Gary Larson’s The Far Side combines surreal humor with a subtle darkness, making clowns the perfect subject matter. Across The Far Side‘s entire run, Larson included clowns again and again – everything from a Godzilla-sized harlequin to a clown therapy session. Screen Rant shared the best of The Far Side‘s clown strips and asked readers to vote for their number 1.

Published January 7, 2024, Screen Rant’s 12 Funniest Far Side Comics That Prove It’s Obsessed with Clowns presented readers with a dozen of Larson’s best gags and asked them to pick their favorites. With over 1800 respondents, all Larson’s strips got love from someone, but there was also a clear winner for the gold medal.

While strips depicting the arctic clown and a clown kidnapping ranked high, the clear #1 was a crossover gag involving Wizard of Oz‘s Wicked Witch of the West. The winning strip can be found below, following a run-down of exactly how each strip placed in the ranking.

Gary Larson’s Best Clown Comic Is a Wizard of Oz Reference

Far Side Celebrates Wizard of Oz Right Up Until Its Final Comic

Larson’s best clown comic (at least according to Screen Rant readers) shows two witches talking, with the reveal that one has had her face partially melted by the water-squirting flower of a clown. The gag references the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz (an adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s novel), and Margaret Hamilton’s Wicked Witch of the West. In the movie, being exposed to water causes the witch to melt. Larson’s affection for The Wizard of Oz is present throughout The Far Side, with the comic’s final strip referencing the movie’s conclusion, where Dorothy wakes up and realizes that the characters of ‘Oz’ were inspired by people from her real life.

Many of Larson’s Wizard of Oz gags hinge on the idea of the Scarecrow and Tin Man receiving organs from the Wizard, with strips where they’re mugged for their new brains and heart, try to get their iconic gifts from Doctor Frankenstein, and where the Scarecrow gets his brain home only to have it eaten by his pet dog. Larson often made pop culture references, but usually only chose franchises that would stand the test of time. The Wizard of Oz joins Jaws, The Godfather and King Kong on the list of movies that Larson correctly believed fans would instantly recognize 45 years later.

As weird as Larson’s Wizard of Oz strips are, they don’t compare to the original movie. From the Scarecrow randomly wielding a revolver in one scene to behind-the-scenes perils like using asbestos for snow and dangerous aluminum make-up for the Tin Man, The Wizard of Oz was darker than many fans know. Even iconic aspects of the movie like the witch melting alive are darker than fans would expect to see in a family friendly movie today, and Larson’s witch/clown comic taps into how odd this aspect of Oz lore actually is.

Far Side’s Love of Clowns Perfectly Captures Its Tone

Larson’s Statement About Far Side’s Love of Cows Also Applies to Clowns

Since The Far Side almost exclusively tells single-panel gags, Larson often uses subjects that bring their own context to the joke. Themes like dog vs cat, popular Fairy Tales and life in the Old West come with a bunch of existing iconography and ‘rules’ that Larson can use or twist – for example, no ‘dog vs cat’ comic ever needs to explain why the two animals are at odds, since it’s an existing shorthand fans are well aware of. With their make-up, custard pies, and trick boutonnières, clowns come with a bunch of existing imagery for Larson to play with, with the Far Side creator often treating them like a separate species to humanity, living by their own bizarre rules and rituals.

One aspect of clowns that Larson definitely taps into is the combination of humor and tragedy. The ‘sad clown’ has always been part of clowning, with slapstick making the clown someone who does funny things, but also someone it’s funny to watch bad things happen to. Larson taps into this in the clown therapy session and the surprisingly dark ‘clown in a gun store’ strip (above), while also subjecting clowns to being tied up by gangsters, gunned down by cowboys, and trampled by rodeo bulls.

In this way, Larson’s use of clowns is actually connected to The Far Side‘s recurring cows. Not only do cows star in countless Far Side strips, but they’ve become essentially the mascot of Larson’s comic. Interviewed by The New York Times, Larson was asked why he’s attracted to using cows in his comics, replying, “I’ve always thought the word cow was funny, and cows are sort of tragic figures. Cows blur the line between tragedy and humor.” That description is surprisingly similar to how clowning works, showing why the red-nosed jokesters fit so well in Far Side‘s world.

Fans Made the Right Choice for Far Side’s Best Clown Comic

It’s Hard to Disagree with the Big Winners of Our Poll

Larson’s Wizard of Oz-inspired strip scored a major victory coming number one, winning the position by a clear 110 votes over its nearest competitor. However, readers also largely agreed on second and third place. The joke of a dangerous gangster mistaking a clown’s make-up for a genuine smile is a classic Far Side gag, while the idea of an ‘arctic clown’ sits firmly in Larson’s comfort zone as a joke about nature (and a play on the popular myth that polar bears hide their noses with their paws when hunting.) It’s also a smart use of color, and one of the rare Far Side comics where color is built into the joke.

However, as great as these gags are, fans picked the right #1 with Larson’s tribute to the Wicked Witch of the West, who has now been served humiliating defeats by a Kansas farm girl and a traveling clown (at least in the world of Far Side.)

Source: Natalie Angier, The New York Times