I either hate or love The Far Side. This one hits the spot.
I bought a really old house and some years later an old local guy came in (for completely different reasons), and asked “So you got rid of all the holes?”
And I go “What holes?”
“Yeah the owners some 30 years ago put holes in all the walls to run his train track all over the house.”
I don’t. They were patched over by whoever lived here in the meantime.
But it explains why all my walls are patchwork of different materials.
Like I wanted to change the floor and was happily surprised by the old wooden floor, but then there was 2’x2’ part missing where the chimney which was removed in 1930 was… That’s the sort of house.
I’ve been around most of it, but it still surprises me.
This actually really happened in Michigan, and the woman was convicted, partly owing to the bird. It’s super creepy to hear the bird say “don’t fucking shoot!”
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.
Chickens are semi-cannibalistic, and if their eggs are broken, they will eat them.
Or at least I assume this bit of trivia is what Larson is after. Sometimes we think he’s playing 4D chess when he’s a few X’s short of a tic-tac-toe. (And the reverse as well)
Having been around chickens I wouldn’t say semi-cannabalistic, they’ll totally eat each other if one of them dies even if there’s plenty of their regular feed lying around.
He tripped in front of the chickens while gathering their eggs, destroying all their hard work, and now they look at him in disgust and disappointment.
And that’s why you never keep all your eggs in one basket.
Thank you for continuing to post these. Sometimes they are confusing and sometimes they are amazing (like this one), but I love reading them regardless.
Very welcome and I’m in the same boat. Some I’m dying laughing, others get a chuckle and others I don’t get. I do appreciate the ones we don’t get as well, as someone usually chimes in with an explanation.
The reason you have a spare is because you might need it in the future.
People seem to think that “spare” means that it’s useless, but it’s exactly the opposite. It’s “spare” because it’s useful to you. So it’s strange that people think you would give something away just because it’s “spare,” because that just means you’d have to acquire another spare for yourself.
Would you give away the spare tire for your car just because somebody asked you for it?
Fun fact; someone needing it is exactly why you have a spare, too. I would give my spare tire to a stranger that needs it, because that’s what a spare is. Then I get a new one. Edit: otherwise your spare is useless when you don’t need it.
Why don’t you have two spares in case you have two flat tires?!?
Nevermind learning empathy. That one is going to be tricky for you, I feel.
Luckily, you don’t need it to reach the correct outcome. Look into the other concept that is kept from you, the same reason why companies seek to “collude” in the “free” market.
Selfish Altruism; it’ll make your life easier and still save your descendants. Do it for you.
Oh no the unfortunates are going to have things. How can I someone of privilege survive without things? Is this the Robin Hood paradox where rich people will end up being moochers after all the moochers take their stuff?
This is Gary Larson. The armadillos are a joke. He made a joke. That’s what he does. You made a self centered statement about your entitlements.
If you can’t tell the difference between a moochers and a person who had bad luck and need a hand then you’re not well equipped for the social life we need. Because you have more in common with that person than with the one you seem to identify with.
I can easily tell the difference; one is born in money and is actually mooching on society, the rest of us should team up and kick that guy.
Your issue is one of perspective. You think your little things have a meaning, and you think that someone like Elon Musk just has more things (edit: because he worked harder or longer). As someone that actually works with centimillionaires and some billionaires, their lives are incredibly different on a fundamental level. They don’t just have more spare things. They suck government subsidies as income.
Trust me, the guy who is asking for a spare has it just as bad as you, with extra bad luck that day. Show some empathy.
The reason cars don’t carry around two spare tires is because they consume a lot of space. cars don’t have a lot of space to store a bunch of tires. All cars carry one spare tire because most likely in an emergency one tire will go out, so you replace it then get to a shop ASAP to sort things out. If two or more tires go out, stay where you are and summon assistance.
And yet, we live in a world where some people have more armadillos that they could use in multiple life times while half of the world population dosen’t even had one.
Would you give away the spare tire for your car just because somebody asked you for it?
I mean, yeah. A spare is for emergencies. If someone needed my spare, then they can have it. We’ll replace it later. Ideally, they would pay for it, but I’m not so heartless as to haggle with a person in crisis.
But this guy doesn’t need my spare. He wants my spare because he doesn’t have one.
If you’re wondering why Gary Larson penned a special message to a Tampa resident in today’s Far Side cartoon (on the back page of this section), wonder no more.
Bill Sutton, who Larson sends a “thanx and tip o’ the hat to” is a fictional person made up to imitate a cartoon called They’ll Do It Every Time by James Hatlo. Hatlo’s readers often supplied him with material, and when he used an idea, he thanked the contributor in the corner of the drawing. “Thanx, and with a tip o’ the Hatlo hat to . . . ,” he would write.
“Gary wasn’t thanking anyone in particular, he was just making fun of those cartoons,” said Universal Press Syndicate editor Jake Morrissey. “It’s a takeoff on the old line. It was kind of a silly cartoon to begin with. That’s the whole point.”
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