![]() ![]() They are now doomed to a lifetime's torment, reminded of their foolhardiness every time someone tries to call. Yet again, a picture tells a whole story, this time a minor domestic tragedy: these poor Bovine-Americans have worked hard for a home of their own and have conscientiously paid their phone bill, only to be thwarted at the very last hurdle. This one I had to include, as it wouldn't be a Gary Larson essay without a cow comic (nor, more selfishly, would my headline work). As with the all-cat jury, this drawing implies a larger reality, this time one in which every emotion shall have its attendant bird, perhaps including the Sparrow of Cautious Optimism, the Peahen of Ambivalence or even the much-feared Heron of Arousal. “Chicken” is just right, too a more dignified or sleek bird wouldn't be nearly as appropriate. The Chicken of Depression is an old friend of mine ( see here). The above comic is one I only came across relatively recently, yet I struggle to imagine how I lived without it. The Far Side's world belongs to dogs, elephants, chickens, cows – especially cows – and many others humans just live in it. You may already be detecting a theme, namely Larson's fondness for certain animal species. A little drama you can get lost in for minutes at a time, at least if you're anything like me (I hope for your sake that's not the case). How did a canine defendant come to be tried by an all-cat jury? Are we looking at some sort of formal discrimination – a Jim Claw system? Must the dogs of this world also drink from separate water bowls? Or could it just be a case of cosmically bad luck? Little touches in Larson's (otherwise admirably unfussy) drawing lend richness to the scene: the heartily moronic (and unmistakably doggy – as our host Mr Frum once put it to me, Gary Larson really GETS dogs) expression on the defendant's face, implying an uphill struggle on the lawyer's part the stony lack of sympathy from the feline judge. But it also, irresistibly, invites further speculation. The central joke is fairly straightforward: dog lawyer can't catch a break. ![]() Moreover, it's a slightly different world each time. As with Father Ted's parallel-universe priesthood, a great deal of its charm lies in creating brave new imaginary worlds unlike Ted (or any other sitcom), it achieves this in a single, still cartoon frame. The Far Side is one of those artworks that asks you to meet it halfway by slightly relaxing one's grip on mundane reality. How much sweeter would the Rolling Stones' legacy be if the band, by now resembling nothing so much as a gaggle of walking scrotums, didn't insist on inflicting themselves on modern audiences forty years after the fact? Another pertinent example is the sad decline and decline of The Simpsons (to which I may return in a future entry).Ī reliable stand-in as ever for the determinedly mediocre among us, Homer here articulates the reaction of many a casual reader. This is a promising sign in itself: the discipline and self-assurance to quit while ahead is sadly rare in any creative field. This singular creation, now a mainstay of the desk calendar, mug and greeting card industries, ran from 1980 to 1995. This week, I'm turning my attention to a single-panel comic that, to this writer, is quintessentially American: Gary Larson's The Far Side. In my first two essays, I looked at two live-action comedies from my side of the pond. All your moms.Īnyway, now for something completely different. Nothing but dour, Presbyterian gravity from here on in. I foolishly thought it'd be self-evident that I was being wildly capricious for comic effect, but gosh, I've certainly seen the error of my ways now. To the countless people who indignantly wrote in to inform me they HAVE SO seen the TV show and TOTALLY DO know Life of Brian, along with other similar objections, I'd like to offer a full and sincere apology: I'm sorry I had to ruin a column about comedy by trying to be funny. It hasn't escaped my attention that certain commenters of this parish took exception to my vast, unfair generalizations about American ignorance of Monty Python. Before I start on this week's topic, a quick word on the last. ![]()
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