Literally thousands of responses, some of them quite angry.
June 13, 2013 9:27 PM Subscribe
Cow tools: Revisiting a Comic Masterpiece
Gary Larsen was one of the funniest cartoonists in American history, but to this day some people don’t know why, and that troubles me.
Wrong. Gary Larsen was a Pro Bowl tackle for the Vikings back in the Purple People Eaters days.
Gary Larson was one of the funniest cartoonists in American history.
I only got three "Larsen"s in, but it was either come back and vent or stab my eyes out with an Ikea hex wrench.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:54 PM on June 13, 2013 [6 favorites]
Wrong. Gary Larsen was a Pro Bowl tackle for the Vikings back in the Purple People Eaters days.
Gary Larson was one of the funniest cartoonists in American history.
I only got three "Larsen"s in, but it was either come back and vent or stab my eyes out with an Ikea hex wrench.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:54 PM on June 13, 2013 [6 favorites]
If "The prehistory of the Far Side" is to be believed, the joke is that around the time the cartoon was drawn, the idea of non-human tool using animals was filtering into public consciousness. Larson was just extending the idea of tool use to cows, and came up with an assortment of crude objects that looked like tools. I also remember him saying made a mistake in making one look like a hacksaw, because people then thought that identifying the tools was the key to solving the joke.
So it's a good example of how a work can be improved by separating it from its context and from the author's intent.
posted by Grimgrin at 9:54 PM on June 13, 2013 [10 favorites]
So it's a good example of how a work can be improved by separating it from its context and from the author's intent.
posted by Grimgrin at 9:54 PM on June 13, 2013 [10 favorites]
I've been wrestling with this one since Junior High, some 30 years now.
Now that we have the Internet to answer such riddles, it's a relief that I was more or less on the right track.
(The story we believed at the time was that he was under deadline, and dashed off this little piece of absurdist humor just to mess with us, as well as meet his obligation)
posted by ShutterBun at 10:08 PM on June 13, 2013
Now that we have the Internet to answer such riddles, it's a relief that I was more or less on the right track.
(The story we believed at the time was that he was under deadline, and dashed off this little piece of absurdist humor just to mess with us, as well as meet his obligation)
posted by ShutterBun at 10:08 PM on June 13, 2013
I think the key to the joke is that the "hacksaw" isn't really a tool; it's just a random object that happens to really resemble one. But since we identified one "tool" we examine the other ones in that light. The next "tool" is ... a stick? Well, it was found with a tool so it must be some sort of implement. Maybe it's a cow backscratcher? And the next one is basically a lump with a handle, but since it was stored with two genuine tools it must be something. Maybe a spindle? And the last one is obviously just a lump of rubbish and makes us reevaluate our position: they're just random lumps of stuff. Cows don't make tools.
posted by Joe in Australia at 10:20 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Joe in Australia at 10:20 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]
That doesn't even make sense!
'Ziggy' never tried to pull that kind of crap...
posted by mazola at 10:23 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]
'Ziggy' never tried to pull that kind of crap...
posted by mazola at 10:23 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]
In "The Prehistory of the Far Side," Larson says that he regrets drawing that one tool to look too much like a hacksaw that can be used by human hands, since the joke is that cows have these strange but useful tools that humans cannot comprehend.
Still, I love Cow Tools. It's weird and unsettling and still totally funny.
posted by mcmile at 10:23 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]
Still, I love Cow Tools. It's weird and unsettling and still totally funny.
posted by mcmile at 10:23 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]
I don't think this is such an impenetrable joke. A lot of Larsen's humor works this way:
1. Funny-looking animal
2. Trying to act like a human
3. Comes absurdly close
4. But still falls very short
Put it another way: "OF COURSE the cow has horrible tools. What kind of tools would you expect a cow to have?"
posted by PlusDistance at 10:24 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]
1. Funny-looking animal
2. Trying to act like a human
3. Comes absurdly close
4. But still falls very short
Put it another way: "OF COURSE the cow has horrible tools. What kind of tools would you expect a cow to have?"
posted by PlusDistance at 10:24 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]
Or it could be interpreted that the tools increased in complexity and similarity to human tools from left to right, showing a kind of learning curve. And the cow, standing on his/her hind legs with the deadpan expression that was Larson's default for depicting cows, was presenting them all proudly, the way that some kids in an art class will show off everything they made, from the first blob of color to the last one that actually resembles something. So the 'cow saw' is not really a mistake on Larson's part, it's a way of saying "watch out for these cows", like many of his eerier cartoons.
Also, the cow's deadpan pose reminded me of Norm Abram showing off the results of the latest session at The Old Yankee Workshop, but that show didn't debut until 7 years after this cartoon was made.
I am overthinking a plate of cottage cheese here...
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:28 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]
Also, the cow's deadpan pose reminded me of Norm Abram showing off the results of the latest session at The Old Yankee Workshop, but that show didn't debut until 7 years after this cartoon was made.
I am overthinking a plate of cottage cheese here...
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:28 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]
alternate title: Trolling on an ancient comic for pageviews
posted by Eideteker at 10:42 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Eideteker at 10:42 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]
We had a couple of Far Side anthologies in the house when I was in my middle-grade years. I wasted a lot of perfect summer afternoons lost in those panels.
posted by Doleful Creature at 10:43 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Doleful Creature at 10:43 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]
Now I want to find and wear those Far Side t-shirts that I wore all the time as a hopelessly (brutally!) uncool teenager. One of them definitely had a cow on it.
posted by brennen at 10:46 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by brennen at 10:46 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]
Gary Larson is to cartoons what udders are to hummingbirds?
posted by islander at 10:50 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by islander at 10:50 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]
I think subsequent, usually inferior gag panel artists and the dimming of 30-something recall of the 1980s have conspired to render Larson more assimilable in memory than he ever was in context. The dude has a legitimately weird sensibility rarely equaled in art generally, let alone in the kind of thing that winds up in every newspaper in the country and sells a bunch of calendars.
posted by brennen at 10:53 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by brennen at 10:53 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]
I don't think this is such an impenetrable joke. A lot of Larsen's humor works this way:
1. Funny-looking animal
2. Trying to act like a human
3. Comes absurdly close
4. But still falls very short
I agree that he frequently uses this formula. And Cow Tools seems to be an example of him trying to apply the formula. But sometimes a formula works and sometimes it doesn't. There are times when artists should say to themselves: "Eh, this does resemble the kind of thing I usually do, but this particular thing is just not going anywhere. So let's scrap this one, and try something else."
posted by John Cohen at 11:03 PM on June 13, 2013
1. Funny-looking animal
2. Trying to act like a human
3. Comes absurdly close
4. But still falls very short
I agree that he frequently uses this formula. And Cow Tools seems to be an example of him trying to apply the formula. But sometimes a formula works and sometimes it doesn't. There are times when artists should say to themselves: "Eh, this does resemble the kind of thing I usually do, but this particular thing is just not going anywhere. So let's scrap this one, and try something else."
posted by John Cohen at 11:03 PM on June 13, 2013
I've always thought the lump with a handle looks like a chicken quarter which makes this particular cartoon even funnier to me.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 11:17 PM on June 13, 2013 [9 favorites]
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 11:17 PM on June 13, 2013 [9 favorites]
Why does the author refer to the cow as "he"?
posted by Nossidge at 11:18 PM on June 13, 2013 [12 favorites]
posted by Nossidge at 11:18 PM on June 13, 2013 [12 favorites]
All Larson's jokes had so many levels. My favorite is the "Carl, watch for holes!" because it's so funny to think that groundhogs fell into ground holes, they needed to be reminded of it, and because they look so cute when they do.
I still wonder if I get nostalgic about The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes and Bloom County, because the creators knew when their well went dry and thus ended on a high note, leaving nothing banal like what we saw with Garfield and, well, almost everything else.
Gary Larson retired at the age of 45. Kind of crazy if you think about it.
posted by chemoboy at 11:24 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]
I still wonder if I get nostalgic about The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes and Bloom County, because the creators knew when their well went dry and thus ended on a high note, leaving nothing banal like what we saw with Garfield and, well, almost everything else.
Gary Larson retired at the age of 45. Kind of crazy if you think about it.
posted by chemoboy at 11:24 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]
Reading the 'evolution' of the tools from left to right, I thought the joke was that they were fashioned out of butter, hence utterly germane to the cow's nature and completely useless. They won't even leave behind any evidence they once existed. I read the cow's expression as a sort of deadlock of teeming cow-genius and unutterable frustration. Rather than the primal triumph of the 'same scene' in 2001 the cow is well aware that her tools are crap and of no use whatever. (Or so we humans would see it. )
Also interesting (to me) is the tacit agreement to read the tools 'right to left' in the article and in the subsequent acceptance of that interpretation of the joke. Because this isn't how most English-reading viewers would do this, being used to reading from left to right. Of course, this is complicated by the notion that the cow's p.o.v. is reversed. Is she an English-speaking cow? Are the tools arranged for our gaze, or for hers?
Changing tack, is the reversal of the evolution-sequence a bit of creative/dyslexic/lefty flippage? Or, introducing another note, perhaps the sequence is not as I have read it and the lump is the most-evolved tool in terms of bovine tech. This last possibility makes the cow's expression shift to one of starkly malevolent intensity, like an evil Einstein, with udders and a butter-lump-of-doom.
Don't ask me how you make a saw out of butter. Maybe it's cold. Maybe it's Wisconsin.
posted by aesop at 11:58 PM on June 13, 2013 [7 favorites]
Also interesting (to me) is the tacit agreement to read the tools 'right to left' in the article and in the subsequent acceptance of that interpretation of the joke. Because this isn't how most English-reading viewers would do this, being used to reading from left to right. Of course, this is complicated by the notion that the cow's p.o.v. is reversed. Is she an English-speaking cow? Are the tools arranged for our gaze, or for hers?
Changing tack, is the reversal of the evolution-sequence a bit of creative/dyslexic/lefty flippage? Or, introducing another note, perhaps the sequence is not as I have read it and the lump is the most-evolved tool in terms of bovine tech. This last possibility makes the cow's expression shift to one of starkly malevolent intensity, like an evil Einstein, with udders and a butter-lump-of-doom.
Don't ask me how you make a saw out of butter. Maybe it's cold. Maybe it's Wisconsin.
posted by aesop at 11:58 PM on June 13, 2013 [7 favorites]
The best thing about Gary Larson cartoons is that they can be completely communicated with words.
Duck, on a desert island. A mad scientist has just swum ashore from a sinking ship. Duck says AH PROFESSOR FRINKTON WE MEET AGAIN; THIS TIME THE ADVANTAGE IS MINE!
posted by Sebmojo at 12:04 AM on June 14, 2013 [13 favorites]
Duck, on a desert island. A mad scientist has just swum ashore from a sinking ship. Duck says AH PROFESSOR FRINKTON WE MEET AGAIN; THIS TIME THE ADVANTAGE IS MINE!
posted by Sebmojo at 12:04 AM on June 14, 2013 [13 favorites]
Gary Larson is a jazz musician now?
posted by No-sword at 12:09 AM on June 14 [+] [!]
IIRC he mentioned in one of his anthologies that he started out his adult life working in a record store, and that he enjoyed music (even though he *hated* that job).
You'll notice that many of his comic panels have a very strong musical flavor, or a musical punchline. Music has been one of his recurring themes, you might say.
I can't believe I just critically analyzed Far Side as literature but there you go.
posted by Avenger at 12:15 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by No-sword at 12:09 AM on June 14 [+] [!]
IIRC he mentioned in one of his anthologies that he started out his adult life working in a record store, and that he enjoyed music (even though he *hated* that job).
You'll notice that many of his comic panels have a very strong musical flavor, or a musical punchline. Music has been one of his recurring themes, you might say.
I can't believe I just critically analyzed Far Side as literature but there you go.
posted by Avenger at 12:15 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Allright, now that I'm on a roll, I'd say I can identify a few major themes of his work:
1) Comparing/contrasting animal and human existence (we are not far removed from animals, and vice versa).
2) The absurdity of the cosmos and the futility of human endeavor
3) Music as a means of (mis)communication
4) Childhood fears/trauma as being real and/or significant
5) Fate
posted by Avenger at 12:22 AM on June 14, 2013 [4 favorites]
1) Comparing/contrasting animal and human existence (we are not far removed from animals, and vice versa).
2) The absurdity of the cosmos and the futility of human endeavor
3) Music as a means of (mis)communication
4) Childhood fears/trauma as being real and/or significant
5) Fate
posted by Avenger at 12:22 AM on June 14, 2013 [4 favorites]
Pinned on my wall is the cartoon of the sleeping dog dreaming of vanquishing a car. Also the cartoon of the dog who has written "cat fud" with arrows to try to entice the cat into the dryer. The dog is hiding behind the washer thinking "Oh please".
posted by Cranberry at 12:29 AM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Cranberry at 12:29 AM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
How Larsonesque: Driving to the interview for the Humane Society job,
Larson reports, a dog pack ran across the road and he hit one of
them — perhaps a sign that this was not fated to be his right
livelihood, either.
posted by Daddy-O at 12:43 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Larson reports, a dog pack ran across the road and he hit one of
them — perhaps a sign that this was not fated to be his right
livelihood, either.
posted by Daddy-O at 12:43 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
I prefer it inexplicable.
posted by Segundus at 12:51 AM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Segundus at 12:51 AM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
Years ago I got The Complete Far Side, two beautiful slipcased volumes of full color glossy pages containing every Far Side comic. I also somehow ended up with a reading podium at some point. I've always sworn, if I had a house that had more visitors, I'd set up one of the books on the podium in a public place and turn the page every day or every week, like how some churches have a bible set up.
I still might do this even though I don't get many visitors.
posted by hippybear at 1:03 AM on June 14, 2013 [19 favorites]
I still might do this even though I don't get many visitors.
posted by hippybear at 1:03 AM on June 14, 2013 [19 favorites]
I loved Larson's work and still have the set of books I gobbled up in my early twenties. Part of the fun was not getting the joke and subsequently rereading it and suddenly understanding. I never got this one. I still don't. John Cohen that makes sense to me.
posted by BenPens at 1:10 AM on June 14, 2013
posted by BenPens at 1:10 AM on June 14, 2013
I prefer it inexplicable.
And inexplicked.
posted by pracowity at 1:15 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
And inexplicked.
posted by pracowity at 1:15 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Pinned on my wall is the cartoon of the sleeping dog dreaming of vanquishing a car.
Another comic that sparked furious complaint from the public, owing to the unfortunate position of the car's transmission...
posted by Jimbob at 1:27 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Another comic that sparked furious complaint from the public, owing to the unfortunate position of the car's transmission...
posted by Jimbob at 1:27 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Cow Tools is a good way to separate the Getters from the Non-Getters of Far Side.
It's just funny. You don't have to "figure out" the tools. Cows with tools. Get it?
posted by DU at 2:14 AM on June 14, 2013 [4 favorites]
It's just funny. You don't have to "figure out" the tools. Cows with tools. Get it?
posted by DU at 2:14 AM on June 14, 2013 [4 favorites]
The dog is hiding behind the washer thinking "Oh please".
Actually, the dog is thinking "oh please oh please oh please" which is something different.
posted by DU at 2:18 AM on June 14, 2013 [4 favorites]
Actually, the dog is thinking "oh please oh please oh please" which is something different.
posted by DU at 2:18 AM on June 14, 2013 [4 favorites]
Sad but true: people in their twenties seem to have zero knowledge of Larson or The Far Side. Also, Far Side merchandise is apparently no longer a thing, so you can't buy Far Side desk calendars and so on to give as safe Christmas gifts to relatives you don't know very well. Thefarside.com is a hokey-looking thing, set up purely to sell the DVD of an old TV special... which has apparently been sold out since 2007.
When I was growing up The Far Side was a big, big deal, but these days it seems to be vanishing into the mists of pop cultural history. I fear Larson's disappearing act was more complete than he expected.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:12 AM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
When I was growing up The Far Side was a big, big deal, but these days it seems to be vanishing into the mists of pop cultural history. I fear Larson's disappearing act was more complete than he expected.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:12 AM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
I thought this was pretty funny... but apparently for all the wrong reasons. My read went like this:
a saw-like thing (cow thoughts: this is like that human device that they seem to like so much; it must be good for something), but haha the stupid cow can't make the saw right; that saw will never cut wood haha. A divining rod, which is brilliant because hell yeah, the cow wants to find water, which is pertinent to its cow interests... and a dowsing cow is hilarious to me. A cow patty, because if all you haveis a hammer is cow patties, you make a cow patty your tool. A cow patty with something stuck in it or maybe a sculpted cow patty. Innovation!
posted by taz at 3:51 AM on June 14, 2013
a saw-like thing (cow thoughts: this is like that human device that they seem to like so much; it must be good for something), but haha the stupid cow can't make the saw right; that saw will never cut wood haha. A divining rod, which is brilliant because hell yeah, the cow wants to find water, which is pertinent to its cow interests... and a dowsing cow is hilarious to me. A cow patty, because if all you have
posted by taz at 3:51 AM on June 14, 2013
I fear Larson's disappearing act was more complete than he expected.
When he gets home from his guitar lessons with Bill Frisell and lies down on his pile of cartooning money, I bet he cries a little, inside.
posted by thelonius at 3:56 AM on June 14, 2013 [5 favorites]
When he gets home from his guitar lessons with Bill Frisell and lies down on his pile of cartooning money, I bet he cries a little, inside.
posted by thelonius at 3:56 AM on June 14, 2013 [5 favorites]
When I was growing up The Far Side was a big, big deal, but these days it seems to be vanishing into the mists of pop cultural history.
In the 1950's and 60's, Li'l Abner and Pogo were far, far bigger deals than The Far Side ever was, but by the 80's they were unknown to people in their 20s.
posted by Trace McJoy at 4:03 AM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
In the 1950's and 60's, Li'l Abner and Pogo were far, far bigger deals than The Far Side ever was, but by the 80's they were unknown to people in their 20s.
posted by Trace McJoy at 4:03 AM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
My take, I guess, was, cow, gag, some stuff for the gag. What's in Doonesbury today? I'm surprised to hear that people became so obsessed with trying to determine what the gag tools were "supposed" to be. Maybe I am doing comics wrong, or maybe they are.
hippybear: do it!
posted by thelonius at 4:21 AM on June 14, 2013
hippybear: do it!
posted by thelonius at 4:21 AM on June 14, 2013
I'm, happy to say that my son knows about The Far Side because he's read all my books.
posted by octothorpe at 4:21 AM on June 14, 2013
Far Side -> Bloom County -> Calvin and Hobbes
Kids these days don't know what they're missing!
posted by DigDoug at 4:26 AM on June 14, 2013
Kids these days don't know what they're missing!
posted by DigDoug at 4:26 AM on June 14, 2013
In the 1950's and 60's, Li'l Abner and Pogo were far, far bigger deals than The Far Side ever was, but by the 80's they were unknown to people in their 20s.
I'd actually heard of Pogo and have tried it a few times. And I honestly cannot see what anyone else saw in it. Maybe it was so much better than anything else, or maybe once you get past the "accent" it's a lot better, but to me it's painful.
I think Far Side is doing OK. It isn't literally forgotten and it's a great treasure trove for anyone who digs back and finds it. Much like Charles Addams and Gahan Wilson, to whom Larson owes a ton (and they are arguably better). Which reminds me, it's time to check those collections back out of the library.
posted by DU at 4:28 AM on June 14, 2013
I'd actually heard of Pogo and have tried it a few times. And I honestly cannot see what anyone else saw in it. Maybe it was so much better than anything else, or maybe once you get past the "accent" it's a lot better, but to me it's painful.
I think Far Side is doing OK. It isn't literally forgotten and it's a great treasure trove for anyone who digs back and finds it. Much like Charles Addams and Gahan Wilson, to whom Larson owes a ton (and they are arguably better). Which reminds me, it's time to check those collections back out of the library.
posted by DU at 4:28 AM on June 14, 2013
"Li'l Abner and Pogo were far, far bigger deals than The Far Side ever was, but by the 80's they were unknown to people in their 20s."
I was a kid in the 1980s, and I knew Pogo and Li'l Abner. But then, I was a cartoon geek. Walt Kelly was an astonishing talent, so adept with a brush and such clever wordplay... But it's dense, fiddly stuff, and a little goes a long way. I find Bloom County has dated badly. When I read it now, it kind of seems like the characters are always shouting about Tip O'Neill and the "Where's the Beef?" lady. I have no idea what a younger person would make of it. It seems like it would just be baffling.
As you get older, it can be genuinely appalling what younger people have never heard of. Stuff you think of as firmly established in pop culture, they have no idea. My shrink had never heard of SCTV. Like, it wasn't that she didn't know specific bits, she had no idea the show existed. A 20-something co-worker had never heard of the Borg. Star Trek, she knew. The Klingons she knew. But the Borg, never heard of 'em. Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated, all that stuff... nada.
"When he gets home from his guitar lessons with Bill Frisell and lies down on his pile of cartooning money, I bet he cries a little, inside."
Well, I'd imagine he doesn't want his work to become obscure. Even if he didn't want to be famous himself, he probably hoped his comics would endure.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:35 AM on June 14, 2013
I was a kid in the 1980s, and I knew Pogo and Li'l Abner. But then, I was a cartoon geek. Walt Kelly was an astonishing talent, so adept with a brush and such clever wordplay... But it's dense, fiddly stuff, and a little goes a long way. I find Bloom County has dated badly. When I read it now, it kind of seems like the characters are always shouting about Tip O'Neill and the "Where's the Beef?" lady. I have no idea what a younger person would make of it. It seems like it would just be baffling.
As you get older, it can be genuinely appalling what younger people have never heard of. Stuff you think of as firmly established in pop culture, they have no idea. My shrink had never heard of SCTV. Like, it wasn't that she didn't know specific bits, she had no idea the show existed. A 20-something co-worker had never heard of the Borg. Star Trek, she knew. The Klingons she knew. But the Borg, never heard of 'em. Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated, all that stuff... nada.
"When he gets home from his guitar lessons with Bill Frisell and lies down on his pile of cartooning money, I bet he cries a little, inside."
Well, I'd imagine he doesn't want his work to become obscure. Even if he didn't want to be famous himself, he probably hoped his comics would endure.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:35 AM on June 14, 2013
Don't worry about The Far Side being obscure. That'll just make it all the more ripe for rediscovery by some whippersnappers.
posted by Sticherbeast at 4:59 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Sticherbeast at 4:59 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
If you like the Far Side, you should avoid Boston's The Salty Pig. Their restrooms are wallpapered in Far Side cartoons and you, like I did once, might get trapped in there too long, ever reading "just one more comic" as a line of full bladder'd frowners forms outside.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:01 AM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:01 AM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
the cartoon of the dog who has written "cat fud" with arrows to try to entice the cat into the dryer
To this day, every grocery list I make contains the words "cat fud". I suspect I am not alone.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 5:02 AM on June 14, 2013 [26 favorites]
To this day, every grocery list I make contains the words "cat fud". I suspect I am not alone.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 5:02 AM on June 14, 2013 [26 favorites]
To this day, every grocery list I make contains the words "cat fud". I suspect I am not alone.
You are not alone.
posted by briank at 5:06 AM on June 14, 2013 [5 favorites]
You are not alone.
posted by briank at 5:06 AM on June 14, 2013 [5 favorites]
I also fondly remember the work of B. Kliban. Love to eat them mousies...
posted by jim in austin at 5:12 AM on June 14, 2013 [12 favorites]
posted by jim in austin at 5:12 AM on June 14, 2013 [12 favorites]
"cat fud" is some downright prototypical LOLspeak. Larson was ahead of his time, knowing that animals speak and write, of course, they're just terrible spellers.
posted by bobobox at 5:26 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by bobobox at 5:26 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
I used to have this on a coffee mug.
My mother and aunt both had that as well. They were, of course, teachers. I think they almost had to take a sick day the day that was published.
Gary Larsen was one of the funniest cartoonists in American history . . .
Wrong. Gary Larsen was a Pro Bowl tackle for the Vikings back in the Purple People Eaters days.
Sounds like someone's never visited the home team men's room at the old Metropolitan Stadium.
To this day, every grocery list I make contains the words "cat fud". I suspect I am not alone.
Definitely not. Whenever the dogs do something stupid in an attempt to be clever to get stuff, my wife and I say, "oh please oh please oh please". That may be the most perfect Far Side: the amoral (or virtuous but put-upon) dog (depending on your perspective) has crafted another plot to end the cat which depends entirely on the whims of the cat yet he's put together a sign in a pidgin version of a language that it's unlikely the cat knows or gives a shit about because, duh, he's a cat.
posted by yerfatma at 5:29 AM on June 14, 2013
My mother and aunt both had that as well. They were, of course, teachers. I think they almost had to take a sick day the day that was published.
Gary Larsen was one of the funniest cartoonists in American history . . .
Wrong. Gary Larsen was a Pro Bowl tackle for the Vikings back in the Purple People Eaters days.
Sounds like someone's never visited the home team men's room at the old Metropolitan Stadium.
To this day, every grocery list I make contains the words "cat fud". I suspect I am not alone.
Definitely not. Whenever the dogs do something stupid in an attempt to be clever to get stuff, my wife and I say, "oh please oh please oh please". That may be the most perfect Far Side: the amoral (or virtuous but put-upon) dog (depending on your perspective) has crafted another plot to end the cat which depends entirely on the whims of the cat yet he's put together a sign in a pidgin version of a language that it's unlikely the cat knows or gives a shit about because, duh, he's a cat.
posted by yerfatma at 5:29 AM on June 14, 2013
I always get a kick out of the fact that paleontologists use the term "thagomizer" at least in an informal way when talking about stegosaurids.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 5:32 AM on June 14, 2013 [9 favorites]
posted by Elementary Penguin at 5:32 AM on June 14, 2013 [9 favorites]
Gary Larson is a jazz musician now?
And he's done some jazz guitar album art as well: Herb Ellis & Red Mitchell, Jim Hall and Dale Bruning with Bill Frisell.
posted by tommasz at 5:35 AM on June 14, 2013
And he's done some jazz guitar album art as well: Herb Ellis & Red Mitchell, Jim Hall and Dale Bruning with Bill Frisell.
posted by tommasz at 5:35 AM on June 14, 2013
That last image is really small.
posted by pracowity at 5:46 AM on June 14, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 5:46 AM on June 14, 2013 [6 favorites]
I still wonder if I get nostalgic about The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes and Bloom County, because the creators knew when their well went dry and thus ended on a high note, leaving nothing banal like what we saw with Garfield and, well, almost everything else.
The only ones that have been able to maintain high quality, relevance and popularity to the end were Walt Kelly and (so far) Gary Trudeau.
In the 1950's and 60's, Li'l Abner and Pogo were far, far bigger deals than The Far Side ever was, but by the 80's they were unknown to people in their 20s.
Considering that Walt Kelly died in 1973, it makes sense that most people in born in 1965 wouldn't be familiar with it. Pogo retained its currency by commenting on current political and social events, and of course Walt Kelly's artwork is still considered virtually unparalleled. It was still very popular and relevant at the time of his death. Li'l Abner, not so much.
I'd actually heard of Pogo and have tried it a few times. And I honestly cannot see what anyone else saw in it. Maybe it was so much better than anything else, or maybe once you get past the "accent" it's a lot better, but to me it's painful.
Heresy! :-)
It's worth getting into for the artwork alone. And even more fun when you find out that J. Edgar had the FBI analyze the "swamp speak" because he suspected Kelly was sending out coded messages.
I'm so happy to see that they are releasing the complete Pogo now, including all the weekly strips that didn't appear in the books that were published in Kelly's lifetime.
posted by slkinsey at 5:46 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
The only ones that have been able to maintain high quality, relevance and popularity to the end were Walt Kelly and (so far) Gary Trudeau.
In the 1950's and 60's, Li'l Abner and Pogo were far, far bigger deals than The Far Side ever was, but by the 80's they were unknown to people in their 20s.
Considering that Walt Kelly died in 1973, it makes sense that most people in born in 1965 wouldn't be familiar with it. Pogo retained its currency by commenting on current political and social events, and of course Walt Kelly's artwork is still considered virtually unparalleled. It was still very popular and relevant at the time of his death. Li'l Abner, not so much.
I'd actually heard of Pogo and have tried it a few times. And I honestly cannot see what anyone else saw in it. Maybe it was so much better than anything else, or maybe once you get past the "accent" it's a lot better, but to me it's painful.
Heresy! :-)
It's worth getting into for the artwork alone. And even more fun when you find out that J. Edgar had the FBI analyze the "swamp speak" because he suspected Kelly was sending out coded messages.
I'm so happy to see that they are releasing the complete Pogo now, including all the weekly strips that didn't appear in the books that were published in Kelly's lifetime.
posted by slkinsey at 5:46 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Every time I visit the ATM and get prompted to select a language, I read my options as "Engleh" and "Zexnnn."
And this is how I interpret all dogs.
Needless to say I love Cow Tools. That cow has tools! I bet there are like a hundred cowthropologists trying to figure them out, and that cow's not telling!
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:47 AM on June 14, 2013
And this is how I interpret all dogs.
Needless to say I love Cow Tools. That cow has tools! I bet there are like a hundred cowthropologists trying to figure them out, and that cow's not telling!
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:47 AM on June 14, 2013
I still say "midvale school for the gifted" whenever I witness, or am witnessed, pushing a door that swings out.
As I get older, fewer and fewer people get it, which makes me sad.
posted by condour75 at 5:47 AM on June 14, 2013 [7 favorites]
As I get older, fewer and fewer people get it, which makes me sad.
posted by condour75 at 5:47 AM on June 14, 2013 [7 favorites]
Just so we're clear: I assume Gary Larson, former Far Side cartoonist and current jazz musician, is not this Gary Larson, smooth jazz performer and former Christian Contemporary recording artist, Hawaii resident and composer/artist behind Down At The Hula Grill, right?
posted by Shepherd at 5:51 AM on June 14, 2013
posted by Shepherd at 5:51 AM on June 14, 2013
I didn't know there was a complete Far Side. Now I know what to ask for on my tenth wedding anniversary.
Why does the author refer to the cow as "he"?
posted by Nossidge
This is something I've noticed before, and not just talking about Far Side. There's a song & cartoon that I love ("Cows with Guns"), about a Marxist-style cow revolution -- but even so, the udderful main character is consistently referred to as "he" (which is a serious fly in the honey of my enjoyment). I can only assume that the basic sexism of our culture, where characters are often assumed to be male unless it's important that they be female (because they are the love interest, etc), extends itself to non-human characters even when they are more often female (as in dairy cattle). Either that, or cartoonists (and commentators on cartoons) are seriously misinformed about mammalian anatomy.
I still say "midvale school for the gifted" whenever I witness, or am witnessed, pushing a door that swings out.
I wore out the T-shirt, I loved it so much. But my SO and I saved it, in the hopes of having the cartoon part framed.
posted by jb at 5:51 AM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
Why does the author refer to the cow as "he"?
posted by Nossidge
This is something I've noticed before, and not just talking about Far Side. There's a song & cartoon that I love ("Cows with Guns"), about a Marxist-style cow revolution -- but even so, the udderful main character is consistently referred to as "he" (which is a serious fly in the honey of my enjoyment). I can only assume that the basic sexism of our culture, where characters are often assumed to be male unless it's important that they be female (because they are the love interest, etc), extends itself to non-human characters even when they are more often female (as in dairy cattle). Either that, or cartoonists (and commentators on cartoons) are seriously misinformed about mammalian anatomy.
I still say "midvale school for the gifted" whenever I witness, or am witnessed, pushing a door that swings out.
I wore out the T-shirt, I loved it so much. But my SO and I saved it, in the hopes of having the cartoon part framed.
posted by jb at 5:51 AM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
My mother used to save up all the Farsides that she didn't get into a box, then when I would come home at Christmas I would explain them to her.
I don't remember Cow Tools.
I miss Larson.
posted by cjorgensen at 5:52 AM on June 14, 2013 [5 favorites]
I don't remember Cow Tools.
I miss Larson.
posted by cjorgensen at 5:52 AM on June 14, 2013 [5 favorites]
The Complete Far Side
And no, there are no more Far Side calendars. The final one was in 2002.
posted by hippybear at 5:57 AM on June 14, 2013
And no, there are no more Far Side calendars. The final one was in 2002.
posted by hippybear at 5:57 AM on June 14, 2013
I find Bloom County has dated badly. When I read it now, it kind of seems like the characters are always shouting about Tip O'Neill and the "Where's the Beef?" lady. I have no idea what a younger person would make of it. It seems like it would just be baffling.
Some of my favorite books when I was a kid were my parents' collections of Bloom County and Doonesbury. Pretty much everything I know about 70s and 80s culture and politics came from them, which is why I still make Al Haig "I'm in control here!" jokes and no one else gets it. (I was born in 1982 but we didn't have a TV until maybe 1987 so I didn't exactly have a lot of opportunities for current cultural intake.) I read them endlessly, and even today I occasionally learn something or come across a random fact on the internet that makes a Bloom County or Doonesbury strip finally make sense.
IDW published a complete set of Bloom County in five hardback books. They're lovely, and don't have nearly enough funny annotations by the author.
posted by skycrashesdown at 5:58 AM on June 14, 2013
Some of my favorite books when I was a kid were my parents' collections of Bloom County and Doonesbury. Pretty much everything I know about 70s and 80s culture and politics came from them, which is why I still make Al Haig "I'm in control here!" jokes and no one else gets it. (I was born in 1982 but we didn't have a TV until maybe 1987 so I didn't exactly have a lot of opportunities for current cultural intake.) I read them endlessly, and even today I occasionally learn something or come across a random fact on the internet that makes a Bloom County or Doonesbury strip finally make sense.
IDW published a complete set of Bloom County in five hardback books. They're lovely, and don't have nearly enough funny annotations by the author.
posted by skycrashesdown at 5:58 AM on June 14, 2013
Bloom County is great - and the non-political stuff lasted. I once read a picture book about Opus flying that was stunning - and will be 100 years from now. But any political or topical humour will, of course, date quickly.
Which bodes well for Far Side - the humour never was very topical, but more cultural, so it will last decades before seeming dated.
posted by jb at 6:06 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Which bodes well for Far Side - the humour never was very topical, but more cultural, so it will last decades before seeming dated.
posted by jb at 6:06 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
What kind of tools would you expect a cow to have?"
Useful ones? Useful for cows!
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:13 AM on June 14, 2013
Useful ones? Useful for cows!
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:13 AM on June 14, 2013
I once had a roommate who insisted that everyone had a Far Side that they couldn't get -- even if someone explained it to them -- and that you could tell a lot about people based on which one it was. But "Cow Tools" was like the Wayne Gretzky of ungettable Far Sides: unquestionably the most ungettable, and anyone who said they did get it was just being contradictory, so you had to start any discussion of ungettability with "Not counting Cow Tools, what's your ungettable Far Side?"
posted by Etrigan at 6:13 AM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 6:13 AM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
I still think this is the greatest comic ever. (God is cooking up a new planet in the kitchen. In addition to the people, krill, reptiles, and so on, He shakes a few jerks into the mix, "just to make it interesting."
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:15 AM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:15 AM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
What kind of tools would you expect a cow to have?
Moomerator. Udderudderer. Cudcoddler.
posted by pracowity at 6:27 AM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
Moomerator. Udderudderer. Cudcoddler.
posted by pracowity at 6:27 AM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
...even so, the udderful main character is consistently referred to as "he" (which is a serious fly in the honey of my enjoyment).
Just imagine how he felt.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:28 AM on June 14, 2013
Just imagine how he felt.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:28 AM on June 14, 2013
This time I won't screw up! I won't! I won't! I won't...
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:45 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:45 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Long ago, before the building was torn down in 2005, the California Academy of Science in Golden Gate park had a Gary Larson exhibit. It struck me at the time that Gary Larson made scientific concepts accessible. It changed how I viewed The Far Side, for the better.
I have always loved Cow Tools, that cow...hilarious. I remember when I saw it in the paper. I thought I was a bit dim because I had to look at it a bunch of times and then I just said, "is it because cows don't have thumbs?" I was baffled. I was so relieved to discover that the joke was, "well, cow tools wouldn't be very good."
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:47 AM on June 14, 2013
I have always loved Cow Tools, that cow...hilarious. I remember when I saw it in the paper. I thought I was a bit dim because I had to look at it a bunch of times and then I just said, "is it because cows don't have thumbs?" I was baffled. I was so relieved to discover that the joke was, "well, cow tools wouldn't be very good."
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:47 AM on June 14, 2013
Christ, what an asshole.
posted by sparklemotion at 6:52 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by sparklemotion at 6:52 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
While Pogo had a lot of topical political humor, that wasn't all of it by any stretch. Whether or not it speaks to you will have a lot to do with your patience for shaggy dog stories and wordplay. I think it's one of the greatest newspaper strips ever. My point in bringing it up was that for better or worse, pop culture is always being forgotten. It's sad when it's your favorite (comic, song, radio drama, penny dreadful, broadsheet, oral tradition, etc.), but it's the nature of things. It's only "highbrow" culture that gets remembered, and that's because there's a professional class of critics and historians who keep it alive, mostly for other critics and historians.
posted by Trace McJoy at 6:52 AM on June 14, 2013
posted by Trace McJoy at 6:52 AM on June 14, 2013
I ran into Gary Larson at the Seattle Guitar Center a couple years ago. He was buying a guitar cable. The staff of 20something year old metal head doofuses were fawning all over him.
I risked letting you all know I was at a Guitar Center to bring you this information.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:54 AM on June 14, 2013 [8 favorites]
I risked letting you all know I was at a Guitar Center to bring you this information.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:54 AM on June 14, 2013 [8 favorites]
This for reusing calendars plus Ebay equals Farside calendar joy for many years to come.
posted by jeribus at 7:07 AM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by jeribus at 7:07 AM on June 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
"I'd be careful mister, ol' Zeke's liable to fire that thing up."
posted by yerfatma at 7:37 AM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by yerfatma at 7:37 AM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
Anytime I head to a seminar I reflect on the fact that I might be the only one who forgot to bring his duck.
posted by saturday_morning at 7:50 AM on June 14, 2013 [8 favorites]
posted by saturday_morning at 7:50 AM on June 14, 2013 [8 favorites]
When I was growing up The Far Side was a big, big deal, but these days it seems to be vanishing into the mists of pop cultural history.
I wonder if it looks to people a decade younger than us the way that Love Is cartoons looked to me as a child in the 80s. I still don't know whether they were extremely precocious babies or extremely well-groomed trolls, and I think I would have had to live in the 70s to find out.
posted by mippy at 8:11 AM on June 14, 2013
I wonder if it looks to people a decade younger than us the way that Love Is cartoons looked to me as a child in the 80s. I still don't know whether they were extremely precocious babies or extremely well-groomed trolls, and I think I would have had to live in the 70s to find out.
posted by mippy at 8:11 AM on June 14, 2013
What kind of tools would you expect a cow to have?
Moomerator. Udderudderer. Cudcoddler.
Possibly a Turnip Twaddler.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:24 AM on June 14, 2013 [5 favorites]
Moomerator. Udderudderer. Cudcoddler.
Possibly a Turnip Twaddler.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:24 AM on June 14, 2013 [5 favorites]
I loved the Far Side so much as a kid. I would never have thought about it before this thread jogged my memory, but so much of my sense of humor was forged with a flashlight late at night looking over cows, suburbia, aliens, bacteria, and so many more oddities.
I absolutely devoured the pre-history of the Far Side.
"Not counting Cow Tools, what's your ungettable Far Side?"
Such a good question. Now I can't wait to get back to my parents' house, flip open my far side books, and catalog the ones that deeply confused me.
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 10:47 AM on June 14, 2013
I absolutely devoured the pre-history of the Far Side.
"Not counting Cow Tools, what's your ungettable Far Side?"
Such a good question. Now I can't wait to get back to my parents' house, flip open my far side books, and catalog the ones that deeply confused me.
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 10:47 AM on June 14, 2013
When I was growing up The Far Side was a big, big deal, but these days it seems to be vanishing into the mists of pop cultural history
God, I can remember reading the Far Side collection over and over and just keeling over with laughter when I finally 'got' the difficult ones.
Now my grandkids read Larsen's Far Side, Kliban's cats, Sam Gross, John Long (Read Naked) over and over. They never crack a smile. Is it a generational thing? Is the world just stranger than it used to be?
posted by BlueHorse at 5:54 PM on June 14, 2013
God, I can remember reading the Far Side collection over and over and just keeling over with laughter when I finally 'got' the difficult ones.
Now my grandkids read Larsen's Far Side, Kliban's cats, Sam Gross, John Long (Read Naked) over and over. They never crack a smile. Is it a generational thing? Is the world just stranger than it used to be?
posted by BlueHorse at 5:54 PM on June 14, 2013
Koona phooney! Phooney!
posted by briank at 6:31 PM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by briank at 6:31 PM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Beware of Doug
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:42 PM on June 14, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:42 PM on June 14, 2013 [4 favorites]
Fat bespectacled kid at the top of a slide, two spiders at the bottom. They've spun a web across the slide. One spider says to the other, "If we pull this off, we'll eat like kings!"
I chuckled and handed the paper to my new roommate so he could share the humor.
"I don't get it," he says. "Spiders have to repair their webs all the time when bigger animals rip through them. Surely they'd know."
"They're optimistic."
"But that's not funny."
"They're trying to eat a kid."
"That's just ghoulish."
"Optimistic ghoulishness is funny."
He shrugged. "I guess so, man."
And that's when I knew he'd be just a roommate and not a friend.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:42 PM on June 14, 2013 [7 favorites]
I chuckled and handed the paper to my new roommate so he could share the humor.
"I don't get it," he says. "Spiders have to repair their webs all the time when bigger animals rip through them. Surely they'd know."
"They're optimistic."
"But that's not funny."
"They're trying to eat a kid."
"That's just ghoulish."
"Optimistic ghoulishness is funny."
He shrugged. "I guess so, man."
And that's when I knew he'd be just a roommate and not a friend.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:42 PM on June 14, 2013 [7 favorites]
Well sorry ma'm, but his license checks out and your husband was in season. Remember, just because he knocks doesn't mean you have to open the door.
posted by Sebmojo at 10:44 PM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Sebmojo at 10:44 PM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
Larson was not a brilliant artistic talent.
But he used his limited illustration ability to convey clearly many quite abstract ideas. And he would do it in one panel.
He could reach into his very simple bag of cartoon "Cow Tools" and produce an image that opens a window on the world. One that reveals a unique viewpoint and explores general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.
He was more of a philosopher than a illustrator.
So why aren't more philosopher's funny?
posted by Dunvegan at 11:39 PM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
But he used his limited illustration ability to convey clearly many quite abstract ideas. And he would do it in one panel.
He could reach into his very simple bag of cartoon "Cow Tools" and produce an image that opens a window on the world. One that reveals a unique viewpoint and explores general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.
He was more of a philosopher than a illustrator.
So why aren't more philosopher's funny?
posted by Dunvegan at 11:39 PM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Ginger blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Ginger blah blah
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:56 PM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:56 PM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
Also the cartoon of the dog who has written "cat fud" with arrows...
That's how we pronounce "cat food" around our house.
posted by marxchivist at 5:42 AM on June 18, 2013
That's how we pronounce "cat food" around our house.
posted by marxchivist at 5:42 AM on June 18, 2013
« Older Pierre Matter Sculpture | Press Y To Eat Your Commander Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Confess, Fletch at 9:43 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]