Everything gets a kooky makeover in The Far Side, even something as routine and mundane as beverages, specifically, coffee and tea. Gary Larson always knew how to put his own unique Far Side take on just about everything, extending his trademark sense of humor and talent for surreal imagery into his comics that featured coffee and tea. Given that coffee and tea are some of the most popular drinks around the world, it is not all that surprising that they have been made a part of multiple Far Side comic strips.
Whether it be cowboys having coffee drinking contests or one small but intense detail of Hell, The Far Side never strays from its absurdist qualities, even for comic strips that show something of the everyday like coffee and tea. One wonders if other specific drinks and food items have gotten the spotlight in The Far Side, calling for some further inspection into the treasure trove of comic strips.
10 “Insects Of The Amazon Basin”
March 21, 1985
A surreal comic almost to the point of nightmarish, a couple sees their home visited a horde of insects from the Amazon Basin. Anyone who has an aversion to insects should look away from this bug-centric comic strip. While the Amazon Basin insects may be the star of the show, coffee also makes a noteworthy appearance, with the woman character of the strip, getting ready to put a pot of java on for the visitors. Preparing for the unorthodox guests in the comic strip like one would do for actual human guests in the real world, the Far Side does what it does best and presents a kooky (and a little creepy) scene that has a basis in real situations. While most would prepare a can of bug spray rather than a pot of coffee at the sight of the avalanche of bug guests, these Far Side protagonists begrudgingly beg to differ.
9 “Javahead Jones”
1991
The Far Side loves to put a spotlight on the strange and unusual. Case in point: the comic strip’s Javahead Jones and his nifty invention of the chopped espresso maker. Rather than a chopped motorcycle that has been made custom, Javahead Jones would prefer to give his espresso maker a suped up makeover. What the exact purpose of the handlebars on the espresso maker is is only known by Javahead Jones, but it is prone to entice die hard chopped heads. A funny detail of the strip is that the character’s t-shirt says “Born to be Wired”, a riff on the ’60s Steppenwolf song, “Born to be Wild”, which is commonly associated with the biker movie Easy Rider. A fanatic of espresso and motorcycles, Javahead Jones has quite the eclectic list of die hard interests.
8 “Matched Their Caffeine Limits”
November 14, 1984
Drinking contests are a common trope of typically hyper-masculine genres like Westerns. Gary Larson uses this trope and does what he does best: turns it on its head. Rather than an alcohol drinking contest, The Far Side imagines a Wild West where there are coffee drinking contests to test the limits of caffeine intake. Given that caffeine can have some undesirable effects if taken in at high amounts, it is actually kind of fitting that there is caffeine drinking contest that is on par with an alcohol drinking contest. Some crummy after effects of high caffeine consumption can include headaches, irritability, and increased thirst just to name a select few. These cowboys who are deeply enmeshed in the competition are going to be uncomfortable for sure. It’s basically a given that no one is truly a winner in contests such as these.
7 “Nervous Little Dogs Prepare For Their Day”
1991
Little dogs can be quite hyper and energetic. The question has been raised, just where do these pups get their boundless energy from. The Far Side gives the answer to this question: espresso. Showing a small, nervous dog prepare for their day by serving themselves a nice cup of espresso, The Far Side adds a surreal yet hilarious explanation to some anxious canines’ behaviors. One would not ever picture a dog eating espresso, especially since caffeine is toxic to dogs, which makes the comic strip completely absurd to the point of eliciting laughs. Hopefully, in The Far Side, caffeine is a lot more gentle on dogs’ systems compared to in real life. The Far Side has shown dogs doing a lot of silly actions that defy the laws of the real world, but in this kooky alternate reality, dogs can prepare for their day like any other person.
6 “That Settles It, Carl!”
November 10, 1980
Caffeine can elicit some effects in people, like jitters, rapid heartbeat, and even anxiety. The Far Side adds another potential side effect, becoming trigger happy. With two people having their legs up in air, the culprit is Carl, holding a shotgun with his wife emotionally telling him that he can only have decaffeinated from now on. If shooting two people is not enough to quit drinking decaffeinated coffee, there is not much else that world get someone to quit. Then again, it would probably just be easier (and safer) for Carl to not own a gun in the first place. Although, this is The Far Side after all, where common sense is not typically known to be found in its human characters. Given that Carl’;s wife tells him before his caffeinated coffee ban “That settles it”, it is safe to assume that Carl has had some strange, and abysmal, effects to caffeinated coffee before.
Gary Larson, despite being the artist and writer of one of the most iconic comic strips ever, actually never formally studied art.
5 “Latte, Jed?”
December 19, 1991
Cowboys are mostly recognized as being rugged, tough guys who forgo creative comforts. However, this sacrifice is not necessary for the cowboys in The Far Side. Gary Larson’s portrait of frontiersmen is that of one making a latte out in the wilderness and offering some to his traveling companion. A very nice gesture and a strikingly nice protagonist of The Far Side, this comic adds an absurdist twist to the cowboy comics that Larson loved to do in his comic strips. The presence of an Italian coffee drink that has a specific process in an Old West setting makes the whole scene ridiculous. Likewise, a latte is a step above a typical coffee and is a bit more fancy, being in complete contradiction to what most people think when confronted with the setting and characters that are front and center in this comic strip.
4 “The Coffee’s Cold!”
1995
This comic strip would not be Gary Larson’s first work that shows hell. He has made Hell as well as Heaven a setting for countless comic strips throughout The Far Side’s history. This time, it is imagined that The Far Side’s version of Hell offers the dreamed horror of cold coffee, causing one damned individual to exclaim that Hell has thought of absolutely everything to make its inhabitants miserable. Cold coffee can be very gross, especially for those who are not cold brew of iced coffee fans. Consequently, it is just one more aspect to add to the long list of things making Hell, well, hell. While cold coffee may seem like small beans, pun intended, it is the straw that breaks the camel’s back for the citizens of Hell. Making the strip all the more funny is that no one is complaining about being whipped, seen by the demon shown with a whip above everyone, but yet the cold coffee is what has upset them.
3 “The African Dawn”
April 26, 1987
There are some behaviors one would have in mind for animals in the savanna. However, drinking coffee and tea at dawn is not exactly one such behavior one would assume the animals to have. Then again, these animals need a lot of energy for their lives out in the wild. In The Far Side, it turns out that the animals start their morning by drinking some caffeinated beverages too, just like humans. If anyone needs energy, it is the animals of the savanna who need to hunt and run after their food, or run away to avoid becoming food. Interestingly enough, the African dawn scene of The Far Side shows the animals letting each other have their morning caffeine in peace, with rhinos and lions coexisting in close quarters, at least while they drink their coffee.
The Far Side
was not the first choice for the name of the comic strip, with
Nature’s Way
being the original title before ithe strip got put into syndication.
2 “The Teapot Kid”
October 2, 1992
There are some cool names for Western figures, like Man with No Name, Billy the Kid, and Hopalong Cassidy. In The Far Side, however, one unlucky cowboy has a not so cool name, the Teapot Kid. As the strip shows, a cowboy entertains the saloon patrons by doing the “I’m a Little Teacup” song and dance. While his decision to sing the nursery rhyme for a bunch a rough and tough cowboys, The Teapot Kid has built himself enough of a reputation to do his unorthodox actions but never gets any guff from others about it. The other cowboys are surely chomping at the bit to poke some fun at The Teapot Kid but they know better than to ever ridicule him. Subverting typical expectations of the behavior of cowboys, Gary Larson creates a silly comic strip.
1 “I Got A Bad Feeling About This, Harriet”
March 19, 1980
Many are familiar with the saying, “Like a bull in a china shop”, basically meaning to destroy or wreck everything. As a result, the women in the comic strip are totally understandable for their anxiety about seeing not just one but two bulls in their china shop. Terrified that their merchandise is going to be smashed to bits by their bovine potential customers, the two women get a bad feeling. Given that the bulls seem to be respectfully shopping for tea sets, they have pretty much jumped the gun on their worries. Judging a book by its cover, well, bulls in this case, the two women remain on edge at the sight of the bulls if they are just inspecting a nice china tea cup. Can’t two bulls ever just go into a china shop and peruse some elegant tea sets in peace?