
First Published: June 12, 2025
Writing is hard. Not everyone is an author or needs to write a manifesto, but the task of writing down notes, journal entries, or basic word-driven tasks at work can be challenging when the right words don’t come to mind. As a writer himself, Gary Larson knew exactlyhow to illustrate writer’s blockand the frustration it yields.This is a reminder thatanyone can struggle with writer’s block, even the author of one of the greatest books of all time,Moby-Dick.
The opening lines of Herman Melville’s odyssey begin memorably with"Call me Ishmael.“This is a straightforward line that has been celebrated as one of the most iconic first words of a book, butLarson reminds readers that it probably required a large degree of mental effort for Melville to come up with that line. It likely called for some intense workshopping with names during the drafting process.
8"First Pants. THEN Your Shoes”
First Published: June 25, 2025
It’s not as easy as it sounds to get up out of bed in the morning, both in terms of motivation and practice. In terms of motivation, it’s hard to find the drive to pull oneself out of the comfort of their slumber to walk into another mind-numbing day of work. The lack of motivation then yields to struggling with the practice of getting out of bed, specifically putting on clothes in the proper order.At first glance,needing a note as a reminder to put pants on over shoes sounds silly,but this is a reality for many people.
Some folks need such a reminder every morning to start their day andget them through the day.This isn’t just a joke meant to be taken literally, but an allegory on depression.Intentional or not,it’s something that outcasts relate to.
7"The Kegger Lasted Well Into the Night"
First Published: July 25, 2025
There is no greater pain than waking up on the wrong side of the bed. That struggle becomes all the worse when someone makes the mistake of drinking alcohol the night before. Everybody has met a hungover person who seemed a little crankier than usual as they recover. Gary Larson suggests it might not have been the kegger that made them cranky, but ratherthe equally cranky scorpions nesting in one of their shoes when they woke up.
Often, when someone is struggling through the day, it’s as if they have a rock stuck in their shoe all day.Perhaps they had a scorpion in their shoe all along.Such an unfortunate situation makes for the epitome of a bad day, but laughing at a comic like this can brighten someone’s day from the outside looking in.
6"Yo! Famer Dave!"
First Published: June 26, 2025
Recalling how difficult it is to get out of bed, Farmer Dave faces a similar challenge to Larson’s other bed-loving characters. They say the early bird gets the worm, and there is no earlier breed of bird than chickens, Gary Larson’s favorite animals. More specifically, roosters are the early birds, butGary Larson is obsessed with chickens, so they make for a more appropriate substitution for this world. Farmer Brown is sleeping a little longer than he probably should, andhis chickens are getting impatient with their farmer, who is delaying tending to their coop.
Even though his work is on the farm and technically at home, finding the motivation to get out of bed isn’t always easy.Maybe the bed is just too comfortable to leave. Thankfully, for this farmer, the clucking of his chickens is all the motivation he needs.
5"Pull"
First Published: July 01, 2025
Sometimes,when someone reaches a roadblock in life, it feels like pushing on a door that says"Pull.“Ironically, in situations like that, all it takes for the person to get themselves out of such a mental funk is to finally realize when they need to start pulling on the"Pull"door instead. Unfortunately forThe Far Side’sNerdy Kid, he needs to figure out that mindset in a literal sense and is not doing a great job of coming to this much-needed conclusion.
This ranks among the most viewed and beloved strips inFar Sidehistory. While people shouldn’t be judged for their mistakes or simple slip-ups, it’s hard not to raise an eyebrow when a student from the Midvale School for the Gifted struggles to open a door.
4"The Bluebird of Happiness Long Absent From His Life, Ned Is Visited By the Chicken of Depression”
First Published: August 05, 2025
This is one of the more overt examples of struggle withinFar Sidecomics. In fact, this shoots beyond mere struggles and extends into depression, far more clearly than more implied examples.Ned hasn’t been happy for a long time, and rather than the Bluebird of Happiness, he’s visited by the Chicken of Depression. It’s almost like being visited by the Angel of Death, except it’s a feeling that’s akin to death rather than death itself, and the angel is replaced by Gary Larson’s favorite animal.
It’s arguablyThe Far Side’smost literal comic, and one thathas more philosophical implications than funny ones.It’s not often thatThe Far Sidecompels readers to think hard beyond the joke itself and potentially even look inward at what the reader is going through.
3"I’m Starting to Feel Dependent."
First Published: June 26, 2025
When one is struggling with their mental health or struggling with how to unlearn their worst traits, therapy is usually the best route.Gary Larson understood the importance of therapy,which is why so much ofThe Far Sidefocuses on the topic. Therapy is a valuable tool that helps people recognize when they are becoming overly dependent on others and learn how to achieve independence in their lives.
This therapist helps the pet become aware of how it is overly dependent, although dependence is the very nature of being a pet. Pets exist to be dependent on their owners and struggle to survive otherwise. Then again, the point perhaps isn’t to focus on the cat’s dependence, but rather to get readers to understand that their dependence makes them no different from a pet.
2"Gus … Have You Tried Dogs Playing Poker?"
First Published: July 09, 2025
Struggling creators know the pain of trying to feed their passions with minimal or no results.Worse, some creators find themselves creatively stagnant before they can even hope to land the concept that could change their lives forever. For the artist whomLarson wrongly fact-checks as Gus Nickerson, that life-changing contribution to the art world was the"Dogs Playing Poker"oil painting, which was turned into a series of paintings. Despite the praise the painting has received since 1894, Larson reminds readers that"Nickerson"struggled to conceive of the concept.
Cassius Marcellus Coolidge is the name of the artist who actually created the"Dogs Playing Poker"art piece.
Just as a writer workshops dozens of words before settling on the perfect draft, an artist goes through multiple drafts of an illustration. There’s a strong possibility that"Nickerson’s"piece went through different renditions with different animals before reaching the public.
1"The Curse of Songwriter’s Block"
First Published: July 18, 2025
Another creator who often gets overlooked due to their struggles is the songwriter. Songs take just as much hard work and practice as a novel or a piece of art. It’s evident that every substantial addition to pop culture originated from a place of struggle, and the classic"Jeepers Creepers"lyrics are no different.“Jeepers Creepers” is a memorable song that never gets old and feels timeless,but it took immense time to craft the lyrics and refine them into a classic.
The song"Jeepers Creepers"features lyrics written by Johnny Mercer and music by Harry Warren, and was originally performed by Louis Armstrong.
The bottom line is that everyone has something they are struggling with, whetherit’s an office jobor something more creative. Even something as mundane as going to sleep (or struggling with insomnia) presents its own challenges.The Far Sideis all about taking common things everyone deals with and reminding everyone in the funniest way that they’re not so far apart after all.
