Gary Larson’s The Far Side famously doesn’t have any official recurring characters. Larson wanted the freedom to tell single, self-contained gags where anything was possible (as well as the ability to mercilessly torture his characters without upsetting fans.) However, while Larson didn’t want to use the same characters over and over again, he had no such misgivings about using the same archetypes, and perhaps the most famous (next to his ubiquitous cows) is a character Larson refers to as “the Nerdy Little Kid.”

Alongside the woman in the horn-rimmed glasses, the balding scientist, and the giant squid, the Nerdy Kid appears across The Far Side‘s entire run, often featuring on the front covers of Larson’s Far Side collections along with the rest of the ‘cast.’ Not only is the Nerdy Kid extremely common, but he stars in some of Larson’s best comics of all time.

Screen Rant has collected the best of the best, showcasing the 15 funniest Far Side comics starring the nerdy little kid, including two all-time greats that are in contention as Larson’s best strips of all time. If you want to see how other readers rank these strips, don’t forget to vote in our end-of-article poll for your favorite.

15

New Kid

In a Rare Strip, Far Side’s Nerdy Kid Actually Gets to Speak

Sometimes, all The Far Side needs to have a good time is a common idiom to take overly literally. In this strip, the ‘new kid’ in class isn’t a recent addition to the school, but rather a student who’s still shiny and ‘factory fresh.’ This is one of the rare cases where the Nerdy Kid – with his snub nose, freckles, bristly hair, and thick glasses – is just a bit player in the story. Strangely, this is coupled with the fact that it’s also one of the only comics where he has lines.

14

Monster Snorkel

This Comic Came from Gary Larson’s Childhood Fears

Gary Larson didn’t base a lot of comics on real-world events, but the ‘Monster Snorkel’ strip certainly seems to have been inspired by his own childhood. In The Prehistory of The Far Side, Larson shares his childhood terror of monsters and habit of hiding under the safety of the covers to escape their attention. The Far Side creator writes:

I nearly suffocated trying to stay completely under the blankets. Any exposed skin meant certain death. The monster snorkel would have been a wonderful thing in my little world.

Indeed, Larson’s greatest terror came from a nightmare his brother experienced then related to him in great detail – one in which he was being pursued by a terrifying wolf with “pure, white yes” that was “walking on its hind legs, trying to get him.” Larson reports that while his brother quickly got over the nightmare, the imagery terrified him for far longer. The wolf actually appears in a couple of places over The Far Side‘s run, including the above strip and another comic starring the Nerdy Kid, where it turns out nightmares are created by two tiny elves sitting at a control panel.

This was far from the last time Larson’s brother managed to instill an idea that made it into The Far Side, as later entries will show.

13

Our 1.5 Children

Far Side Takes a Famous Statistic Too Seriously

It’s a commonly shared statistic that the average American family has ‘2.5 kids,’ i.e. that the average of children in a household is between two and three. The funny logic of the term – that anyone could have 0.5 of a child – gave it staying power in the national psyche, with the idea of striving for ‘a white picket fence and 2.5 kids’ coming to stand for a very specific vision of the American Dream and its impossibly ideal family life.

While the claim itself was always questionable in terms of the numbers (and is even more so in 2024), Larson imagines what the literal situation would look like, as the Nerdy Kid (here going by ‘Russell) becomes a sort-of twin to his 0.5 of a brother, Bill. Larson usually has a great idea of what targets will stand the test of time, but anyone who isn’t aware of the ‘X.5 kids’ saying would be particularly nonplussed by this bizarre panel.

12

Ant Farm

Bugs Are One of Far Side’s Biggest Obsessions

Gary Larson is a major fan of bugs, with many of The Far Side‘s strips taking inspiration from creepy crawlies. Indeed, Larson is so fond of insects that he’s had multiple species of bug named after him by scientist fans, including the butterfly serratoterga larsoni and the chewing louse strigiphilus garylarsoni. It’s therefore not surprising that so many of Larson’s comics focus on the idea of kids (or beings who act like kids) keeping insects in jars or ant farms to study.

In the case of the Nerdy Kid (this time going by ‘Robby’), this includes the cattle rancher-like behavior of branding his tiny pets – presumably so no ant-rustlers can steal them away. In one great strip, the Nerdy Kid faces protests by the friends of the insects he captured, however Larson has also depicted aliens, scientists, and even God indulging in the hobby.

The Nerdy Kid’s ant farm makes a return in another strip, however it’s ruled out of contention in this list on a technicality because rather than being The Far Side‘s stock character, the kid in question is very specifically called out as horror author Stephen King. King seemingly saw the funny side, since he wrote the foreword for Larson’s The Far Side Gallery 2 collection.

11

Take Your Brother Off the Rack

Larson’s Humor Was Inspired by His Family

Given the context of the white-eyed wolf nightmare, it won’t surprise fans to know that Larson’s brother often took the opportunity to mercilessly mess with him. In The Far Side Gallery 1, Larson even notes “This is my brother’s fault” in regard to the franchise. It therefore makes sense that Larson would imagine the Nerdy Kid with a brother who torments him – although in typically Far Side fashion, he does so with a medieval torture rack.

One of Larson’s favorite gags is a tepid response to outsized behavior – this can be seen in the strip where a couple hire a witch to babysit their kids, only to be peeved when they return home to discover she ate not just one but both. The comic received heat from some fans, though Larson still numbers it among his favorites.

However, it wasn’t just Larson’s brother who inspired his humor – in The Complete Far Side, Larson describes his sense of what’s funny as a result of growing up in a family that had “a deep, sincere appreciation for the many uses of a good gorilla mask.” Indeed, Larson draws a distinction between the ideas of having a sense of humor and being witty, stating that The Far Side has always been about the former – jokes that are funny on a gut level.

10

Playing with the Dog

Gary Larson Always Takes the Animal’s Side

If there’s a human bugging an animal in a Far Side comic, fans can be confident that Larson will take the side of the animal. It’s a relatable gag for any pet owner who’s ever had to stop a friend’s kids bugging their pet, but also acts as a prologue to a far darker strip that will appear later in this list…

In this strip, Larson finds a way to split up the single image, using the dog’s revenge fantasy to add a subtle second panel to the comic. Larson often finds smart ways to divide up the panel, using the floor between two apartments, beach scenes where the reader can see above and below water, or even the front and back seats of a car to ‘cheat’ the constraints of a single panel.

9

The Far Side Cast

Gary Larson Reveals the ‘Actor’ Who Plays the Nerdy Kid

Throughout its run, The Far Side was never afraid to break the fourth wall, acknowledging its own existence as a comic and playing with the rules of the form. In this strip, Larson treats his comic like a TV show, revealing the fictional ‘cast’ who play its characters. The joke plays with Larson’s use of recurring archetypes, explaining their similarities with the idea that they’re played by the same actors. In the middle, it turns out the Nerdy Kid is actually ‘Jerry Miller,’ with a genius meta joke that the ‘actor’ was almost chosen to star in Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy comic, where Sluggo is depicted with the same kind of upturned nose.

The idea of newspaper comics hiring cartoon actors is a truly fun conceit, and Larson’s meta touch makes the most out of The Far Side‘s unconnected comics, treating the strip as what it essentially is – a sketch show where fans have to wait a day for each new skit.

8

Animal Crackers

Far Side’s Love of Americana Is Its Secret Obsession

Animal Crackers are an iconic kids’ snack in America, adding a little levity with lion, elephant and camel shapes, among other exotic animals. Again, Larson derives humor from taking a term overly literally, having the crackers savage the Nerdy Kid when he opens the box. While The Far Side has a lot of themes it likes to return to, one of the most ignored is its affection for everyday Americana. Growing up during the 50s and 60s, Larson’s humor may be timeless, but as he acknowledged in a 1987 interview with 20/20, the world of Far Side is firmly rooted in the era of Leave It To Beaver and Cold War paranoia.

7

The Anderson Brothers

Bears Are the #1 Threat to Far Side’s Humans

Again, Larson uses the foreground and background to break the joke into two parts, making readers very aware of the fate that befell the Anderson brothers. Fans who take particular satisfaction in The Far Side‘s mini-morality tales might like to imagine the earlier comic where two very similar brothers bug a dog as depicting the same characters, now finally paying the price for treating animals like toys.

6

Metal Shop

This Far Side Comic Came from a Larson Short Story

Fans of The Far Side might fairly ask where Gary Larson could possibly get the inspiration for his bizarre strips. In The Prehistory of The Far Side, Larson reveals various ways he works out ideas for comics, including writing short prose stories. The idea isn’t so much to discover what ideas to depict, but to zero in on the single moment in the story that will be the funniest when it appears as a single-panel gag. Larson’s story for this comic reveals a lot of extra details, and even adds a ‘morality tale’ aspect.

In the story, the kids work in metal shop on a robot that’s meant to help mankind, essentially ignored by their teacher “Mr. Rockford.” Scared that they won’t finish the project, the kids start working on it during study hall and after school, but without supervision, the project drifts towards a darker goal, with the narrator noting, “I think it was Randy Boone who suggested inserting the death-ray.” In the story, the kids showcase their robot in front of the entire school, with the concluding line, “Needless to say, when the carnage finally ended, we all received an ‘F.'”

5

Inside the Hive

Larson Uses The Far Side’s Captions in a Surprising Way

It’s rare that Larson tells two different jokes in the same comic, usually focusing every part of a strip on the same punchline. Here, however, the image is a goofy scenario where a rambunctious kid has been throwing rocks at a wasp nest, escaping their wrath by hiding inside the structure and somehow being overlooked. Meanwhile, the caption mocks the idea as not one of Larson’s best, labeling it in the style of a gallery exhibit to emphasize the throwaway nature of the gag.

In this case, we’d have to argue that Larson is wrong – the surreal image of a full-sized kid successfully hiding inside a wasp nest is hilarious, while the tiny detective costume worn by the investigating wasp enhances the gag.

4

The Floating Head of Death

Larson Once Again Plumbs Childhood Trauma for Laughs

Returning one final time to Larson’s family, this comic draws on one of the ways Larson’s brother would torture him as a kid. In The Far Side Gallery 1, Larson talks about his brother’s favorite prank – waiting until their parents asked Larson to go fetch firewood, only to hold the door closed and intone, “It’s coming for you, Gary! It’s coming! Do you hear it breathing, Gary?” Larson takes this idea a step further by making it a tactic by the Nerdy Kid’s parents to get him to go to sleep. The same idea can be seen in another strip where a father has built a mechanism to create the effect of a “monster in the basement” who demands quiet time.

While it doesn’t seem like growing up in the Larson household would have been for everyone, it did result in perhaps the funniest and most creative comic strip in history, so at least Gary Larson’s childhood terror wasn’t in vain.

3

The New Neighbors

Far Side Made a Lot of Hay Out of ‘Neighbors from Hell’

In this strip, the Nerdy Kid is once again a supporting character, as his mother worries over the neighbors. The gag smashes Larson’s surreal world into an everyday scenario – the mom’s words suggest that she’s annoyed the neighbors seem to feel the need to watch over her son while he’s playing, but the line gets a new meaning when the reader notices they’re crocodiles who are actually watching the Nerdy Kid because they’re waiting for a chance to drag him off and eat him. Sadly, this isn’t the only time the Nerdy Kid had problem neighbors – another strip shows a similar scenario where monsters move in next door.

Larson loved the theme of problem neighbors and involving bizarre creatures in mundane disputes, taking on the same theme with aliens, cavemen, howler monkeys and a pack of wolves. Again, there’s a subtle Americana to exploring the problems of a white picket fence neighborhood, though Larson always does so in a decidedly out-there Far Side way.

2

Midvale School for the Gifted

This Far Side Comic Made the Nerdy Kid Iconic

Maybe the most famous Far Side strip of all time, this comic is actually among the least traumatic things to ever happen to the Nerdy Kid. The joke hinges on the idea that even “gifted” people can often make incredibly simple mistakes, as the apparently smart kid pushes with all his might against a door marked “PULL.”

It’s far from the Nerdy Kid’s proudest moment, and yet definitely the gag that the character is best remembered for by fans. The stip shows Larson once again using the foreground to add extra context with the school sign – an essential trick when you’re famous for single-image gags.

1

Luposlipaphobia

This Beloved Far Side Comic Has a Claim to Being the Best of All Time

Some fans will object to any strip appearing above ‘Midvale School for the Gifted,’ which is often considered Larson’s single best comic. However, for our money ‘Luposlipaphobia’ is just as funny with the added appeal of being perhaps the definitive example of Larson and The Far Side‘s sense of humor. The set-up of a kid being pursued by wolves nails Larson’s morbid humor and love of nature, while the wordplay of giving this unique situation such a precise name highlights his playful love of language.

Longtime Far Side editor Jake Morrissey calls out the strip as one of his favorites in his foreword to The Complete Far Side, noting that “saying the word aloud still makes me smile.” However, Morrissey does also explain the difficulties of doing the research needed for The Far Side in a pre-internet era, saying:

I spent hours on the telephone over the years asking experts and librarians to give me the correct spellings of the strange words that popped up in The Far Side. I did not usually tell them why I was calling. I did once, but I flustered a librarian at the Kansas City Public Library so much that she told me to hang up and call the reference desk again. “I can’t help someone I don’t understand,” she said, sounding a trifle panicked at the mere thought of The Far Side.

Those are The Far Side‘s 15 best comics starring the Nerdy Kid, with Larson’s strips seeing him pursued by wolves, devoured by bears, and humiliated by a ‘PULL’ door – don’t forget to vote for your favorite strip in our poll below, and see how other readers rank these comics.