Gary Larson’s The Far Side is so surreal that it’s often hard to imagine where the creator could have found his inspiration. Often, the answer is Larson’s love of nature or random pop culture moments that he plays out to the point of absurdity. However in the case of one Far Side comic, the answer is that Larson was apparently struck by the desire to make fun of his longtime editor.

In The Complete Far Side: Volume One, Far Side editor Jake Morrissey discusses Larson’s work and their relationship, singing Larson’s praises as a creative force. Morrissey discusses his favorite of Larson’s comics, but also reveals that one unflattering work was inspired by a conversation between the two. The comic – captioned ‘The Art of Conversation’ depicts a gallery where people are pinned inside frames on the walls, droning on about boring subjects. A woman examines one of the people, reflecting, “Oh, my… This is depressing.”

Not only was Larson inspired to create the insulting comic by Morrissey, but it actually got him back into stride after taking a sabbatical from The Far Side. Morrissey explains:

On Halloween night 1989, I sat on a wide windowsill in an apartment in New York City that Gary and his wife had rented while he was on sabbatical. As we talked, Gary said suddenly, “You just gave me an idea for a cartoon. It’s the first idea I’ve had since I’ve been on sabbatical.” … The cartoon doesn’t cast me in the most flattering light, I know, but that’s not something I dwell on. I prefer to think of it as an object lesson in understanding that ideas for cartoons can come from anywhere if ou know where to look.

Larson’s ‘Art of Conversation’ Comic Was a Dig At His Friend

Thankfully, The Far Side Collaborator Took It in Good Spirit

It’s unclear whether Larson really found his friend boring or was simply inspired in another way, but it’s clear the two had a good working relationship regardless. Morrissey also notes that his favorite Larson comics have never seen publication, as they were all drawn on post-it notes and submitted with his official Far Side comics to make his collaborator laugh. Larson also trusted Morrissey as an editor, with the collection including a transcribed note reading, “Make me funny, Jake.” Morrissey disagrees with the sentiment, stating:

I never made Gary Larson funny. No one did. What he created over 15 years came from someplace unique within him, a universe all his own.

A Lot of Far Side Comics Are Based on Larson’s Experiences

One Far Side in Particular Is an Embarrassing Moment from Gary Larson’s Real Life

As Morrissey notes, Gary Larson was capable of finding inspiration for The Far Side in incredibly unexpected places, however he insists that only one is a direct recounting of a real life incident. That embarassing comic shows Larson laying unconscious after trying to use a home chin-up bar and knocking himself out on the door frame above. However, while this may have been the only Larson comic derived directly from personal experience, the creator found a way to twist many of his memories into hilarious comics.

One example is the ‘Monster Snorkel’ comic – an apparent advertisement for a device that lets kids hide fully under the covers, keeping themselves safe from monsters. In The Prehistory of The Far Side, Larson admits this device would have been hugely useful during his childhood, admitting “the monster snorkel would have been a wonderful thing in my little world.” One of Larson’s biggest fears in childhood was a monstrous wolf his brother had described from his own nightmares, which had white eyes and walked on two legs – in fact, that monster even appears in the snorkel comic.

In the same collection, Larson reveals that he once had a Burmese python which attempted to eat him. Larson bought the snake as a pet when it was small, and didn’t register that it had grown to 15 feet long. Larson notes that one day his pet “attempted to do me in” and he was forced to rehome it. It’s therefore no surprise that a similar snake appears throughout The Far Side, consuming everything from ducks and babies to the Seven Dwarves and even Jim Davis’ Garfield.

Not all of Larson’s inspirations were so direct. Larson has named Morrell Gipson’s 1950 children’s book Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat as a major influence on his humor, with the surreal book following a bullying bear who crushes its victims’ homes – a definite precursor to the often brutal natural world of The Far Side. Similarly, in an interview with 20/20 in January 1987, Larson stated that his perspective and sense of humor were influenced by growing up during the Cold War and especially the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the possibility of nuclear warfare was a daily reality. The Far Side is full of people confronting nuclear armageddon, but Larson says the influence went even deeper, stating:

I remember sitting in my seventh-grade English class thinking that the world was going to end during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It made you look at the world a little bit askew.

Far Side Made Fun of a Lot of Real People

But Only Those Who’d Stand the Test of Time

Larson’s editor wasn’t the only person to be skewered in The Far Side – Larson mocked historical figures and celebrities, though always demonstrating a keen eye for which figures would remain timeless. In 2023, Screen Rant asked fans to vote on the funniest Far Side comic starring a real person, with the above comic poking fun at Dr. Jane Goodall winning with 24% of the vote. Goodall received the comic well, and even invited Larson to visit one of her research stations.

Similarly, horror author Stephen King was parodied in one Far Side comic as a macabre child deriving pleasure from his disturbing ant farm, but still saw fit to provide the foreword for The Far Side Gallery 2, where he waxed lyrical about Larson’s talent, claiming, “he does what artists and humorists are supposed to do: he sees what I could see if I could have his eyes.” Other famous Larson fans include Robin Williams and Steve Martin, who also provided forewords for Far Side anthologies.

Not Everyone Took Far Side as Well as Larson’s Editor

Gary Larson’s Comic Has Always Attracted Its Fair Share of Criticism

While Larson’s more famous targets took his ribbing well, The Far Side has always received hate mail and even genuine controversy. Larson has admitted that there are several comics he worried would end his career, including the infamous ‘Tethercat’ strip, which prompted one reader to write in complaining that “this is sick, sick humor!” and another that “you should be fined at least $1000 for each such cruel cartoon.” Larson got similar feedback for his ‘Bobbing for Poodles’ comic where several alligators crowd around a tub, with one former fan insisting “you have offended millions!” Larson’s comic about a witch babysitter who eats the children in her care also received its share of ire, though in The Prehistory of The Far Side, Larson says he stands by the strip as inherently silly and funny.

Alongside these strips, Larson received stranger criticism. His comic about a dog fantasizing about finally catching a car was misinterpreted as the hound trying to mate with its prey, leading to newspapers receiving letters that it was “sick,” “offensive,” and only fit for the pages of Playboy. Larson was also contacted by Amnesty International over a comic showing a torture dungeon, with the organization claiming that mocking depictions of torture serve to obscure the seriousness of its modern-day use. While Larson notes in Prehistory that he believes the comic is “mostly harmless,” he does say that the group’s message “at least raised my consciousness to this problem.”

Ultimately, Larson’s ‘Art of Conversation’ comic shows exactly what Jake Morrissey claims – that the Far Side‘s creator’s mind was always working on the next gag, collecting even mundane moments to transform into surreal, unexpected, but always hilarious comics.