Summary
- The Far Side’s “vacation slideshow” cartoons hilariously lampooned sharing vacation photos with guests, an American cultural practice that became popular in the 1960s and ’70s, and can be said to have peaked in the 1980s and ’90s, during The Far Side’s run.
- Larson’s use of anthropomorphized animals and aliens adds a lighthearted touch to his jabs at American culture, skewing the familiar tradition of entertaining with vacation slideshows from nonhuman perspectives.
- The Far Side’s vacation slideshow panels excel at evoking strong responses from readers, showcasing Larson’s unique comedic talent at its finest.
Among The Far Side’s most memorable recurring gags was the vacation photo slideshow, in which characters subjected their guests to pictures taken during their travels. Creator Gary Larson lampooned this bygone tradition in a variety of incredible ways over the years, with the familiar set-up offering boundless opportunities for the artist to offer his subversive take on.
Often starring The Far Side’s signature anthropomorphized animals, Gary Larson’s slideshow cartoons elaborated on the inherent – if by and large innocuous – absurdity underlying the cultural practice of entertaining by showing vacation photos, which became a familiar part of the fabric of American middle class life in the 1970s and 1980s.
Larson’s vacation slideshow jokes were, for the most part, among the more lighthearted jabs at American culture contained in The Far Side – perhaps suggesting some nostalgia on the artist’s part for the tradition.
Long before social media made seeing friends and family’s vacation photos a ubiquitous part of daily life, it became common for people to share pictures by setting up a projector and a screen, and walking their guests through a slideshow presentation. Over time, the practice fell out of favor, but Gary Larson’s Far Side panels depicting variations on this activity came at the peak of its prominence.
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10
The First Far Side Vacation Slideshow Comic Set A High Bar
First Published: May 12, 1981
While many of The Far Side’s classic recurring elements were established in its first year in publication, the “vacation slideshow” bit was an exception. When it finally did appear, it proved to be one of Gary Larson’s most visually interesting – and immediately amusing – panels up to that date. In the comic, a man who appears to be melting points at a picture of a furious looking woman, remarking to his wife, “…that’s the old peasant woman who said she’d put a curse on me if I snapped her!“
What makes this panel especially funny is the collusion of elements. The way the man is drawn is grotesquely funny, while his remarkably casual tone adds another layer of humor. So does the image of the angry woman, raising her fist and cane to ward off the interloping couple. In all, this is a particularly potent example of a Far Side comic where the concept, caption, and image all work together in harmony to evoke a response from the reader.
Technically, the projector did appear in at least one Far Side cartoon from 1980, in one of Gary Larson’s “classroom lecture” panels, which constitute a similar, though distinct strain of the artist’s humor.
9
The Second Far Side Vacation Slideshow Comic Is Out Of This World
First Published: July 1, 1981
Gary Larson returned to the vacation slideshow premise not long after introducing it into The Far Side’s repertoire, this time in one of the comic’s classic installments starring aliens. Here, several extraterrestrials look at a picture of the Earth from outer space, reminiscing about a pit stop they made there once, noting: “…now that place was really a greasy spoon.”
Evoking an interstellar take on the road trip, with this Far Side panel, Larson offers a literal alien perspective on two traditions deeply ingrained in the American experience: exploring the country by taking a road trip, and talking about it after for years to come.
8
Gary Larson Puts His Unique Spin On A Familiar Phrase In This Far Side Comic
First Published: June 14, 1982
Gary Larson utilized the vacation slideshow premise in this panel in order to indulge in a bit of blatant wordplay, something he did frequently throughout The Far Side’s time in publication. Entertaining a pair of guests, a husband projects a picture of his wife with the Devil himself – Satan grinning, his arm draped around here – and explains: “Now, this is from last summer when Helen and I went to hell and back.“
Though the phrase is generally used to describe overcoming hardship and adversity, Larson finds the humor in “to hell and back” by making it both literal, and playful, as the couple’s trip into the underworld was seemingly not only intentional, but a memorable, positive journey.
7
Funny Faces Were Peak Comedy For Gary Larson
First Published: April 21, 1984
In this panel, the blame for a family’s goofy photo at the Grand Canyon falls on young Johnny for making a funny face – even though his family is drawn to be deliberately strange looking, in the manner of many of The Far Side’s human characters.
One thing that is evident upon becoming familiar with The Far Side is that Gary Larson had a deep, abiding love for funny faces; or, at least, he saw them as a surefire comedic shortcut. In any case, Johnny in this panel is far from the the only Far Side character to stick his tongue out in an irreverent response to having their picture taken.
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Fans of the far side can’t pass up this master collection of Gary Larson’s finest work. Originally published in hardcover in 2003, this paperback set comes complete with a newly designed slipcase that will look great on any shelf. The Complete Far Side contains every Far Side cartoon ever published, which amounts to over 4,000, plus more than 1,100 that have never before appeared in a book and even some made after Larson retired.
6
This Far Side Panel Approaches The Vacation Slideshow Gag From A Different Angle
First Published: April 2, 1986
This vacation slideshow Far Side features a giraffe venting their frustration when another poorly framed photo is projected on screen; “oh lovely,” the giraffe says sarcastically, “just the hundredth time you’ve managed to cut everyone’s head off.”
In this panel, Gary Larson highlights an all-too-real aspect of revisiting vacation photos – as often as it can be a return to positive memories, it can lead to tension, and even conflict. Here, Larson uses the giraffes’ physique to make a joke at the expense of those who have been put in charge of taking pictures on their family vacation, but ultimately proved not to be up to the gravity of the task. It is a gently absurd twist on a familiar reality, making it a highly effective Far Side punchline.
5
Vacations On The Far Side Were All About Finding The Best Places To Eat
First Published: April 11, 1986
This is in the conversation for the funniest Far Side vacation slideshow panel, as it depicts an image on the projector screen of a smiling shark, waving a fin, as a gaggle of unsuspecting beachgoer’s legs tangle directly above. “And here we are last summer off the coast of,” the shark husband informs his guests, before asking his wife, “Helen, is this Hawaii or Florida?”
The Far Side featured its share of characters in the moments before they unwittingly met their doom; while the bathers here seemingly escaped unscathed, they have no idea how close they came to becoming a memorable vacation meal for this shark couple. As with so many Far Side cartoons, the dissonance between the mortal tension implied, and the otherwise silly nature of the joke, elevates the humor of Gary Larson’s joke to another level of complexity.
Interestingly, this is the second “Helen” to appear in a Far Side vacation slideshow panel.
4
This Is Universally The Worst Case Scenario For Vacation Photos
First Published: May 1, 1986
Most people know the dismay of blinking at precisely the wrong moment, forever immortalizing them with their eyes clenched shut in a group photo, where everyone else is wide-eyed. Gary Larson captures that feeling here, in a Far Side panel entitled “alien slide shows,” which depicts a photo of three one-eyed extraterrestrials; two of them have their single eyes wide open, with black pupils directly in the middle, while the third has a straight line across their eye.
In a rare instance where Larson seemingly didn’t trust his readers to get the joke, he also includes dialogue from one of the alien parents. “This isn’t bad,” the alien says, “except Zubo must have blinked.” Yet the joke seems evident enough without this line – as the contrast between the two open eyes, and one closed, makes it clear what the artist is going for here.
3
Always Prepare The Slides Before Company Comes Over
First Published: November 15, 1986
This Far Side cartoon depicts another classic vacation slideshow foible: the upside-down slide. In this panel, a husband becomes irate with his wife for loading the slide in the wrong way – and while Gary Larson wasn’t shy about finding the humor in martial turmoil, here he takes the edge off by making the couple ducks, with the mix-up concerning whether they flew north or south for the summer.
There are certainly a number of reasons that the practice of showing guests vacation photos went from being considering conventional to cringe, and without a doubt, conflicts like the one that Larson lampoons here were one relevant factor in that shift. Again, this Far Side embodies the inherent silliness of this kind of snapping at one’s spouse through its irreverent use of ducks.
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2
This Far Side Cartoon Features A Memorable Day At The Snake Pit
First Published: April 5, 1991
Snakes appeared often in The Far Side, so it is somewhat surprising that it took as long as it did for them to slither their way into a slideshow panel. Here, a snake recounts the story of a time a human accidentally stumbled into its nest, consequently being bitten repeatedly, and presumably killed.
“Count those fang marks, everyone!” the snake tells its guests, as the projector screen fills with an image of the serpent smiling, its rattle vibrating with excitement, next to a prone pair of human legs. Once more, this Far Side counts on the incongruity between the human’s gruesome fate, and the glee of the snakes as they recall the memory of biting the man to death, in order to provoke a response from the reader.
1
This Memorable Far Side Slideshow Panel Highlights Puppy Love
First Published: March 2, 1992
Dogs were among Gary Larson’s most beloved recurring subjects throughout The Far Side, and this slideshow cartoon depicting the origin of a canine love story is memorable for how three-dimensional Larson manages to make this dog couple in just a single image, and a single line of dialogue.
Gary Larson once noted that many of his Far Side comics began as short stories, and it would not be surprising to discover that to be the case for this one. The giveaway is the odd specificity of the punchline, as the dog husband admits that his wife doesn’t like him showing this picture, but that he’s doing so anyway, explaining: “It’s halftime at the ’88 Detroit-Chicago game when we first met.” As brief and simple as it might seem, this puts these dog lovers among the most fully-realized Far Side characters.
The Far Side
The Far Side is a humorous comic series developed by Gary Larson. The series has been in production since 1979 and features a wide array of comic collections, calendars, art, and other miscellaneous items.
