The Far Side's Best Comics About Fruits and Vegetables
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Comics like The Far Side are fun and relatable, partially because they cover a wide variety of topics. Created by Gary Larson, The Far Side portrays everything from life's daily moments to far-fetched alien escapades and more. Naturally, this leaves room for everything in between, even comics about food. It's hard to imagine how anybody could make fruits and vegetables funny, but Larson succeeds with style.
Many people have a complicated relationship with fruits and veggies. Healthy food isn't exactly sought out by all, though Larson found clever means of finding ways of pulling them into The Far Side . While there will always be some they love, others are just unappealing to look at, or even worse, unappealing to eat. So, it makes sense that so many readers find these sorts of jokes relatable, if not worthy of a good chuckle or two.
"Failed marketing ploys"
Most people probably know at least one variation of the ice cream song (or is it a chant?). The one that calls for kids to scream for ice cream. It rhymes, it's funny, and people of all ages love it. Here, Larson imagines a different sort of marketing campaign, one that is probably better left to the drawing board because this one would cause many problems.
As this Far Side comic shows, the problem with relying on rhyming marketing ploys is that they aren't always going to work. For example, good luck finding something that organically rhymes with "banana." In a similar vein, this failed marketing ploy tried really hard to find a way to rhyme with asparagus, and it's not something parents would appreciate, to say the least, though it is funny.
"... And then the creatures yanked him out of the ground, skinned him alive, boiled him, and ate him. The end. Now go to sleep!"
It's funny how telling horror stories before bed became a thing. At some point, one would think that most parents realized these spooky stories only further wake their children up. While the goal may be to scare them into behaving, no level of fear will help a child fall asleep on command. Yet the trend lives on in comics and stories, if nowhere else.
In this Far Side comic, a very frustrated carrot parent is telling the horrible story of a farmer. It begins with the farmer plucking a carrot from the ground, cleaning it, and skinning it. The farmer then goes on to eat the carrot. A typical story, right? Well, the carrot children probably feel a bit differently about this story, as nobody likes the idea of growing up to become fodder.
People love stories of exclusive clubs and the like. It's the perfect foundation for many types of stories, ranging from dramas to horrors and everything in between. It's also a good starting point for comedy, as The Far Side quickly reminds readers. Here, readers will see a very different type of club, one that serves only select types of fruit. Yes, fruit.
Club Citrus is the most exclusive club in The Far Side universe, but everyone must follow one key rule. No green fruit is allowed. Ripe bananas, grapes, apples, and pineapples are all welcome, but an unripe mango? That's a non-starter. They're not welcome at this club and will have to wait until they're a little bit older before they can come back around.
"Andy looked up in horror. Right in from of Sally, a worm was emerging from his forehead-and he felt himself turning even redder."
This one probably hits a little close to home for anybody who's made it through their teenage years. Most people have at least one embarrassing memory of a very inopportune pimple. Usually, the appearance of these blemishes is perfectly timed to "ruin" a big moment in a teenager's life, be it a date, dance, or drama performance. It's always something.
In a way, it's good to know that fruit would theoretically go through the same thing. Larson's comic about apples tells a story about a very unlucky fellow who just had a worm pop out of his head right in front of his date ! Oh, the timing of it all. What a shame. Is it possible for a red apple to blush?
"Nothing yet. ... How about yet, Newton?"
Most people know the story of how Isaac Newton created his theory on the law of gravitation. The scientist was sitting outside one day when an apple fell from a tree and bonked him on the head! However, The Far Side decided to have some fun with this premise, putting a bunch of physicists together under trees to see what would happen. Unfortunately for Newton, the apple waiting above his head is of an alarming size.
It raises an interesting question: what would Newton's theory have looked like if he had been struck with a bigger piece of fruit? Would the story or theory have changed at all? Regardless, this comic is light and funny, worthy of a chuckle.
"You know, Sid, I really like bananas. ... I mean, I know that's not profound or nothin'. ... Heck! We all do. ... But for me, I think it goes far beyond that."
Humanity has been obsessed with the stereotype that all primates love bananas for ages. There are a few theories about this obsession, including the fact that monkeys do eat bananas in the wild (alongside various other fruits). Around the time people started keeping monkeys in zoos, the stereotype got stronger, probably because bananas were cheap and people loved watching monkeys peel them.
In this comic, Gary Larson imagines a primate acknowledging the whole bananas debate, confessing that he really liked bananas. He knows that, realistically, there doesn't need to be a profound reason to like bananas, yet it feels like an important part of his story. It's almost as if the primate had some secret commentary about humanity's obsession with the subject.
Oh, is that so? .... Well, if there's anything I hate worse than a big, stupid carrot, it's a big, stupid banana!"
Bar fights feel like they happen all the time, at least in comics and movies . Usually, they start because somebody said something stupid, resulting in somebody else taking offense. A classic story, right? So, obviously, Larson had to take that classic story and flip it on its head. In this comic, the trope is alive and well, but the targets have changed.
Instead of a group of people picking fights, this Far Side comic portrays a brewing battle between humans and fruits/veggies. An angry (and probably drunk) man has poked fun at both carrots and bananas, which means he's about to have a rough night. Here's hoping he doesn't need potassium anytime soon. While it is a silly comic, there's something oddly funny about the whole situation.
"Early vegetarians returning from the kill"
Whenever people learn about early human cultures , there's usually a long and extended conversation about hunters and gatherers. But The Far Side combines the two into one, sort of. In this comic, the gatherers have become the hunters, as a group of early vegetarians is successfully returning from their hunt, but there's a twist. Instead of coming home with a slaughtered critter, they have a giant carrot in tow.
This Far Side comic has so many layers, beginning with assumptions about vegetarianism. Then there's the idea of a prehistoric carrot — did it actually fight back, or was it simply very challenging to dig up from the ground? The more one looks at this comic, the funnier and stranger it gets. That was almost certainly Larson's intention, as always.
"Splattered with juice and hooting excitedly, Neanderthals carve up their favorite kill, the woolly watermelon."
Years later, Gary Larson returned to the idea of the ancient hunt for produce . In 1984, that joke portrayed vegetarians hunting a carrot, but in 1988, he illustrated Neanderthals hunting and killing a wooly watermelon. Try saying that ten times fast. The comic is silly, odd, and layered. To start with, who would want to eat a fuzzy watermelon?
As with the carrot-hunting comic, this The Far Side comic changes the more one looks at it. At first, it's funny, if a bit off-putting, because of the whole fuzzy fruit thing. But then one considers the brutal way in which the people are carving their food from the inside. That's a little disconcerting, as is the size of those seeds.
Okay. The bank's open. ... Now, I know you're scared, Ramone. ... Obviously, we're all a little yellow."
Society has long played around with the correlation of fear and yellow. The phrase "yellow-bellied" appeared sometime in the 19th century as an insult to imply somebody was a coward. Other examples include "lily-livered," which has the same premise. All of this brings readers to this Far Side comic, which depicts yellow bananas about to start a robbery.
The head banana is talking to another one named Ramone, who apparently looks terrified (he's probably the one without sunglasses). Ramone's leader tries to lighten the mood by making a yellow banana joke, but given the rising tensions thanks to the crime they're planning on committing, it's safe to assume the joke fell flat. On the bright side, readers can still enjoy the joke, appreciating the layered commentary.