Comic fans know that The Far Side can be critical of humanity, but a handful of strips have a lot to say about how far (or rather, little) people have come since the dawn of mankind. Out of all the frequently recurring gags in Gary Larson’s iconic strip, his use of cavemen made for some of the series’ best gags.

The Far Side loved lampooning human behavior in various over-the-top ways. But nothing was better than seeing Larson use people’s common ancestors to poke fun at human foibles. Whether they show how basic people actually are or the behaviors humanity’s never been able to overcome, the following 10 Far Side strips show how much of a mistake evolution was.

10

Primitive Spelling Bees

Publication Date: January 31st, 1986

The Far Side was often painfully relatable, even when using characters and settings that juxtaposed with the scenario Larson was presenting. Here, a couple of cavemen are competing in a spelling bee when one is wrapping up his selected word ‘cave’, while his rival internally bemoans that he’ll likely get a more complex word like australopithecus.

As much as people may not like it, everyone has that feeling of envy during competition. While cavemen had bigger concerns other than spelling bees, this Far Side strip makes a solid point that the competitive nature of people is something that dates all the way back to when our ancestors had to compete against one another.

9

Mammoth Microscope

Publication Date: November 24th, 1983

The Far Side was always great at presenting ludicrous scenarios that were both somehow unbelievable, yet incredibly relatable. Here, a couple of cavemen ‘scientists’ have somehow chiseled up a functioning microscope and are using it to analyze a specimen. Thing is, what they’re analyzing is a mammoth. Not a sample, but a fully-grown, obvious mammoth.

Larson wasn’t afraid to say that people, for lack of a better word, could be dumb. Even today, it’s not unusual to make observations that seem insightful, but are actually incredibly obvious to the people around them. The Far Side is always in good fun, but it loves mocking people’s more negative aspects.

8

Early Plumbers

Publication Date: December 1st, 1992

The Far Side rarely looked down on anyone’s profession, but that didn’t mean that it wouldn’t at least make a joke about certain professionals. Here, Larson conjures up the image of what ‘early plumbers’ must have looked like and a caveman is priming his clients for a pricey job (even though their toilet is a hole in the ground).

No one likes being taken advantage of, but less scrupulous professionals padding their bills is a tale as old as time. The Far Side puts a comical spin on that idea by positing that even humanity’s forerunners weren’t that different and also tried to pull one over on their ignorant clients.

7

Air Spear

Publication Date: Unknown

If there’s one thing that Gary Larson knows about people, it’s that they can be real jerks sometimes. In this strip, a caveman is doing his best to hit a mammoth with a spear, only to be egged on by a couple of other neanderthals who are chanting ‘air spear’, mockingly.

The Far Side has plenty of strips that showcase just how mean people can be. While people may like to think that rudeness is a more modern social ill, the truth is that even those that came before weren’t that much better, and they could be just as big a jerk as people today.

6

The Barrow

Publication Date: July 24th, 1985

If there’s one thing that’s clear about The Far Side’s caveman strips, it’s that Larson thinks that people are incredibly dim-witted. So much so that this strip runs with the incredibly outrageous idea that, before humanity invented the wheel, the act of pretending someone is a wheelbarrow ended up with them flat on their face.

While it is wild to see humanity being portrayed as that dumb, the truth is that people can be pretty ignorant and end up hurting themselves. That’s just as true today as it was back then and, truth be told, it’s something that’s going to keep happening as long as humanity is around.

5

Parking Meter

Publication Date: July 18th, 1988

The Far Side didn’t just critique jerks and dummies. It also lampooned the opportunistic nature of people. Here, Larson shows off the invention of the wheel, a moment that should be a key point in history. But this moment is ruined by a nearby caveman, who has just invented the parking meter.

The sad truth is that for every advancement, no matter how much it could benefit society as a whole, someone is going to see it as nothing more than a way to make money. It’s unfortunate to say, but Larson is right on the money that this trait is deeply ingrained into humanity.

4

Prank on Teacher

Publication Date: May 28th, 1991

Everyone knows that kids can be mischievous sometimes. In this Far Side strip, Larson presents a hypothetical scenario involving a school for neanderthals. Unfortunately for the teacher, her pupils have recreated the old ‘tack on the chair’ gag, but upped the ante with the spikes of a nearby dinosaur’s tail.

Kids are going to be kids, but it’s funny to see Larson suggest that this is an aspect of mankind that has been with it since the very beginning. Of course, neanderthal kids likely weren’t doing pranks like this, but The Far Side probably isn’t too far from the truth.

3

Early Checkers

Publication Date: November 26th, 1991

The Far Side clearly loved using cavemen, because it gave Larson the opportunity to skewer just how dim people could be sometimes. Here, the strip shows readers what ‘early checkers’ may well have been like, and they’re at a stalemate. Thing is, there’s only one possible move, but one of the cavemen is afraid of making the ‘wrong’ one.

Larson knows that people can sometimes not be very bright, but this is beyond the pale. With only one possible move in checkers, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could screw it up. Yet, this caveman is finding a way, proving that over-thinking was, unfortunately, never rooted out in evolution.

2

Zog’s Revolution

Publication Date: December 10th, 1981

All it really takes to change the world is one forward-thinking person, and The Far Side proves that. Here, several cavemen are cooking up meat around the fire, though they’re doing it by sticking their hands straight into the flame. But they notice that their buddy Zog had the brilliant idea of using a stick to assist his cooking.

One would think that ‘survival of the fittest’ would have taken over here. But Larson suggests that the common sense of those like Zog helped people like his friends survive. While it’s nice to see how humanity learned to adapt, one must wonder how these cavemen’s hands even withstood previous attempts at cooking.

1

Invention of the Wheel

Publication Date: October 23rd, 1984

The Far Side can’t let a monumental moment like the invention of the wheel pass by without adding in Larson’s twisted sense of humor. Here, he shows a group of cavemen experimenting with a wheel for transport. But instead of affixing it to a means of conveyance, they’ve tied one of their own to the stone wheel.

If there’s one thing these caveman-focused strips prove, it’s that humanity is going to hurt itself, and it’s all because of the short-sighted actions of its ancestors. Sadly, the line of thinking shown in this strip isn’t too far removed from the kind of short-sighted ways we see people hurting themselves today.

Writer

Gary Larson

Colorist

Gary Larson