10 Hilarious Far Side Comics About Raiding the Fridge
The Far Sidefeatured a number of recurring bits over the years, and by far one of the most underrated classics is Gary Larson’s “raiding the fridge” premise, which he put several different hilarious spins on during the course of his career, including one comic which consistently ranks among the “best” Far Side cartoons of all time.
Broadly speaking, there were two types of Far Side fridge jokes. First, there were those where characters opened the refrigerator to find something totally unexpected, in classic Larsonian fashion. Alternatively, there were those panels in which the character going to the refrigerator was the punchline itself; usually, in these cases, the subjects of the jokes were The Far Side’s anthropomorphic animals.
This list celebrates the best of each type, and seeks to develop a greater understanding of why Gary Larson returned to this trope repeatedly.
10 "An Unwitting Discovery": There's No More Pulling The Wool Over The Far Side's Cows' Eyes
Far Side: August 8, 1983
"While Farmer Brown was away, the cows got into the kitchen and were having the time of their lives," the caption to this Far Side cowcartoon explains, "until Betsy's unwitting discovery"; In the panel, "Betsy" is depicted in the moment of a horrifying realization, as she swings open the freezer door and finds what the reader can infer to be steaks.
In a way, this is a skillful melding of the two types of Far Side fridge joke outlined above, proving that Gary Larson was so ahead of the curve that he often broke his own rules before they were rules. Here, the cows' anthropomorphic behavior is amusing, but it is also meant to facilitate the panel's true dark punchline, as the cows are forced to reckon with the terrible reality of what they are bred and kept for, which they had been blissfully ignorant of up until this point.
9 "Condiment Dance": This Far Side Insomniac Is Also One Of Its Biggest Buzzkills
First Published: September 10, 1983
"And knock off that music!" an irate homeowner, clad in his bathrobe and pajamas, shouts into his refrigerator late at night, as he confiscates a banner that reads "condiment dance," which makes it clear to the reader that the off-panel contents of his fridge have, in typical Far Side fashion, taken on a life of their own.
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What elevates this from a good to a great Far Side comic? The answer is a mix of composition and tone. The decision to focus the illustration on the curmudgeonly human character, as he's in the process of breaking up the fun in his fridge, makes this stand out from other, similar Far Side cartoons. Further, the matter-of-fact tone of his reaction is also particularly funny; rather than finding it magical, or even terrifying, that condiments in question are animate, living beings, he amusingly treats it as irksome, as if this is a common annoyance for The Far Side's human inhabitants.
8 "Dang!": There's Nothing Worse Than Someone Eating The Best Part Of The Snack
First Published: October 17, 1983
"Who ate the middle out of the daddy-long-legs?" an anthropomorphizedbird asks in this Far Side, having gone into the fridge eagerly looking for the spidery snack. Though the punchline here is certainly the substitution of a bird's idea of a light snack for a human's, that does not obscure the fact that this is one of countless highly relatable Far Side cartoons.
That is, while it is filtered through the perspective of avian characters, this scenario will be very familiar to most average readers; anyone who has craved a particular bite of leftovers, or yearned all day for a specific snack, only to go to the refrigerator and discover someone else has gotten to it first, will understand the emphatic "dang!" that the bird in this Far Side cartoon squawks out upon its discovery.
7 "As I Always Suspected!" The Far Side's Characters Didn't Always Have Their Priorities Straight
First Published: April 14, 1984
The relationship between The Far Side's canine characters and its humans was complicated, to say the least; rarely could The Far Side's dogs be reduced to the simple status of "human's best friend," and at times there was outright antagonism between the two species. Here, a dog owner is depicted as being upset that she has discovered her dog raiding the fridge, but what she's specifically worried about is that she "not ever catch [it] drinking from the bottle ever again."
The Far Side Complete Collection
In other words, she is unfazed that her dog is standing upright and using its paws to open up the refrigerator and grasp a milk bottle; instead, her main concern is that there be no cross-contamination of dog and human mouth germs. The Far Side's characters often had mixed up, perplexing priorities, and that disparity between the reaction readers' expect, and what they got, is at the core of this panel's punchline.
6 "Gordon's Attempt At Dieting" Fails Because His Stomach Has A Mind Of Its Own
First Published: September 27, 1985
Gary Larson anthropomorphized animals, insects, and more throughout The Far Side's run, but this is definitely an example of the outer fringes of the use of this technique, as the panel depicts a disembodied stomach standing in front of the open refrigerator at night, looking for a midnight snack in spite of the wishes of the rest of its body, with the caption informing us that "his own stomach would foil Gordon's attempt at dieting."
As strange as the illustration might be, with this Far Side comic, it is fair to note that Larson is only embodying the colloquial way that people give agency to their body parts and organs; most people, at some point or another, have likely described their stomach as "having a mind of its own," and this Far Side comic gives that a bizarre but memorable form.
5 The Far Side Captures That Feeling When Everything In The Fridge Seems The Same
First Published: November 12, 1986
The Far Side featured many captionless comics over the years; while, in retrospect, some of these might have been improved if Gary Larson had given them a caption, most often, the deliberate decision to eschew a caption was made because the joke was self-evident from the illustration.
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That is the case here, in a panel depicting a woodchuck opening the fridge at night and standing with its hands on its hips, as it tries to decide between different variations of wood. Beyond that simple joke, however, is another relatable human experience, from which the premise originated: that frustrating sensation of going for a late-night bite to eat and finding nothing that satisfies the craving that sent one to the kitchen in the middle of the night in the first place.
4 "When Potato Salad Goes Bad": An All-Time Great Far Side Cartoon, Explained
First Published: January 14, 1987
In what is perhaps the defining Far Side fridge joke, a man opens his refrigerator to find a bowl of potato salad has "gone bad," in the sense that it has pulled a gun and is sticking up the mayonnaise jar and the ketchup bottle. It is a simple play on words, characteristic of Gary Larson's humor, yet it is brilliantly executed in a way that is guaranteed to get a laugh as much as any punchline in Far Side history.
This is, in a nutshell, also representative of the experience of reading The Far Side itself; upon turning to the newspaper's comics section, one never knew quite what to expect, or what Gary Larson was going to bring to life, and give a gun, on that particular day.
3 "Next Time Try Sitting On These": This Far Side Cartoon Asks More Questions Than Answers
First Published: May 4, 1990
In this funny Far Side chicken comic, a hen opens up her friend's refrigerator and points to all the unhatched eggs lining the shelves, saying, "well here's your problem, Marge," before adding, "if you and Bob really want kids, next time try sittin' on these little guys."
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The Far Side most often used its animal characters to poke fun at human behavior, but that is less obviously the case here; in this case, it truly feels like Gary Larson has offered readers a glimpse into a world of chicken civilization, and it is predictably strange, with this comic leaving many readers questioning why, exactly, "Marge" was putting her eggs in the fridge, or why she didn't know what to do with them in the first place.
2 "No One's Gonna Buy That...": The Far Side On The Dark Secrets Of Some People's Freezers
First Published: December 16, 1991
In this over-the-top Far Side cartoon, a female chipmunk is led away by chipmunk police, who advise her to "get a good lawyer," after they pull her husband, enclosed in a block of ice, out of the family's freezer, telling the suspicious spouse that "no one's gonna buy that my-husband-was-only-hiberating story."
It is a classic Far Side joke, in the sense that its dark humor is deliberately cut with absurdity, which verges on silliness; the centerpiece of the gag, of course, is the illustration of the frozen chipmunk husband, his eyes bulging out in a final look of surprise, stuck on his face. It is different from Gary Larson's usual refrigerator jokes, but in the best possible way, making it stand out as singularly funny among them.
1 "On Monster Refrigerators": The Far Side Reveals Life's True Horror Is Having A Busy Schedule
First Published: September 29, 1994
In one of Gary Larson's many "monsters, they're just like us" jokes, the shadow of a dragon-like creature is depicted looming in front of the refrigerator, which has a bunch of notes stuck to it with magnets, which make it clear this monster has an active professional and social life, as the notes include things like "Monday, hide in Doug Wilson's cellar," and "Sat 7:00, dinner at Stephen King's."
Again, this is a divergence from the familiar formula of The Far Side's fridge jokes, but that is a testament to the fact that Gary Larson was consistently rethinking his own comedic approach, and this flexibility paid dividends in the form of unique cartoons like this one, which represents a subtle, yet certainly underrated Far Side punchline.
- Writer
- Gary Larson
- Colorist
- Gary Larson
