The Far Sideis no stranger to referencing other media, from books and films likeThe Wizard of Ozto other comics strips likeGarfield. However, one book that inspires many of Gary Larson’s cartoons is the Bible, with many comics taking elements from biblical stories and subverting them in clever - and hysterical - ways that will change how you look at the religious text.
The Far Sideis known for its absurd humor, and its interpretations of the Bible’s contents are no less zany than one would expect from the series.
Larson’s allusions to religion range from retellings of tales such as Noah’s ark to depictions of God himself as he perfects humanity in comical fashion.The Far Sideis known for its absurd humor, and its interpretations of the Bible’s contents are no less zany than one would expect from the series. Now,here are 10 of the funniestFar Sidecomics that feature silly twists on classic biblical narratives.
10"And just to make it interesting…."
First Published: July 22nd, 1994
This first cartoon stars God himself as he’s hard at work creating the Earth. Although the Book of Genesis in the Bible doesn’t include a description of God tossing ingredients together in a pan,The Far Sidetakes his act of creation literally by making him achef. Ingredients is shown in the background, including people of various skin tones as well as different animals. However, God adds one final touch to his recipe that will undoubtedly spell trouble.
God sprinkles “jerks” on top of the Earth as he creates it, saying,“And just to make it interesting….“Here, Larson is poking fun at the fact that God designed the world to include unpleasant people, suggesting that he’d done so on purpose just for the fun of it.
9"Saturday morning in the Garden”
First Published: February 8th, 1986
Anyone who’s familiar with the Bible knows about Adam and Eve, but what most people aren’t aware of is that they had company in the Garden of Eden. At least, that’s whatThe Far Sidebelieves, as the first twohumans are surrounded by animals.Each animal calls Adam and Eve over with the promise of fruit, with a cow offering them peaches and a porcupine offering apricots.
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In the classic tale of original sin, Eve eats an apple after being tempted by a serpent, and this act becomes known as the “original sin”. Here, rather than being tempted by Satan alone, many animals attempt to trick the humans. Once again, Larson toys with a biblical story by pushing it to an absurd extreme.
8"Well, so much for the unicorns.”
First Published: December 31st, 1981
Noah’s ark seems to be a favorite story of Gary Larson’s, as it appears frequently throughoutThe Far Side. In this particular iteration,Noah discovers that the animals appear to have slaughtered a unicorn in a cruel manner, interfering with his intended mission of saving as many animals as possible from an oncoming flood. Frustrated, Noah says,“Well, so much for the unicorns….“He then proceeds to separate the carnivores to avoid future messes.
This comic hilariously explains why unicorns don’t exist in our world, implying that they once roamed free and were meant to be salvaged on Noah’s ark before the carnivores devoured them. If there’s one thing Larson loves to feature in his cartoons, it’sanimals- even those that don’t exist, like unicorns.
7"Acts of God”
First Published: December 5th, 1991
God once again takes center stage in this cartoon that employs a format seldom used withinThe Far Sideby telling a story infour panels rather than one. Larson takes advantage of this extra space to flesh out the joke byshowcasing God performing multiple goofy tricks, such as juggling and playing instruments. He closes out his performance by preparing to launch himself from a rocket, waving to his audience as angels as he does.
The caption for this comic calls these “Acts of God”, which iswordplaythat likens a show’s acts to the actual “acts of God” that occur within the Bible. The burning bush is impressive, but Larson purports that it wouldn’t hold a candle to a full-fledged production like this.
6"Eat my apple, will you?”
First Published: February 27th, 1992
Gary Larson brings readers back to the biblical Garden of Eden to provide another laughable look at Adam and Eve’s potential experiences, once again bringing the fated apples into play. As the humans munch away without a care in the world, they hear a booming voice that declares,“Eat my apple, will you? LEAVE MY GARDEN!“Oddly enough, it also instructs them to “take all the mole traps” as they go, hinting at the speaker’s true identity.
While the voice that forces Adam and Eve out of the garden in the Bible belongs to God, this voice is coming from a mole with a microphone and a speaker.In the world ofThe Far Side, the humans' expulsion from paradise is a misunderstanding caused by a vengeful mole.
5"Mankind arrives on Earth”
First Published: April 9th, 1988
Once again, Gary Larson takes on the story ofGod creating humans, albeit with an even more subversive deviation from the source material. This time, rather than cooking up humans intentionally, he seems to have mistakenly found them in his meal. Someone says to God,“I’m sorry, sir! I don’t know how they got in your soup!“Then, God appears to toss the humans down to Earth, as the caption explains that this cartoon shows how “mankind arrives on Earth”.
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Instead of being carefully created for the purpose of inhabiting the Earth, humans are nothing more than a mistake on God’s part in this version of their origin.The Far Side’s pessimistic take on biblical creation isn’t for everyone, but it is undoubtedly funny.
4"They’ll scratch the furniture!”
First Published: September 15th, 1988
Noah’s ark comes back for another round, this time showing how he first brought animals on board prior to God’s disastrous flood. The animals all climb on in pairs, just as the Bible describes, but two dogs aren’t pleased as a certain duo approaches. Frantic,these dogs both spit out different excuses for why the cats shouldn’t join their voyage. One accuses them of forging their papers, while the other claims that they’ll"scratch the furniture…and they’ll transmit ringworm”.
It’s no secret thatdogs and catsdon’t get along well with each other in our reality, so Larson plays with that idea in this comic. These dogs want to make cats go extinct, but unfortunately for them, they’ll be stuck dealing with cats for a long time.
3"Forbidden fruit”
First Published: January 2nd, 1991
Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden for biting theforbidden fruit, and Gary Larson personifies that fruit in this cartoon. Here, different fruits are partying in a place called “Club Citrus”, as a banana stands outside to act as the bouncer. One fruit approaches to join in on the fun, but the banana says,“We don’t allow your kind in here!“The fruit looks unassuming enough on the surface, though the caption for this comic explains why he gets rejected.
All Larson provides in the caption for this piece is “Forbidden fruit”, yet that gives readers all they need to know to understand the joke.The fruit was forbidden for Adam and Eve in the Bible, and it’s also banned from entering clubs.
2"Math phobic’s nightmare”
First Published: April 7th, 1994
Countless biblical tales muse about what the afterlife must be like, and this cartoon paints a picture ofThe Far Side’s amusing take on heaven. A man arrives at the pearly gates, butrather than being granted entry into heaven, he gets asked a puzzling question by an angel. The question turns out to be an elaborate math problem that he needs to solve, and the angel asks if the man will need paper to work it out.
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In the Bible, Peter is the recipient of the keys to heaven, so it can be assumed that he’s the one gatekeeping it from others. To his credit, he has reason to possess high standards after personally associating with Jesus, but he could stand to cut people some slack.
1"We’re going to do this alphabetically!”
First Published: April 22nd, 1987
Gary Larson brings back the parable of Noah’s ark to provide more context for the biblical character’s journey. As many know, Noah brought animals of all species onto his ark so that they could be preserved for the future. In this comic, he calls to the animals,“We’re going to do this alphabetically!“Most of them don’t seem bothered by this rule, but the zebras both curse to themselves.
Many animals are lucky enough to have names that start with letters that occur early on in the alphabet, whereas zebras are inevitably going to be the last to board the ark and therefore find themselves at risk of not fitting on it. OnlyThe Far Sidecould come up with such a ridiculous perspective on a Bible story.
