Summary
Gary Larson’s syndicated newspaper comicThe Far Sidefrequently featured unforgettable comics about flies, and just as often as the insects were depicted in their natural state, they were just as likely to be re-imagined as proxies for human beings.Larson infamously anthropomorphized animals, insects, flowers,and even inanimate objects, with each offering a slightly different – but always characteristically warped – perspective on humanity.
The more readers become accustomed toThe Far Side, the more patterns begin to emerge, and repetitions become recognizable, adding valuable depth to Gary Larson’s work. The strip’s anthropomorphized fly comics provide a perfect example of this aspect ofThe Far Side; the artist often returned to the same joke, years apart, or offered variations on a theme that he couldn’t quite get out of his mind.
Surprising as it might be, from fly stand-up comics, to tragic mishaps with insecticide, to the beauty of the circle of life,theseFar Sidefly comics offer a perspective on human culture.
10 Funniest Far Side Comics Featuring Gary Larson’s Goofy Version Of Tarzan
Tarzan appeared repeatedly in Gary Larson’s “The Far Side,” but for the most part, the man of the jungle’s portrayal was anything but flattering.
10For The Far Side’s Flies, First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage, Then…
First Published: June 17, 2025
As one of the earliestFar Sidepanels featuring anthropomorphized flies, this panel helped set the tone for the ways in which Gary Larson would use this recurring strain of his humor. Over the years, they proved effective for lampooning human behavior, by substituting “Musca domestica” – the scientific name for a house fly – for people. In the cartoon,a fly leans into a baby carriage and remarks: “Oh, my!…What a cute little maggot!”
Time and again,The Far Sidewould depict “domesticated” flies in its patented Larsonian style, either recontextualizing their activities in human terms – or the other way around, as among allThe Far Side’srecurring insect species, flies somehow proved to be the best proxies for modern life.
9This Far Side Fly Comic Tries To Generate Buzz With Some Crowd Work
First Published: July 09, 2025
According to Gary Larson, his endeavors as a cartoonist and a humorist had more in common with prose writers than stand-up comedians; nevertheless, the artist routinely made jokes at the expense of jokesters – or at least, by using the set-up of a person, or animal, or insect, with a microphone in front of a crowd to achieve effective punchlines.
That is the case here, as the humor is not at the expense of the fly comedian, so much as the concept of the fly doing stand-up itself leads to the end result of the comic, as the fly on stageasks “Larry” and “Betty” to reveal themselves, explaining that these two friends “flew all the way in from the dump” to watch him perform.
8Gary Larson Channels Cronenberg In This Fly Cartoon
First Published: August 19, 2025
Three years before David Cronenberg’s remake ofThe Flyhit theaters, Gary Larson was keeping the concept of a scientist who transformed into a fly in the zeitgeist, with this riff onthe premise from the 1985 B-movie. Hilariously, Larson reimagines the grisly body-horror premise asa pretext for marital strife, asa wife descends the stairs to her husband’s basement laboratory, putting her hands on her hips and exclaiming in annoyance: “Lunch is ready, Lawrence, and….what? You’re still a fly?”
Reimagining a mad scientist splicing insect and human genes as a basement-bound hobby sets a great foundation for this joke, while the wife’s casual indignation at her husband’s insect form elevates it to the next level, making this a laugh-out-loudFar Sidefly panel.
The Far Side Complete Collection
Fans of the far side can’t pass up this master collection of Gary Larson’s finest work. Originally published in hardcover in 2003, this paperback set comes complete with a newly designed slipcase that will look great on any shelf. The Complete Far Side contains every Far Side cartoon ever published, which amounts to over 4,000, plus more than 1,100 that have never before appeared in a book and even some made after Larson retired.
7A Fly Family’s Tragedy Is The Far Side At Its Most Farcical
First Published: June 05, 2025
In another particularly funnyFar Sidefly panel, a gathering of fly friends turns into the scene of a tragic mishap. “You idiot! I said get the room freshener,“a poisoned fly cries out, choking on a cloud of fumes hovering in the air, adding “that’s the insecticide!”
At its core, this cartoon offers an example ofGary Larson’s ability to take a horrifying, tragic situation, and find the humor in it; often, this came as a result of transposing the action onto nonhuman characters. The fundamental hilarity of this joke’s premise, naturally, proceeds from the question of why an insect couple would keep insecticide in their home, and then builds on the absurdity of the homeowner making such an egregious oversight. WhileThe Far Sidefeatured many characters who were incontrovertibly doomed, this mix of drama and fly-related farce is made that much funnier by how avoidable it was.
6The Far Side’s Flies Prepare For A Day Of Fun In The Sun
First Published: August 03, 2025
In thisFar Sidepanel, a pair of young fliesawake to a surprise – their parent busting in with a beach ball, declaring, “Rise and shine, everyone! It’s a beautiful day and we’re all going to the windowsill!“Playing on the idea of an unexpected trip to the beach, or the park, or some other place of sunshine-related fun. Larson imbues a part of the house often overlooked by humans, the windowsill, with excitement of a vacation destination.
Of course, windowsills are a common gathering place for flies, yet this cartoon makes it a wonderous locale. That said, there is an interesting dynamic that can perhaps be gleaned from the illustration here, as the fly children aren’t drawn as being overly enthusiastic about their trip. Perhaps it is because they have just woken up, or possibly they aren’t as thrilled at the prospect of going to the windowsill as their parent.
5Gary Larson Returns To An Earlier Far Side Fly Joke
First Published: August 21, 2025
Readers will recognize this as an elaboration a previousFar Sidefly punchline, as Gary Larson amusingly substitutes humans, and human babies, for flies and their larvae. In this case,a fly driving a car idles at a red light, with a “maggot on board” sign hung in the car’s rear window.
ManyFar Sidecartoons proceeded from the premise of nonhuman characters engaging in human behavior; though the idea of a fly driving an automobile is deliberately ridiculous, Larson’s meditation on the differences between how humans and other creatures treat their young is one ofThe Far Side’smost thought-provoking jokes. In a way, despite the relative simplicityof this captionless cartoon, it strikes a balance between the inane and the profound that only the most successful of Gary Larson’s cartoons achieved.
10 Hilarious Far Side Comics Starring Ants (That Readers Shouldn’t Overlook)
Far Side creator Gary Larson’s love of animals & insects led to their frequent appearance in his cartoons, with ants starring in some classics.
4Only The Good Flies Die Young
First Published: June 08, 2025
Here, a fly sitting in an armchair opens up the newspaper,finding a headline about a “local fly found curled up on windowsill.““He was like a dry shell,” the paper quotes a witness as describing the deceased. Given that houseflies have notoriously short lifespans, the idea of a fly’s death being newsworthy – even in the context of a world where fly society reflects modern human culture, including having newspapers – makes this joke stand-out, especially as readers spend more time with it.
WhileGary Larson discouraged readers from searching for deeper meaningin his work, it is undeniable thatThe Far Sideregularly displayed a deep unease at the fragility of life, which Larson skillfully converted into comedy in a variety of different ways. Whether or not thisFar Sidefly cartoon provokes laughter from its reader, or reflection on mortality,as long as it gets a reaction, it can be considered a success.
3These Far Side Flies Recognized The Importance Of Cleanliness
First Published: July 25, 2025
Most people are familiar with the woe of a clogged shower drain – an experience Gary Larson warps through the lens ofThe Far Sidehere by depicting a fly couple in the bathroom, asthe husband remarks, “Shoot! Drain’s clogged,” before ruminating on the situation for a moment and then adding, “Man, I’d hate to think what might be down there.”
While many ofThe Far Side’santhropomorphized flies retained their love of trash and grime, the humor of this panel relies on the opposite: despite being depicted as giant flies, these characters have human sensibilities when it comes to household filth. It is through that incongruity that the comedic effect of this cartoon arises; in this way, it is an archetypicalFar Sidecomic.
2This Far Side Fly Baby Will Grow Up Wanting For Nothing
First Published: June 19, 2025
In contrast to the previous entry, this is aFar Sidepanel in which the surface-level trappings of humanity underlies the true insectoid nature of this fly family. “And when the big moment comes,” a pregnant fly tells another, guiding them through a tour of the house,“here’s the nursery Robert and I have fixed up” – a spare room full of reeking, overflowing trash cans.
For an infant fly, of course, this is a luxurious, perhaps even extravagant nursery – with the joke made particularly effective by the visual accents of the panel; one of the trash cans is filled to the brim with rotted apple cores, while the other two are drawn with wavery stink-lines rising from them,making thisFar Sidepanelso visceral that readers can almost smell the room in the drawing.
1A Visual Representation Of Gary Larson’s Fly Panels
First Published: July 19, 2025
In thisFar Sidepanel, the fly itself is not anthropomorphic – but the way thatthe artist depicted here has inadvertantlymerged a fly and a human woman is, in its own right, an astute visual metaphor for the way Gary Larson blended human and nonhuman characters to arrive athis idiosyncratic style of humor.
Here, Larson illustrates a woman patiently sitting for a portrait, unaware the process has gone horribly awry, asthe painter has conflated a fly sitting on the lens of his glasses with the woman, painting a nightmare-fuel amalgam of the two. This is representative of Gary Larson’s penchant for blurring the lines between human behavior and the animal kingdom, or the insect world, as he remixed and recontextualized behaviors and attributes of each to offer an irreplicable take on existence as a whole. In essence, this was the greatest thing aboutThe Far Side, and the reason it continues to be so popular to this day.
The Far Side
The Far Side is a humorous comic series developed by Gary Larson. The series has been in production since 1979 and features a wide array of comic collections, calendars, art, and other miscellaneous items.
