In a historic moment for the series,Far Side’s most confusing comic of all time just hit the big 4-0 - and we’re not talking about ‘Cow Tools.’ WhileThe Far Sideis famous for surreal, unexpected humor, there’s only one strip where no-oneeverfigured out the gag without being told, at least according to creator Gary Larson. We’re going to look at what made the comic so perplexing, andalso cover some of Larson’sothermost misunderstoodFar Sidegags.
“I never found anyone who ever saw the reason why I did it.”
– Gary Larson
Published June 10, 2025, ‘The Holsteins visit the Grand Canyon’ is a simple joke that sadly gets lost in execution. We’re going to explain whyeveryone missed the point of Larson’s joke, and whyhe declared it his most misunderstood of all time, but first you deserve a chance to work it out for yourself…
While it’s difficult to get the joke in black and white, later color editions made a crucial change that actually makes the gag possible to grasp, though it’s still not the easiest thing to pick up…
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Far Side’s Most Confusing Comic Explained
Larson Says He Never Met Anyone Who Understood the Gag
Larson’s ‘The Holsteins visit the Grand Canyon’ is a simple if surreal joke, showing a family of cows taking a family picture while on vacation. The joke is thatone of the family’s children is holding up ‘bunny ears’ behind their sibling, with their hooves forming the perfect shape for the childish prank. However, published in black and white, the gesture looks like the ‘victim’ is just wearing a bow - somethingFar Sidechanged in later printings, adding a strip of white under the hoof to make the gesture clearer.
Interestingly,while no-one understood this comic, plenty of people enjoyed it. InThe Prehistory of The Far Side, Larson mentioned that he got mail from fans who loved the comic, with not one of them actually getting his intended joke. Larson writes:
I found it interesting that, without exception, they were enjoying it from a different standpoint from the one I had intended.
One strip showing a dog standing on a car was criticized as “sick” and “offensive,” after some readers misunderstood Larson’s art.
Indeed, in a talk at UCLA included as part of his 1986 interview with20/20, Larson said that:
I never found anyone who ever saw the reason why I did it.
Perhaps the most confusing aspect of this comic is that even just the idea of a cow family on vacation is funny, leading a lot of people not to look any further and find the gag Larson actually intended.But at this least inthiscase, no-one branded Larson"sick"because they misunderstood the joke…
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This Is Far from the Only Far Side Comic No-One Understood
It’s Not Even the Most Famous One Starring a Cow…
A lot of people will think ofFar Side’s ‘Cow Tools’ as its most confusing comic, but in that case, at leastsomepeople understood its intent. Nevertheless, so many readers were puzzled that it made newspaper headlines, withLarson even crediting ‘Cow Tools’ with helping himfind a larger audience.Larson explained the comic was a pure"exercise in silliness,“imagining the kooky tools that cows would craft if asked.
Another alternate candidate is the comic starring ‘Mr. Pembrose’ - a man who has been through so many horrible events, he’s been reduced to a single eyeball. Again, the gag was lost in execution, with the bodypart hard to identify on a psychiatrist’s couch. InThe Prehistory of The Far Side, Larson reflects:
Yes, that’s supposed to be an eyeball resting on the couch - the image all but vanished after size reduction. … Ok, maybe it doesn’t work.
However, confusing comics didn’t cause as much trouble as comics that were outright misunderstood. Onestrip showing a dog standing on a carand howling wascriticized as"sick"and"offensive,“after some fans wrongly believed that Larson was implying the hound was copulating with the vehicle, thanks to the unfortunate placement of the transmission.
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Misunderstandings like this led toFar Sidegetting a reputation for surreal, confusing gags, to the point thateven classic sitcomCheersbuilt a joke around a character not understanding aFar Sidestrip (yet again, one starring cows.) This reputation led to some readers second-guessing their own sense of humor - a simple gag about King Kong falling on a dog walker received a letter (shared inThe Complete Far Side) where a rattled fan asks,“We don’t feel that it can be as simple as ‘the gorilla fell on the dog’s master, so what is the dog going to do now?'”
It’s No Coincidence That Larson’s Most Confusing Comics Star Cows
Larson Believes That Cows Combine Comedy and Tragedy, Making Them Perfect for Surrealism
While ‘Cow Tools’ and ‘The Holsteins visit the Grand Canyon’ both confused fans, it’s no coincidence that two of Larson’s most surreal gags involve cows. First of all, they’re the biggest recurring ‘characters’ ofThe Far Side, quickly becoming the comic’s unofficial mascots. In an interview withThe New York Times, Larson was asked why he so oftenuses cows inThe Far Side, replying:
I’ve always thought the word cow was funny, and cows are sort of tragic figures. Cows blur the line between tragedy and humor.
This explainswhy Larson so often featured cowsin jokes like ‘Cow Tools’ and ‘The Holsteins visit the Grand Canyon,’ where the gag is a situation or image, rather than the character doing something inherently funny or facing a hilarious situation. Putting cows in human situations carries an inherent humorandsense of pathos for Larson, leading to a lot of domestic gags where cows acting like humans is the majority of the joke.
AsThe Far Side’s most confusing comic turns 40, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the fact thatfans are still looking back on and enjoying comics fromThe Far Side’s 14-year run. Larson crafted thousands of comics that are just as funny today as they were when they were published - showing not just his own skill as a creator, but also the staying power that weird, surreal jokes can have over more topical, observational humor (though to be fair,Far Sidehas plenty of that as well.)
Source:The New York Times
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.
