Where have you gone Gary Larson? We need your sense of humor more than ever. Please come back.
Let’s see if that message gets us anywhere.
For the uninitiated, Larson penned one panel (for the most part) cartoons syndicated in more than 1,900 newspapers for 15 years ending January 1,1995. His humor focused on using animals to poke fun at humans. It was way more than that, but if you want to summarize, that’s a quick hit for you. Go to Wikipedia for more.
He’s returned with some online work the past two years. Maybe you’ve seen it. I think that could be why I’m writing this column.
For some reason, his cartoons have begun resurfacing on social media channels. This could be because new content he's generated, or it could be nostalgia from people who have rediscovered his panels and are posting them to share with others.
If it’s the latter, I think those people probably feel much the way I do – that his presence has been lacking for far too long and we need him back. We all need to laugh more. We need to take ourselves less seriously, and see the humor in life.
This does not mean backing off from some of the major problems the world faces. What it means to me is that we all need to take deep breaths with regularity and poke fun at life. We’ll all be better off for this. Humor opens us up, makes us receptive to others, builds connections.
The past six months I’ve noticed a distinct trend of Larson’s comics on Facebook in particular. There have been a number of “Calvin and Hobbes” (which are also hysterical and timely), but not to the extent that I’ve seen Larson’s “Far Side.”
Each cartoon strikes me freshly. They stand the test of time. I typically laugh, and if I’m not chuckling, at least I’m smiling broadly. Two good things.
I have to wonder how many other people feel the need for his humor (or something similar). For many years, I’ve stopped reading the comics in the newspaper. Recently, I started again, partly driven by the small surge of nostalgia from the Far Side panels. There are some decent comic strips currently published.
But none grab me and suck me in like the Far Side. In some way, he broadly caught so many parts of the human condition, using animals to create the barb, and actually get you thinking beyond just the joke he was making. He made you consider the absurdity of some of our actions, and thoughtfully consider why we do some of the crazy things we do.
There is so much to be said for all that. For stepping back a bit from our day-to-day lives and pause for a laugh that makes us consider our lives from a different perspective.
I don’t know if he necessarily set out to do that with the “Far Side.” He probably just wanted to make people laugh, and figured out a way to do it a way that was consistently excellent.
That’s enough, really. To do something that reaches others and brings something out, touches them in some way that refreshes their daily lives is important. Please come back Gary Larson.
Let’s see if that message gets us anywhere.
For the uninitiated, Larson penned one panel (for the most part) cartoons syndicated in more than 1,900 newspapers for 15 years ending January 1,1995. His humor focused on using animals to poke fun at humans. It was way more than that, but if you want to summarize, that’s a quick hit for you. Go to Wikipedia for more.
He’s returned with some online work the past two years. Maybe you’ve seen it. I think that could be why I’m writing this column.
For some reason, his cartoons have begun resurfacing on social media channels. This could be because new content he's generated, or it could be nostalgia from people who have rediscovered his panels and are posting them to share with others.
If it’s the latter, I think those people probably feel much the way I do – that his presence has been lacking for far too long and we need him back. We all need to laugh more. We need to take ourselves less seriously, and see the humor in life.
This does not mean backing off from some of the major problems the world faces. What it means to me is that we all need to take deep breaths with regularity and poke fun at life. We’ll all be better off for this. Humor opens us up, makes us receptive to others, builds connections.
The past six months I’ve noticed a distinct trend of Larson’s comics on Facebook in particular. There have been a number of “Calvin and Hobbes” (which are also hysterical and timely), but not to the extent that I’ve seen Larson’s “Far Side.”
Each cartoon strikes me freshly. They stand the test of time. I typically laugh, and if I’m not chuckling, at least I’m smiling broadly. Two good things.
I have to wonder how many other people feel the need for his humor (or something similar). For many years, I’ve stopped reading the comics in the newspaper. Recently, I started again, partly driven by the small surge of nostalgia from the Far Side panels. There are some decent comic strips currently published.
But none grab me and suck me in like the Far Side. In some way, he broadly caught so many parts of the human condition, using animals to create the barb, and actually get you thinking beyond just the joke he was making. He made you consider the absurdity of some of our actions, and thoughtfully consider why we do some of the crazy things we do.
There is so much to be said for all that. For stepping back a bit from our day-to-day lives and pause for a laugh that makes us consider our lives from a different perspective.
I don’t know if he necessarily set out to do that with the “Far Side.” He probably just wanted to make people laugh, and figured out a way to do it a way that was consistently excellent.
That’s enough, really. To do something that reaches others and brings something out, touches them in some way that refreshes their daily lives is important. Please come back Gary Larson.