Could it be poking fun of Thomas Jefferson as he was a red head and the snake’s name is Ginger? The comic is from 1982. How long has Ginger been a term for red heads?
The idea of someone having a pet snake in 1982 would have been so bizarre that it would be deemed comical. That said snake is called “Ginger,” a typical name for a harmless cat, not a 30-foot python reinforces that. This would probably have raised a sensable chuckle back in the day, but I don’t think it really stands up to the test of time.
I don’t know anything about Gary Larson or why this poped up in my feed but in my experience if im not sure what the joke is most oft the time its racist
The guy lost his snake so he put up a lost pet poster. The lady sees the poster and the viewer can imagine she is concerned - a 30 ft snake is dangerous. If the snake is loose for long there will be a lot more “lost pets” in the neighborhood.
The real explanation is a lot of far side strips just suck
Eh, this strip makes plenty of sense when put in to context, which @CaptnNMorgan did above and @FunderPants did below. Let’s also not forget that Larson was in a whole genre by himself back in 1982, and (IMO) was still experimenting and refining his style, with almost zero direct competition at the time. I do think this strip makes perfect sense back in the day in a sort of mild ‘haha, that’s a bit crazy’ way, and it was certainly unique and ‘good enough’ to be published in 1982.
But… what’s interesting to me is that from my reading of his stuff, Larson got a lot sharper and hit a peak of brilliance from roughly the mid-80’s to the end of the decade, then fell off a cliff after that, meaning IMO his stuff really did suck on the whole, in to the nineties. The way I see it, he’d basically exhausted most of his premises of humor, and IIRC new strips began to pop up occupying the same realm, which were arguably funnier and more inventive.
Not trying to put down Larson at all (I love the Far Side), but I can completely understand that after doing thousands of strips, many of them genre-defining, he ran out of gas / inspiration / dedication. So yeah, for sure some of his stuff “sucks.”
Sure, but I meant in the response to the commenter above saying “a lot of Far Side strips just suck” that ‘sometimes that’s true, but not THIS one, really.’
Probably just caused confusion by tagging you and the other bloke; sorry about that, and lesson learned.
I had no idea, so i asked my AI overlord to explain the joke to me.
“Ah, that sounds like a classic Gary Larson twist! Without seeing the specific comic, I can offer a general interpretation of what the humor might be in a Far Side comic featuring a lost 30-foot long brown snake named Ginger.
The humor here likely lies in the absurdity and contrast of the situation. On one hand, you have a potentially menacing, large snake, which people would typically find intimidating or even frightening. On the other hand, it’s being treated as if it’s a harmless, lost pet with a cute, non-threatening name like “Ginger.” This juxtaposition of a dangerous creature being treated in a domestic, almost tender manner is a common type of humor found in Far Side comics. It plays on our expectations — you’d expect a lost pet poster for a small dog or cat, not a huge snake!
The comic might also be playing with the irony of how a 30-foot long snake could possibly be “lost” given its size, making it a humorous commentary on how we sometimes overlook the obvious.
Far Side comics often have these layers of humor, where the situation is exaggerated or presented in a way that’s contrary to what we’d expect in reality”.
Just to add another layer to this. I uploaded the image to the AI and asked what was funny. It insists the snake is wrapped around the telephone pole, the fence or the man’s waste.
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