The Zaniest Far Side Courtroom Scenes

Summary

• Gary Larson begin depicting courtroom scenes early in
  Far Side’s
  syndicated run, periodically revisiting the setting throughout the years in order to put familiar elements of popular culture up on the witness stand.
• Legal proceedings stand out among
  Far Side’s
  number of recurring techniques as one that was used less frequently, but almost always to great effect.
• Larson’s courtroom
  Far Side
  escapades regularly included subverting classic songs and nursery rhymes, including “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” and “Pop Goes the Weasel.”

Over its fifteen year run in syndication, Gary Larson’s The Far Side featured a number of recurring motifs and settings, from the use of anthropomorphic animals, to the end of the world. While the courtroom wasn’t the most frequently visited location in Larson’s absurd world, the Far Side strips depicting criminal proceedings often proved to be among his zaniest.

What makes Larson’s use of court scenes particularly notable is the way it allowed him to have fun with familiar ideas and aspects of pop culture – including everything from nursery rhymes to folk songs – all in his familiar, deliberately concise style. The Far Side operated best when it was being unabashedly silly, while also striving to make a larger point, in addition to eliciting a chuckle from its readers. The trials depicted by Gary Larson throughout the years are some of his strip’s most amusing recurring elements.

The entries on this list are arranged chronologically, with the selections encompassing the years 1980 to 1993.
The Far Side
ran from December 31, 1979 to January 1, 1995, meaning this constitutes the evolution of Gary Larson’s courtroom panels over the majority of the comic’s syndicated run.

10 Looks Can Certainly Be Deceiving

First Published: January 18, 1980

Gary Larson’s first courtroom panel came just several weeks into The Far Side’s publication. While Larson’s artistic style would develop quickly over the first several years of the strip’s existence, his patented sense of humor was immediately evident. Here, a defense attorney addresses the jury, pointing at his client and asking: “Is that the face of a mass murderer?” Of course, the joke is that the defendant is drawn as a simple, Platonic smiley face, in juxtaposition with the alleged heinous crime he’s on trial for. In this way, the artist lampoons the idea that appearance factors into how juries deliberate on serious charges.

9 Some Breeds Of Dog Are More Loyal Than Others

First Published: October 16, 1980

“I could have guessed…,” the defendant says in this Far Side trial scene, as his dog breaks the traditional bond of human-canine loyalty to testify against him. This hilariously suggests that the man on trial knew the prosecution had a secret witness to testify against him, and he’s nonplussed to discover it is his dog. “My friends all warned me that this breed will sometimes turn on you,” the defendant adds, turning a classic dog breeding issue into a serious legal conundrum, while also making it clear that this person knew the risks when he picked this particular dog.

8 This Trial Has Dragged Out All The Live Long Day

First Published: April 21, 1982

In what would become a recurring bit in
Far Side’s
courtroom installments, Gary Larson uses the attorney-witness dynamic to interrogate classic popular culture.

In what would become a recurring bit in Far Side’s courtroom installments, Gary Larson uses the attorney-witness dynamic to interrogate – in the least serious possible way – classic popular culture, in this case the folk song “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” the lyrics to which famously assert, “Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah.” In Larson’s twisted take, the kitchen has become a crime scene, and Dinah perhaps the victim, which the defendant is tied to by way of their banjo. Here, the joke relies on the familiarity of the iconic song’s lyrics, subverted just slightly to produce a surefire giggle.

7 This Cow Was Brought To Justice By Hubris, Not The Legal System

First Published: November 23, 1982

Cows appeared in The Far Side much more frequently than the courtroom did, with this panel perfectly blending the two. Among the humans seated on a jury, in a court of law, is a cow, who can no longer contain the fact that she is, in fact, guilty of the crime being prosecuted. “All right! All right! I confess! I did it!…That’s right, the cow!,” the perpetrator proclaims, as all heads in the room turn toward her. What’s particularly funny, in this instance, is that the cow’s outburst seemingly comes not from guilt, but from an irrepressible urge to claim responsibility for the unidentified crime.

6 Gary Larson’s Version Of A Celebrity Couple In Court

First Published: October 22, 1983

This panel is another example of Gary Larson taking something familiar, and innocuous, and injecting a mixture of uneasiness and absurdity into it.

This panel is another example of Gary Larson taking something familiar, and innocuous, and injecting a mixture of uneasiness and absurdity into it. In this case, the toys Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head are in court, with the wife testifying against her husband. “Exactly what transpired on the night your husband chased you with the Veg-o-Matic?” an attorney asks Mrs. Potato Head, on the witness stand. Behind him, Mr. Potato Head glares at her. The real life tension of such a scenario, mixed with the goofiness of the Potato Heads, perfectly encapsulates how Larson skirted the border of controversy throughout the strip’s run.

5 This Trial Is A Real Dog & Pony Show

First Published: September 28, 1985

The likelihood of a positive outcome for the defendant in this Far Side strip is low, despite his defense attorney’s efforts. The two of them are both dogs – but everyone else in the courtroom, including the judge and jury, are cats, and the charge seems to be the murder of at least one cat. Admittedly, the attorney doesn’t do his client, or himself, much favor by admitting to the lesser offense of being a “cat-chaser,” cavalierly asking, “but hey – who isn’t?” in a way that is sure to only harden everyone in the courtroom against the dog’s case.

This panel is an updated version of the first
Far Side
courtroom panel, and first entry on this list, featuring the smiley-face mass murderer. In this case, the dog on trial’s visage is one of pure goofiness, once again underlying the point that an unassuming exterior can hide something sinister.

4 A Heated Exchange On The Witness Stand

First Published: February 20, 1984

The amphibian responds to being grilled by the prosecutor by shouting, ”
well, of course I did it in cold blood, you idiot! I’m a reptile!
” Gary Larson was never afraid to make unabashed puns, and this is perhaps one of his most glorious.

In what is perhaps the funniest Far Side courtroom moment, an alligator’s temper boils over on the witness stand, as the amphibian responds to being grilled by the prosecutor by shouting, “well, of course I did it in cold blood, you idiot! I’m a reptile!” Gary Larson was never afraid to make unabashed puns, and this is perhaps one of his most glorious. For a human to commit a crime in cold blood is a very different thing from a ‘gator doing so – perhaps laying the ground for the defendant’s eventual appeal in this case.

3 Gary Larson Puts The Readers’ Childhood On Trial

First Published: September 28, 1992

Here, Larson envisions the court proceedings following the events of the “Three Little Pigs.” This panel is notable for including particularly a dense caption, at least by the Far Side’s usual standards, as the attorney for the wolf is the one getting heated this time, openly berating Mr. Pig on the witness stand, decrying him as “nothing more than a walking side of ham.” Certainly, an objection has to follow this from Mr. Pig’s attorney, as it is clear that the wolf’s lawyer is trying to intimidate the witness, and prejudice the jury against his actions, which were taken in self-defense.

First Published: December 9, 1992

This panel is Larson’s commentary on the inherent silliness of turning civic activities, such as legal proceedings, into entertainment, and more specifically the practice of reporting from directly inside courtrooms.

In this panel, Gary Larson puts the protagonist of the nursery rhyme “Peter Peter Pumpkineater” on trial, with a television journalist reporting that his sister “Jeannie Jeannie Eatszucchini” has appeared to testify. Beyond the obvious joke, this panel is Larson’s commentary on the inherent silliness of turning civic activities, such as legal proceedings, into entertainment, and more specifically the practice of reporting from directly inside courtrooms, which was becoming an increasingly popular phenomenon in the early 1990s, and would only grow more ubiquitous as the decade progressed.

1 The Second Most Pivotal Monkey Trial In History

First Published November 4, 1993

Amusingly, this panel features the monkey mentioned in the famous rhyme “Pop Goes the Weasel” suing the man depicted in the song for punching him. Larson puts the monkey on the stand, and in another lengthier-than-usual caption, has him dispute the monkey’s version of events, noting, “well, sir, my client says he wasn’t having any fun,” being chased around the mulberry bush, resulting in a physical altercation. As always, Gary Larson displays here that it doesn’t take much to subvert the familiar, in order to get a laugh, as proved by The Far Side’s courtroom scenes, which remain among the strip’s most underrated entries.

• 

  The Far Side

  Summary:

  Written and drawn by Gary Larson, The Far Side is a comic strip series that ran from December 1979 to January 1995. A worldwide hit, The Far Side explores life’s surreal side and uses a mix of humans and anthropomorphic animals. As of 2020, Gary Larson decided to pick his pencil back up again and has started The Far Side up, circulating the comics on his official website.

  Writer:

  Gary Larson

  Colorist:

  Gary Larson