Far Side

“If you don't have a Gary Larson/Far Side calendar, go find someone who does and check out today's comic... ;-)

"Valderi! Valdera! ... "”

“Thanks for reminding me to rip off yesterday's page!! Another good one is where one of them keeps stepping on the back of the other's shoe.”

“What office would be complete without the Far Side???? Some days we spend a good share of the day trying to figure it out! Thanks for the reminder to change the date!! When backpacking the Grand Canyon last fall, we asked many their favorite Far Side joke. Everyone had one!! What's everyone's favorite? Mine is the dog sitting on the curb looking sad and dejected as his doggy buddy hanging out the back seat window of the car pulling out of the driveway saying "Ha Ha Ha... I get to go to the vet and get tutored!!"”

“How 'bout the one where a deer has a large red-dolored concentric circle-like mark on it's side, and the other deer remarks "Bummer of a birthmark, Hal!"”

“One of my favorites shows two aliens in a vehicle. The bumper sticker says "Rayguns don't kill Zorians, Zorians kill Zorians."
Buddur, I have a t-shirt with the deer on it. I get lots of comments on the birthmark.”

“Picture this:

The kitchen is totaled. Everything is broken. Goo on the walls and ceiling. The refrigerator is falling open with everything sliding out. And on the floor is a cookbook: Recipes For Disaster.”

“My favorite is the one where a guy is sitting in a small room w/ several phones around him. Each phone is labeled "They". A woman is poking her head in and says... "So, you're the "They" in "That's what they say."

I'm easily amused.”

“Two woman ants in rocking chairs, in front of the fireplace.

One holds a huge egg in her lap, and says, "Well Roger sort of wants a boy, and I'd simply adore having a little girl, but really, we'll both be content if it just has six eyes and six legs."”

“A herd of cows on a hillside, standing erect on their hind legs, chewing on wads of grass they hold in their front paws, just shooting the breeze...

One shouts, "Car!!!" and they all drop to all fours and chew on the grass growing beneath them.

Car passes, and they resume their normal posture.”

“No. 1: Kangaroos bounding up a mountain trail with soldiers in their pouches holding swords.

Caption: "Hannibal's first attempt"

I had it up in my office at the university. I finally took it down because most students didn't get it (they didn't know squat about ancient history).”

“God is in the kitchen, whipping up a ball of Earth. Shelves behind are filled with jars, labelled "trees, rocks, cows", etc. He's sprinkling Earth with a jar labelled "morons" and saying, "This ought to spice things up."”

“Here's from today's calendar: Little dog making espresso in kitchen.While their owners sleep, nervous little dogs start their day.”

“Two guys fishing in a boat and looking at a nuclear mushroom cloud blossoming in the background: "Well you know what that means -- no more creel limit and to heck with size restrictions."”

“When we were growing up, my sister used to do this all the time. I posted this cartoon on my website just for her. The family loved it.”

“LOL Phil, my son and I do that every Thanksgiving. He started it, now it's catching on with the rest of the family!”

“The one on my office wall is single panel, shows three chicken in the farm-yard watching the farmer head to the chopping block with another chicken tucked under his arm. One of the chickens says to the others "Well, when its my turn, I just hope to go quietly... without a lot of running around."”

“How about the one where the two bears are kicked back against the trees with toothpicks in their mouths. The caption reads:

"Don't you just love it when they play dead like that?"”

“My favorite:

A graduate lecture on the proper technique for delivering maniacal laughter after re-animating dead flesh. The prof on stage is standing next to a board that says 'Mooohaaahaaahaaaaaa' and saying 'It must come from the diaphragm'. It was posted on the genetics lab door when I was an undergrad.”

“Nigal - That is one of my favorites also.

Another favorite is the Buffalo Bill Cody one where he is at the employment agency. I laugh every time I see it.”

“I liked this one too.

 

”

“TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

I'm walking a fine line here. On the one hand, I confess to finding it quite flattering that some of my fans have created Web sites displaying and/or distributing my work on the Internet. And on the other, I'm struggling to find the words that convincingly but sensitively persuade these Far Side enthusiasts to "cease and desist" before they have to read these words from some lawyer.

What impact this unauthorized use has had (and is having) in tangible terms is, naturally, of great concern to my publishers and therefore to me -- but it's not the focus of this letter. My effort here is to try and speak to the intangible impact, the emotional cost to me personally, of seeing my work collected, digitized and offered up in cyberspace beyond my control.

Years ago, I was having lunch one day with the cartoonist Richard Guindon, and the subject came up of how neither one of us ever solicited or accepted ideas from others. But until Richard summed it up quite neatly, I never really understood my own aversion to doing this: "It's like having someone else write in your diary," he said. And how true that statement rang with me. In effect, we drew cartoons that we hoped would be entertaining or, at the very least, not boring; but regardless, they would always come from an intensely personal, and therefore original, perspective.

To attempt to be "funny" is a very scary, risk-laden proposition. (Ask any stand-up comic who has ever "bombed" on stage.) But if there was ever an axiom to follow in this business, it would be this: Be honest to yourself and -- most important -- respect your audience. So, in a nutshell (probably an unfortunate choice of words for me), I ask only that this respect be returned, and the way for anyone to do that is to please, please refrain from putting The Far Side out on the Internet. These cartoons are my "children" of sorts, and like a parent I'm concerned about where they go at night without telling me. And seeing them at someone's Web site is like getting the call at 2:00 a.m. that goes, "Uh, Dad, you're not going to like this much, but guess where I am."

I hope my explanation helps you to understand the importance this has for me personally, and why I'm making this request.

Please send my "kids" home. I'll be eternally grateful.

Most respectfully,

Gary Larson”

“Violin, is this on the up and up from Gary Larsen?”

“Why-oh-why would you suspect me of pulling your leg?”

“Turn loose of my leg, you don't know me that well.”

“That letter appears on many websites that used to post Far Side comics. There are still plenty of 'illegal' sites out there though.

It's pretty neat how he threatened with humor.”

“A man and a woman in a car, the lady looking at a map of "Nowhere" as they approach a sign reading "Entering The Middle". She says, "Well, this is just going from bad to worse!"”

“Hen and rooster sitting at the dinner table.

The hen says:
"Hey, this isn't so bad after all."

Rooster says:
"Yeah, and it sure beats sending them to college."

(Not a Far Side)”

“violin has no short term memory.”

“Picture: A labrotory-coated dood holding onto a large rectal thermometer, with a metallic space-travel machine in the background, and sneaking up behind a prehistoric dinosaur.

Caption: An in an instant Professor ??? and his time machine are quickly annihilated, leaving the cold-blooded/warm-blooded debate unanswered.”

“

Oh Hey! I just love these things! Crunchy on the outside and a chewy center!”

“Not Far Side;

Dalmation preacher saying to the congregation of dogs: "And the lord said unto them - BAD DOGS, BAD DOGS"

caption: Hellfire and Dalmations”

“
"Ha ha ha, Biff. Guess what? After we go to the drugstore and the post office, I'm going to the vet's to get tutored."”

“null”

“Buddur - That is one of my favorites also.

I knew Gary Larson doesn't like his work posted on the internet. That is why I didn't put all my favorites up.

Disney is also pretty sticky about using their images.”

“null”

“Phil - Loved the Thanksgiving one! My kids would spend the whole day standing in the kitchen waiting for the olives to put on their fingers (Went through a LOT of olives!).”

“Dinosaurs smoking...with the caption why they really went extinct.

Bear says to another bear while looking at campers in sleeping bags...Mmmm, sandwiches.”

“The cows going to the farmhouse with the milking machine. "That night, their revenge was meted out on both Farmer MacDougal and his wife. The next day, police investigators found a scene that they could describe only as grisly, yet strangely hilarious."”

“Far side is not that funny when deer really do Gang up and molest you in the wild

where's your sensitivity guys?”

“Did anyone enjoy seeing SirPete and WD in the Smokies on the Far Side calendar for Sunday the 22nd?”

“No. Please do tell.”

“Well, generally these have to be seen, and not just told, but...

Two campers in the deep dark woods (I am pretending it is SirPete and WD) roasting hot dogs on sticks over an open fire.

One says, "Thank God! Those blasted crickets have finally stopped!"

And in the background, among the trees, you can see why the crickets have stopped: a bear (at least, I am pretending it is a bear) so big that his head is invisible up in the trees....”

“all these cows are standin around on their hind legs near a fence, ,drinkin martinis, smokin ciggies, talkin & havin a party, and there's one standin up on the hill by himself and he yell's...CAR!


then all the partying cows all spread out and start grazin, actin normal”

“My favorite is a worker painting 999 over the gates to hell, He is telling satan " dang I guess I was holding the work order upside down"”