The Far Sidehas seen many snakes act like humans in Gary Larson’s iconic strips, with some entries actually being kind of cute despite starring snakes. Meanwhile, other strips that show snakes acting like humans are downright freaky and a little creepy. Snakes are terrifying for many people, but that should not stop anyone from seeing these hilarious, if not sometimes offputting,Far Sidestrips.
The Far Sidemay show a lot of animals acting like humans, but no comic strips are as freaky as those that show snakes acting like humans. As a result,the behavior of these human-like snakes can be too close for comfortfor someFar Side-reading humans, even if they love the other iconic animals in the long-running comic property.
10"Garlic Wharf Rats"
January 22nd, 1988
A first date can beall about first impressions, with even what someone orders being enough to make or break a date. Snakes too must deal with first date pressures, jitters, and decisions inThe Far Side.Two snakes are out on a first datewhere one makes the perhaps unwise decision to order the garlic wharf rats.
Any chance that the snake had of getting a kiss on his date flew out of the window after his garlic rat order. As much as the snake may have been into his first date, his love for garlic surpasses it, with the entrée of garlic wharf rats being too tempting to turn away, regardless of being on a first date where good breath, for snake or human, is absolutely an essential.
9"Ringgg"
January 11th, 1992
The phone ringing at dinner, or any meal, is a major frustration that everyone has experienced at least once, much to their immense annoyance. Snakes, as it turns out, are not immune to this very human disturbance as well. InThe Far Side, a snake is midway through his meal of a live pig when the phone rings, making itnear impossible for the snake to speak around the pig in his mouth to answer the phone.
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This snake can’t enjoy his nice pork meal thanks to the bad timing of the caller. Humans may be interrupted from their meals by a phone call while they eat, much like the snakein thisFar Sidestrip, but humans would likely not be eating a live pig… hopefully no human is eating a live pig, at least.
8"Step, Step, Slither"
May 9th, 1981
Learning to dance can be a blast for some and a chore for others. Typically, the milestone of learning to dance has been limited to humans, but snakes apparently get taught how to dance, too.A snake teaches another snake how to dance, playing music on their record player while he teaches her to step, step, slither.
While human dancing may not have the slither part, there is one minor adaptation for dance lessons for snakes, asthisFar Sidestripcan attest. The snake teacher gets very close to his pupil, making her look at him in a way that shows she is not pleased and likely will not be seeing him for dance lessons ever again. These two snakes are not ready for any ballroom dance competitions, but they seem to have the fundamentals down.
7"Thank You Very Much"
August 4th, 1988
Humans can show their enthusiasm with their hands through clapping. However, since snakes do not have hands, they have a different form of clapping, but it is still just as flattering as regular clapping. A snake gets ready to speak at a podium on a stage in front of many other snakes, who hiss in applause for the speaker.
The speaker is sincerely appreciative of all the hissing they have received, finding great joy in the applause done in a very snake-like way. Hissing would typically be thought of as a negative response, since no one wants to be hissed at, but this is very far from the truthinThe Far Side. The snake crowd is very excited about the snake speaker, with hisses all around the room to show their support for the snake on stage.
6"A Good Cardboard Box"
November 11th, 1986
A dad snake remarks on the worthlessness of the crib for their many baby snakes, since the slim snakes just slither out of the space in between the bars, suggesting thatwhat they really need to keep their kids contained is a good cardboard box. A cardboard box has no slits, so the issue of the baby snakes escaping out of the crib would no longer be an issue.
The use of snakes, which are usually symbolic representatives of concepts like evil or sneakiness, makes the domestic scene more subversive than it would be otherwise.
It’s creepy to see a whole gaggle of snakes just slithering around, but these snakes have taken on very human roles, making the strip still a bit creepy but in a very domestic sense.AsThe Far Sidecould haveused any other thin or small animal or insect for the joke, the use of snakes, which are usually symbolic representatives of concepts like evil or sneakiness, makes the domestic scene more subversive than it would be otherwise.
5"Ski Trip"
May 18th, 1986
On a ski trip, some snakes are having fun on the slopes. After a hard but fun day gliding on the powdery snow, they go inside to the warm cabin to relax, where one snake is found hanging out by the fire, but he does not look too relaxed. In a full-body cast,a snake looks like he has broken every single bone in his slithering body after skiing.
Perhaps this Black Mamba snake jumped onto a Black Diamond slope before he should have. While the injured snake has experienced a major bummer on his ski trip, at least he has a lot of friends who have signed his whole body cast. While he may not be able to enjoy any more slopes for the time being, this snake definitely got the most out of the snow sports he was able to do.
4"Who Would You Rather…"
May 20th, 1993
In a snake version of the classic TV show,The Dating Game,one female snake sits behind the partition to ask her snake suitors an interesting questionto get to know them better and to see which snake will be her best match. She asks them who they would choose to gobble up, and why: Mickey Mouse, Speedy Gonzales, or Rocky the Flying Squirrel from the iconic Jay Ward cartoonThe Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends.
What insight the woman hopes to gain from the snake suitors' answers is anyone’s guess, but it apparently is a very important question that the three hopeful snakes must answer. The human version ofThe Dating Gamelikely did not feature such a question, but it is very relevantfor snakes inThe Far Side.
3"He’s Poison for Sure"
July 7th, 1986
Two female snakes chat at the bar as another snake leers at them from across the bar, with one female snake commenting to her friend thatthe leering snake should be avoided at all costs and that he is definitely poison.Going to bars can be a mixed bag, with one being able to meet some really great people and some super crummy people.
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As much as the snake at the bar seems like a bad egg, the two friends watch others' backs, advising each other to not get involved with this individual who gives off some major bad vibes. As many snake species tend to be poisonous, the accusation of the snake being “poison” works in a figurative and literal sense. Larson is renowned for his talent for wordplay, something this strip is proof of.
2"Please Jiggle Grandpa’s Rat"
June 22nd, 1988
InThe Far Side, a mother snake asks her children to help out their grandpa byshaking their dinner rat for grandpa so that it looks alive and, as a result, more appetizing for him. Snakes like their prey alive and active, so it makes sense that the mother snake tries to get someone to move around grandpa’s rat for him.
Sitting around the dinner table is something many human families do, but snakes like to have family meals around the table together as well. Making sure the eldest in the family is happy and satisfied is something many families can attest to - both for the human and snake varieties, evidently. While it is a wholesome sight to see a family eating together, it is a little creepy to see that their meal is… rats.
1"Let’s Play Twister"
September 9th, 1985
Twister is a party game that is either loved or hated - by snakes as well as humans. When snakes have a party, the snake Edna suggests that they play Twister. Unfortunately, the game that involves wrapping limbs around each other to hit certain spots ends up tying the snakes into knots and gets allthe snakes tangled up in each other.
Human parties are not all that different from snake partiesasThe Far Sideshows, with Twister being a polarizing party game. A key difference, though, is that people rarely get physically tied into a gigantic knot that cannot be easily undone, unlike the snakes ofThe Far Side. No one will let Edna hear the end of her Twister suggestion thanks to the major game mishap that happened to them.
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.
