1986 interview by Lynn Sherr on ABC's "20/20". Original air date was January 8, 1987. *Sorry for the low audio. Remember to turn your volume down after watching!
Just before he was about to go into 7 day a week syndication, Gary was speaking at the university nearby (in his hometown). When asked if he was worried about "writer's block", especially with the additional demands of daily production, he was silent for a long time. Finally, in his soft voice, said, "I never thought about that until now...." Everyone lost it - including Gary. Delightful man, very charming and witty.
When I was a kid I was bit by a rattle snake. I was lucky that the snake bit my fake leg, not my real one. Not long after that a Far Side cartoon appeared that was of a fat Mexican with a peg leg walking across the desert, leaving a foot print and a peg print in the sand.Next to one of the peg prints was a rattle snake with his mouth messed up. Art imitates life, but when your life imitates Gary Larson's art, you know you're in trouble. I sent him a letter with a picture of the snake fangs in my prosthetic leg and he sent me back an autographed copy of that cartoon. I really wish I still had it.
One of my happiest days was when I stumbled upon 4 Gary Larson 'The Far Side Gallery' books in a recycle centre. My daughter's used to read them at bedtime from cover to cover.....I like to think it shaped their outlook on the World too!
I love these cartoons. I had just about every Far Side book available until our house burnt to the ground. My kids have started replacing them as xmas presents. One of my favorite cartoon was the snakes at home with a crib full of baby snakes. Dad snake says "man this crib is useless, we need a cardboard box" Gary Larson is such a nut, the world is a better place because of the humor he brought us. 👍
I like his take on political correctness. The Big Bad Wolf is suing the 3 Pigs for injuries he sustained in the chimney. The lawyer said, "So you admit Mr. Pig that my client was coming down your chimney why you lit the fire. Do you realize-Mr. Pig-that my client is an endangered species, & you're just a side of ham?"
The first Far Side Gallery book had a picture of him on the back, hiding behind a small tree in a small enclosure like you'd find at the zoo. That's the only other time I'd seen him. He's practically the Loch Ness monster in that respect.
@@seymoorepoone9512 Yeah when I was a kid, instead of Disneyland dad would have us sit in the car and imagine What Gary Larson looks like. This kinda ruins it tbh
The mind of Gary Larson has literally put me in the fetal position on the floor, laughing as hard as I possibly could. At pure nonsense. I love The Far Side.
That’s because he made the darker things in life that would usually be bad memories, become funny moments in your life. He had a gift that many couldn’t begin to understand.
@@Muzzly1234 I have the complete hardbound boxed collections of both sitting proudly side by side on a shelf in my room. So much of my sense of humor and outlook on life was shaped by those two men.
Ditto and double ditto. Add Bloom County to that, Peanuts, and even Pogo from years gone by....used to read all the "coffee table" books at my grandmothers...oh and Bizarro World!
I managed to snag a mint edition of that tome from a local used book store for $75. It's certainly a hefty beast, but looks so good sitting next to "The Complete Calvin & Hobbes" collection on my shelf that I can't complain. I just had to make sure that shelf was properly mounted and reinforced haha!
‘87-er here with The Complete Farside hardback. Yes, that comment in the report threw me off too, all the younger peeps I show the cartoons to dig them. The world is the same ol crazy thus the humor still connects.
The question is, did these works make you weird, or did you connect more deeply with them because you were already weird? In my case, it was definitely the latter - I was already a weird kid, but comics like The Far Side helped define, shape and hone that weirdness from a general thing to a specific identity, and I'll be forever grateful.
There was a cartoon with the wife dog is in the background and the husband dog sitting at the table holding his sandwich open to reveal a chicken bone. He is thinking "Another Chicken leg bone, I think she's trying to kill me" Well my husband complained about too many tuna sandwiches in his lunch so I sent him to work with a chicken bone in his sandwich. Ha hahaha he had a good laugh as well as his coworkers. I loved Gary Larson.
The thing about geniuses is that they don’t realize that they are! And Gary was cartoonist genius indeed. I still browse his books at home on occasion and get belly ache laughs as though I’ve never read or seen them before! Lol. But I really miss that dark humor he did so perfectly!
Wonderful to finally see an extended interview and feature on Gary and his work. Now all we need is for someone to find and upload the full length version of that lecture.
By the time Larson came along, my sense of humor had already been primed by the Three Ms: the Marx Brothers, Mad Magazine, and Monty Python. The Far Side wasn't any stranger or more irreverent, but I enjoyed it immensely.
in the late eighties I had "grown up" and had not read the comics in news papers for a couple of years, until one day a work mate was in hysterics, I asked him what he was laughing about and he showed me "the far side". For me the type of humour was side splittingly funny and I was hooked from that moment on! It was the one where cows are standing in the paddock on two feet, one yells "car" and they change to stand on all fours when the car gets in sight... have never forgotten it
As a teenager, Gary Larson's "Far Side" appealed to my comedic sensibility in a way few other cartoonists did. His off the wall, surreal look at things was absolutely hilarious. And more than twenty years after he finished doing it, the work still holds up and is still damn funny.......
I admire anyone who can be so consistently funny. Larson has quite a talent, to be able to create great jokes day after day after day. I love to draw, but I'll be the first to admit that I'm about as funny as a dinner roll.
This man is so underrated nowadays. He was far before his time. Imagine him making a sketch about Harambe, Trump, Hillary, COVID, anything you can think of..
On my shelve is a The Far Side mug and it’s of a man, with angel wings, sitting on a cloud. There’s a bored look on his face and the thought bubble says, “I wish I’d brought a magazine...”. As an atheist, I chuckle almost every time I pull it off the shelf as it seems that an eternity of paradise seems awfully boring... But I digress. Gary Larsen is definitely an influence on my humor and what I find fun. If he is ever to read this; thanks...I guess? People find me odd! 🤣😂🤣
***** Yeah probably not. I wonder who would play him if they ever made a movie about his life. He looks a bit like a younger John Lithgow here, but John is way too old by now. If they did it right, I'll bet it would be a kooky yet charming film.
Ah, the beauty of UA-cam...I can think of something, come here, and voila! I grew up with The Far Side and Herman and this is the first time I've seen Gary talk.
Gary Larson, the godfather of surreal jokes ever since memes were created before the Internet existed. From early times to WW2 to modern nowadays. We see dead meme.
great memories from my childhood. At my music teachers house there was several books which I loved to read. And my parents always got me the wall calenders at christmas.
Best cartoons EVER! They were always just a wee bit "over the top" but MY GOD they were hilarious! Always loved the ones with cats...so funny. The one where the two trucks collide in front of kitty's house: Al's Small Flightless Birds and Bob's Assorted Rodents all while kitty stares out the window, unable to get to the tempting wreck...GOLD!
For years I saw cartoons in the newspaper that caught my eye because they were so good, intelligent, and funny. But I didn't notice that they all came from the same draftsman. Now I finally know the great artist of these unique drawings. I love Gary Larson's humor and he's a very nice person.
Cartoon Genius!!! I have all his books and his take on life is extraordinary as well as his hilarious drawings. The fact that they used Vince Guaraldi in the background is just AMAZING!!! 2 of my favourite things ever combined... The Far Side & The Peanuts Soundtrack TOGETHER AT LAST!!!!!!!! :o)
I can remember exactly where I was and which one it was when I experienced my first Far Side comic. That was about 35 years ago. Says a lot about the impact it had when it came out. We'd never experienced anything like it, and it just struck a nerve across the nation.
My favorite: "And the young reptile suffered deep emotional scars for the rest of it's life". This captioned a cartoon of a boy chasing a girl with a snake.
"All right, sir, will that be inferno or non-inferno? Ha! Just kidding! It's all inferno, of course...I just get a kick out of saying that." I'm convinced that's what I'll hear when I get to the afterlife.
Larson has influenced my sense if humor in ways that's impossible to explain. I was young when I started to read one of his books, and I didn't get much of it lol but by God, I never forgot it. It's strange to see him in the flesh.
Never forget walking into a book store (remember those) years ago. I just happened to open and start reading his cartoons. I busted out laughing uncontrollably. I forced total stranger in the store to have a look. I bought every book. Genius. 😀
My favorite Far Side requires some explanation. When I was about 9 years old, I spent too much time inside. I was homeschooled, and my mom was paranoid at how unsafe our neighborhood was rapidly becoming. I started having nightmares about being trapped in the house (such as were common in 2020). One of the few places I did get to go was a fetid thrift store where it rained inside and all you could smell was B.O. And there, in that disgusting place that I still wish would collapse in the middle of the night, I saw the Far Side panel "Go back to sleep, Chuck. It was just a dream. We're still in hell though." How I laughed at that! 😅 (Oddly enough, that house wasn't generally hell. The next one was for years, but that's a different story. I never had another nightmare about being trapped in the house though.)
The correspondent reading the captions out loud and describing the action reminds me so much of the later Far Side with the live comic strip reading - "And then, in the next panel, the cat says, 'Here we go again...'"
i disagree with the statement that his humor was generational, i didn't grow up in his generation but i can still identify with his humor in my daily life...
Back in the '80s I saw his 3-panel strip of UFOs spinning through space, then spinning into the earth's atmosphere, then having landed on earth, the aliens had gotten out and were all very dizzy from having been spinning around for so long. This made me laugh uncontrollably for possibly a full hour. I would calm down and get a grip, then look at it again and fall completely apart again. I have no idea why this affected me so strongly but I certainly enjoyed it when it happened!
First one I ever saw was a Tarzan character swinging through the jungle - except the vine is a large snake and his head is in its mouth. A very special and hilarious lunacy I appreciated right off.
I'll never forget finding the infamous Far Side Observer in my Grandmothers garage. It had my cousins name written on the inside of the 1st page spelling"Zib"(Sid). I found it and read every page, back to back. And i was only 5 or 6 years old! I think i still have it somewhere.. it's always had an attachment to me in some weird way! Or i had an attachment to it?!! Hmmmmm....!!!
I was in 6th grade and all the kids were passing around the "C'mon Fifi. Faster, Fifi, Faster!" cartoon.. and each kid laughing hysterically one by one. That's the day I got hooked.
Larson majored in biology during the early 1970s. He didn't start drawing cartoons until 1975. And it was while he was working at a music store in Seattle.
I love Gary Larson's genius and creativity, and I have all of The Far Side books. With that being said, this is the first interview I have seen with him and his voice kind of creeps me out.
Anytime I pull on a push door or vis-a-versa, I think of the "School for the Gifted" cartoon he did.
Lol I stop and say it out loud! Lots of people chuckle on hearing that.
Me too
👍😂
Every time I hear of a "school for the gifted" or anything like that, I think of someone pulling a push door.
One of my top 5 maybe top 3
Just before he was about to go into 7 day a week syndication, Gary was speaking at the university nearby (in his hometown). When asked if he was worried about "writer's block", especially with the additional demands of daily production, he was silent for a long time. Finally, in his soft voice, said, "I never thought about that until now...." Everyone lost it - including Gary. Delightful man, very charming and witty.
That’s pretty good. I’m glad you described the delivery. The delivery’s important.
The World would be a better place if there were more Gary Larson’s!
This guy is simply brilliant. I can see one of his masterpieces for the fiftieth time, and I still laugh.
what is it ?
@@SilverMist0121 Pick one.
chad carpenter with Tundra is in the same mold
When I was a kid I was bit by a rattle snake. I was lucky that the snake bit my fake leg, not my real one.
Not long after that a Far Side cartoon appeared that was of a fat Mexican with a peg leg walking across the desert, leaving a foot print and a peg print in the sand.Next to one of the peg prints was a rattle snake with his mouth messed up.
Art imitates life, but when your life imitates Gary Larson's art, you know you're in trouble.
I sent him a letter with a picture of the snake fangs in my prosthetic leg and he sent me back an autographed copy of that cartoon.
I really wish I still had it.
One of my happiest days was when I stumbled upon 4 Gary Larson 'The Far Side Gallery' books in a recycle centre. My daughter's used to read them at bedtime from cover to cover.....I like to think it shaped their outlook on the World too!
I love these cartoons. I had just about every Far Side book available until our house burnt to the ground. My kids have started replacing them as xmas presents. One of my favorite cartoon was the snakes at home with a crib full of baby snakes. Dad snake says "man this crib is useless, we need a cardboard box" Gary Larson is such a nut, the world is a better place because of the humor he brought us. 👍
I like his take on political correctness. The Big Bad Wolf is suing the 3 Pigs for injuries he sustained in the chimney. The lawyer said, "So you admit Mr. Pig that my client was coming down your chimney why you lit the fire. Do you realize-Mr. Pig-that my client is an endangered species, & you're just a side of ham?"
"NO DUCKS"
PC IS CANCER!
@@sunglassshinpan1352 so is the gop stuck in the past. Holds society back
@@gotanygrapes831 libtard
@@day245 I’ll be whatever you want me to be baby girl. Whatever makes you sleep at night
As a lifelong Far Side fan it is crazy this is the first time I've seen him before. Had no idea what he looked like.
Same here.
The first Far Side Gallery book had a picture of him on the back, hiding behind a small tree in a small enclosure like you'd find at the zoo. That's the only other time I'd seen him. He's practically the Loch Ness monster in that respect.
It’s fun to imagine what he looks like.
@@seymoorepoone9512 Yeah when I was a kid, instead of Disneyland dad would have us sit in the car and imagine What Gary Larson looks like. This kinda ruins it tbh
@@NextExiterthat sounds like a Far Side comic itself
The mind of Gary Larson has literally put me in the fetal position on the floor, laughing as hard as I possibly could. At pure nonsense. I love The Far Side.
ABSOLUTELY AGREEE!
Imam Axbert; Me too!
That’s because he made the darker things in life that would usually be bad memories, become funny moments in your life. He had a gift that many couldn’t begin to understand.
My sense of humor is standing on the shoulders of Gary Larson and Bill Watterson.
Holy shit, are we the same person!? The only comic strips I read, growing up, were the "Far Side" and "Calvin and Hobbes"!
@@Muzzly1234 and Bloom County
@@Muzzly1234 I have the complete hardbound boxed collections of both sitting proudly side by side on a shelf in my room.
So much of my sense of humor and outlook on life was shaped by those two men.
Im exactly the same!
Ditto and double ditto. Add Bloom County to that, Peanuts, and even Pogo from years gone by....used to read all the "coffee table" books at my grandmothers...oh and Bizarro World!
My Daughters just gave me "The Complete Far Side, by Gary Larson" for Christmas 2017!!! Thank you Kids for such a grand 12 pound present!!!
I wanted to get that for my father the year it came out. At over $200! I wasn't making much money at the time.
I bought that for my kids a few years ago.
I managed to snag a mint edition of that tome from a local used book store for $75. It's certainly a hefty beast, but looks so good sitting next to "The Complete Calvin & Hobbes" collection on my shelf that I can't complain. I just had to make sure that shelf was properly mounted and reinforced haha!
"Humor is generational" I was born in 83, loved all his work!
‘78
My gramma was born in 42 and loves garys humor from start to death.
‘87-er here with The Complete Farside hardback. Yes, that comment in the report threw me off too, all the younger peeps I show the cartoons to dig them. The world is the same ol crazy thus the humor still connects.
I just absolutely adore the far side and Gary Larson! I grew up on this, my Dad was an artist and a huge fan of his.
what a treat to see Mr. Larson come out of the dark a little. I have never seen a interview of his.
rare stuff.
This is wonderful. Larson is largely responsible for both my obsession with concision and my twisted sense of humor. No wonder I was such a weird kid.
Morrissey made you weird.
my youth was all Larson and Morrissey, cheers
You and me both
The question is, did these works make you weird, or did you connect more deeply with them because you were already weird?
In my case, it was definitely the latter - I was already a weird kid, but comics like The Far Side helped define, shape and hone that weirdness from a general thing to a specific identity, and I'll be forever grateful.
@@Dargonhuman featherless chicken or the egg causality dilemma
thanks for the upload of this rare interview
There was a cartoon with the wife dog is in the background and the husband dog sitting at the table holding his sandwich open to reveal a chicken bone. He is thinking "Another Chicken leg bone, I think she's trying to kill me" Well my husband complained about too many tuna sandwiches in his lunch so I sent him to work with a chicken bone in his sandwich. Ha hahaha he had a good laugh as well as his coworkers. I loved Gary Larson.
The thing about geniuses is that they don’t realize that they are! And Gary was cartoonist genius indeed. I still browse his books at home on occasion and get belly ache laughs as though I’ve never read or seen them before! Lol. But I really miss that dark humor he did so perfectly!
Wonderful to finally see an extended interview and feature on Gary and his work. Now all we need is for someone to find and upload the full length version of that lecture.
By the time Larson came along, my sense of humor had already been primed by the Three Ms: the Marx Brothers, Mad Magazine, and Monty Python. The Far Side wasn't any stranger or more irreverent, but I enjoyed it immensely.
Don't leave out the tremendous impact of B. Kliban's work.
Larson's animated cartoons reminded me of Monty Python's stream of conscience segue from one skit to the next. Less naughty but more dark.
8:11 That's why he's successful. He loves cartoons. You could just tell how genuinely happy that book made him.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen him!! He’s pretty much what I visualized him as.
I love The Far Side because it taught me to think about things I see or read.
Yeah, it's sad that he refused to give away his work to the Internet.
A true master of the craft. Too many great 'toons to pick just one favorite.
Gary Mason
+Steve Harris that's easy its after the first cover and before the last cover
in the late eighties I had "grown up" and had not read the comics in news papers for a couple of years, until one day a work mate was in hysterics, I asked him what he was laughing about and he showed me "the far side". For me the type of humour was side splittingly funny and I was hooked from that moment on! It was the one where cows are standing in the paddock on two feet, one yells "car" and they change to stand on all fours when the car gets in sight... have never forgotten it
spot on! First two GL cartoons I ever saw were "quick,cars!" and "Cheetah wheelies". fell about laughing and still mad about them ever since.
Thanks for The Far Side Gary. Always a good chuckle.
Funniest person I have ever known...
And never seen his face until today.
As a teenager, Gary Larson's "Far Side" appealed to my comedic sensibility in a way few other cartoonists did. His off the wall, surreal look at things was absolutely hilarious.
And more than twenty years after he finished doing it, the work still holds up and is still damn funny.......
I love the fact that cartoonists are the most normal unassuming people in person, yet wildly subversive on paper.
I admire anyone who can be so consistently funny. Larson has quite a talent, to be able to create great jokes day after day after day. I love to draw, but I'll be the first to admit that I'm about as funny as a dinner roll.
I don't know. I've eaten some pretty hilarious dinner rolls.
7 DAYS A WEEK! Huge pressure.
I don’t know how he did it. Coming up with a cartoon everyday. Amazing.
I remember when this first aired. I miss the old 20/20.
This is still part of my childhood.
He's my favorite.
An absolute genius.
Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes, the only newspaper comics that mattered growing up.
Jon Wilson exactly. Name one Family Circus. See, can't do it :)
Because they were consistent
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 Garfield, Peanuts and Dilbert
Bloom County
100%
I miss the strip but Gary left us his work. Thanks and enjoy your time off.
Larson was given credit for naming a new speices because of his love for the study of animals. awesome
A chewing louse.
Thanks for posting this!
The God of Bizarre, a true genius
This man is so underrated nowadays. He was far before his time. Imagine him making a sketch about Harambe, Trump, Hillary, COVID, anything you can think of..
Gotta love introverts, we rock!
On my shelve is a The Far Side mug and it’s of a man, with angel wings, sitting on a cloud. There’s a bored look on his face and the thought bubble says, “I wish I’d brought a magazine...”.
As an atheist, I chuckle almost every time I pull it off the shelf as it seems that an eternity of paradise seems awfully boring... But I digress. Gary Larsen is definitely an influence on my humor and what I find fun. If he is ever to read this; thanks...I guess? People find me odd! 🤣😂🤣
I have never gotten to see an actual picture of him. So glad I found this video :)
***** Yeah probably not. I wonder who would play him if they ever made a movie about his life. He looks a bit like a younger John Lithgow here, but John is way too old by now. If they did it right, I'll bet it would be a kooky yet charming film.
Woodsstories Paul Newman
Ah, the beauty of UA-cam...I can think of something, come here, and voila! I grew up with The Far Side and Herman and this is the first time I've seen Gary talk.
His books where a highlight of my childhood. Thanks Mr. Larson.
Gary Larson, the godfather of memes.
Gary Larson, the godfather of surreal jokes ever since memes were created before the Internet existed. From early times to WW2 to modern nowadays.
We see dead meme.
100th
An absolute genius, he understood that he could have very easily of ruined his brand and his humor, really understand the art behind it
Gary wearing a Larry shirt while making a comic. Mind blown.
Yep lol
THANKS FOR THE UPLOAD THIS GUY IS FUNNY WITH HIS COMICS!!!
great memories from my childhood. At my music teachers house there was several books which I loved to read. And my parents always got me the wall calenders at christmas.
Gary Larson is a lean, mean drawing machine. His cartoons from The Far Side book series never die.
Best cartoons EVER! They were always just a wee bit "over the top" but MY GOD they were hilarious! Always loved the ones with cats...so funny. The one where the two trucks collide in front of kitty's house: Al's Small Flightless Birds and Bob's Assorted Rodents all while kitty stares out the window, unable to get to the tempting wreck...GOLD!
For years I saw cartoons in the newspaper that caught my eye because they were so good, intelligent, and funny. But I didn't notice that they all came from the same draftsman. Now I finally know the great artist of these unique drawings. I love Gary Larson's humor and he's a very nice person.
That interview is pure gold.
He's made me giggle for almost forty years.
The Far Side was part of the holy trifecta of newspaper cartoons back in the day. The other were Calvin & Hobbes and Bloom County.
Cartoon Genius!!! I have all his books and his take on life is extraordinary as well as his hilarious drawings. The fact that they used Vince Guaraldi in the background is just AMAZING!!! 2 of my favourite things ever combined... The Far Side & The Peanuts Soundtrack TOGETHER AT LAST!!!!!!!! :o)
You have all his books? Your collection is complete?
yeah pretty much, unless he's made some new ones that i don't know about :o)
+Dan Fossard yeah same here or I did but some have wandered off. Got the "Prehistory" memorized
Simply one of the very BEST!
Dhe Best Of Prey
Growing up in the 80s and 90s I read a lot of Far side, garfield and calvin and hobbes. Classic stuff.
I Miss you Mr. Larson
I can remember exactly where I was and which one it was when I experienced my first Far Side comic. That was about 35 years ago. Says a lot about the impact it had when it came out. We'd never experienced anything like it, and it just struck a nerve across the nation.
Thank you for uploading this.
She keeps on passing me by!
Pharcyde... I get it...
My favorite:
"And the young reptile suffered deep emotional scars for the rest of it's life".
This captioned a cartoon of a boy chasing a girl with a snake.
this guy created pure brilliance.
They used to make calendars ? The best!
I never knew what he looked like or what his voice sounded like until a few minutes ago. It's cool to see this. Gary Larson is a comedy legend.
Same here.
Thanks for posting this video.
I've got the 'Tofudebeast' over my desk and it's been there for years.
Does anyone else think it is odd they are playing the Peanuts theme song during this?
Her haircut is the most 80's thing about this video. It's glorious
Vince Guaraldi as the soundtrack. a match mde in heaven! :)
"All right, sir, will that be inferno or non-inferno? Ha! Just kidding! It's all inferno, of course...I just get a kick out of saying that." I'm convinced that's what I'll hear when I get to the afterlife.
Gary Larson, One of a Kind Extraordinaire. Timeless humor. Funniest guy ever!!!
Larson has influenced my sense if humor in ways that's impossible to explain. I was young when I started to read one of his books, and I didn't get much of it lol but by God, I never forgot it.
It's strange to see him in the flesh.
Never forget walking into a book store (remember those) years ago. I just happened to open and start reading his cartoons. I busted out laughing uncontrollably. I forced total stranger in the store to have a look. I bought every book. Genius. 😀
I remember most of the panels they showed.
Gary Larson is, if not THE GREATEST cartoonist of all time - he is at least the greatest cartoonist of OUR time.
My favorite Far Side requires some explanation. When I was about 9 years old, I spent too much time inside. I was homeschooled, and my mom was paranoid at how unsafe our neighborhood was rapidly becoming. I started having nightmares about being trapped in the house (such as were common in 2020). One of the few places I did get to go was a fetid thrift store where it rained inside and all you could smell was B.O. And there, in that disgusting place that I still wish would collapse in the middle of the night, I saw the Far Side panel "Go back to sleep, Chuck. It was just a dream. We're still in hell though." How I laughed at that! 😅
(Oddly enough, that house wasn't generally hell. The next one was for years, but that's a different story. I never had another nightmare about being trapped in the house though.)
Cool
The correspondent reading the captions out loud and describing the action reminds me so much of the later Far Side with the live comic strip reading - "And then, in the next panel, the cat says, 'Here we go again...'"
i disagree with the statement that his humor was generational, i didn't grow up in his generation but i can still identify with his humor in my daily life...
His humor is timeless! The Far Side is the most timeless comic strip ever created.
Back in the '80s I saw his 3-panel strip of UFOs spinning through space, then spinning into the earth's atmosphere, then having landed on earth, the aliens had gotten out and were all very dizzy from having been spinning around for so long. This made me laugh uncontrollably for possibly a full hour. I would calm down and get a grip, then look at it again and fall completely apart again. I have no idea why this affected me so strongly but I certainly enjoyed it when it happened!
The god of desk calenders
I used to love his comics as a kid. Still do of course.
My all time favorite comic. I'm glad he went out while still good instead of dragging on into mediocrity.
First one I ever saw was a Tarzan character swinging through the jungle - except the vine is a large snake and his head is in its mouth. A very special and hilarious lunacy I appreciated right off.
I'll never forget finding the infamous Far Side Observer in my Grandmothers garage. It had my cousins name written on the inside of the 1st page spelling"Zib"(Sid). I found it and read every page, back to back. And i was only 5 or 6 years old! I think i still have it somewhere.. it's always had an attachment to me in some weird way! Or i had an attachment to it?!! Hmmmmm....!!!
Wow! Gary owns Dan Reeder Sculptures?? Good day to be Dan... when Gary Larson owns your art.
My favorite part about going to the public library as a kid was picking up a new Far Side book.
I was in 6th grade and all the kids were passing around the "C'mon Fifi. Faster, Fifi, Faster!" cartoon.. and each kid laughing hysterically one by one.
That's the day I got hooked.
Love Gary Larson. Laughed when the charlie brown theme starts playing in the background though; I guess some editor figured "close enough"
one of my childhood drawing inspiration
My grandpa likes his books.First time i seen him today.And wow he looks like him too Looooool.
Great upload
Larson majored in biology during the early 1970s. He didn't start drawing cartoons until 1975. And it was while he was working at a music store in Seattle.
Before his cartoon career, he was "inconsequential".
He’s like the Stephen King of cartoonists
I love Gary Larson's genius and creativity, and I have all of The Far Side books.
With that being said, this is the first interview I have seen with him and his voice kind of creeps me out.
Cow Tools
I LOVE that some Penguin Cafe Orchestra was used (in the penguin bit, naturally!)