10 Best Far Side Chicken Comics Of All Time

Chickens are one of the animals that proliferated The Far Side. Creator Gary Larson was prolific when it came to chicken jokes. Just like with cows, The Far Side's poultry humor highlights how Larson was able to take something as ordinary as a barnyard hen and make it outrageous and sensational.

Birds of all kinds proved to be unforgettable comedic fodder for The Far Side, but chickens held a special place in Larson's comedic arsenal. Why were chickens such 10/10 comedic subjects for The Far Side? Hopefully that answer will be obvious by the end of this list.

The Far Side panels compiled here span Gary Larson's entire career, making it clear he mastered the chicken joke early and continued to elevate it for years.

10 "This Is Your Egg Covered With Bugs"

First Published: August 19, 1993

"This Is Your Brain On Drugs." It is the most recognizable anti-drug slogan ever, aside from "just say no." The 1987 television ad was infamous for its imagery of an egg sizzling in a frying pan, meant to say that people who abuse drugs are mentally cooked.

It is one also among the most parodied PSAs ever. (Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, for example, lampooned the ad two years before The Far Side.) The truly funny thing about this cartoon is that it might be Gary Larson's worst pun of all time. "This is your egg," Larson's version of the ad goes, playing to a couple of chickens sitting in their living room watching TV. "This is your egg covered in bugs," the narrator continues in the bottom half of the split frame.

This Far Side punchline is definitely in "so bad it's good" territory, but it is pretty bad. That said, a bad joke can be as memorable as a good gag. Sometimes more. And in this case, like the '80s analog meme that inspired it, Larson's "This Is Your Egg Covered In Bugs" will live in infamy among The Far Side's many chicken comics.

9 "The Reign Of Terror Had Ended"

First Published: April 14, 1988

The Wild West was one of The Far Side's most reliably funny settings. That's because Gary Larson had a shrewd sense of what makes Westerns cool, which allowed him to undermine and subvert those tropes. Take this scene for example.

It is a classic of the genre. A bounty hunter rides into a frontier town with the body of a notorious outlaw slung over the back of his horse. In the foreground, a "Wanted Dead or Alive" poster is tacked to a post proclaiming a five thousand dollar bounty. "They didn't know the tall stranger who rode calmly through their midst," the caption read, in a grave style, "but they did know the reign of terror had ended."

It seems so serious, except for the fact that the dead outlaw is a chicken. That's the punchline, the kind that serves as a litmus test for prospective Far Side fans. Does it leave them laughing, or asking "What the?"

8 "Shouldn't Count Them Until They Hatch"

First Published: ​​​​​​​January 25, 1985

In this classic Far Side glimpse into the domestic life of chickens, one hen sits over a clutch of freshly laid eggs, but she starts to get ahead of herself, and starts getting specific with numbers. Until she reminds herself that her husband, "George," has been cautioning her not to "count them until they hatch."

It is folk wisdom most readers will recognize, an idiom that means "don't get ahead of yourself." Don't overestimate your future assets. Don't expect all potential to be actualized. That sort of thing. With this Far Side cartoon, Gary Larson makes it literal. (An upcoming entry on this list is the pinnacle of this type of Far Side punchline.)

This is one of many Far Side "jokes of opportunity," where it was sitting right there waiting to be made, and Larson was the person who went ahead and made it.

7 "Brothers Of An Ancient Tibetan Order"

First Published: April 15, 1988

A chicken with its head on the copping block. The farmer's arm is reared back, ready to bring the blade down in a decisive chopping motion. Except something catches his eye that changes everything. "Farmer Dale suddenly noticed the chicken's tattoo," the caption matter-of-factly informs Far Side readers.

"The tattoo that marked them both as brothers of an ancient Tibetan order sworn to loyalty and mutual aid." It is an all-time memorable Far Side swerve. It raises a lot of questions, and implies an extensive backstory for both characters. It is patently absurd, but in a way that leaves readers shaking their heads, rather than scratching them.

The composition of this Far Side also must be commended for perfectly framing this ridiculous scene, with other chickens standing around looking dumbfounded, while the look in Farmer Dale's eyes sells the shock and surprise of the sight of the tattoo on the chicken's wing.

6 "I Just Hope I Go Quietly"

First Published: April 27, 1981

In this early Far Side masterpiece, it's neck-chopping time again at the farm. In the center of the panel, the farmer carries on hen towards the chopping block in the background. In the foreground, a trio of chickens waiting their turn speak frankly amongst themselves about their grisly fate.

"When it's my turn," one of the chickens says, "I just hope I go quietly." After a pause, it elaborates, "you know, without a lot of running around," referencing the phenomenon of a chicken's body briefly surviving decapitation. Which gave rise to the common phrase, "running around like a chicken with its head cut off."

So, with this Far Side comic, Gary Larson referenced this saying, but also comments on the brutal nature of chicken farming by framing the scene from the condemned hens' POV.

5 "Scene From Dinner On Elm Street"

First Published: May 30, 1990

This is one of Gary Larson's most unhinged Far Side cartoons. There are a lot of words that are commonly associated with The Far Side: "absurd," "outrageous," "dark." This is all of those things at once, with the dial on each cranked up past eleven.

Captioned "scene from Dinner on Elm Street," the comic delivers a hilariously horrifying scene in which a chicken pops out of a dog costume and gives a villainous monologue, exclaiming, "I'm the chicken you thought you fixed for dinner," and asking, "Would you like to know where your little Fi Fi is," before descending into a fit of maniacal laughter.

The implication also puts this in the running for the darkest Far Side dog cartoon, but the star is, of course, the vengeful chicken. And low-key, the real focus of this panel is the wild look in the chicken's eyes, and the look of realization dawning on the humans' faces.

4 "A Whack Whack Here & A Whack Whack There"

First Published: March 28, 1988

Another killer Far Side pop culture reference, starring another murderous chicken. This time, one of the world's most famous children's songs ends in bloodshed.

"When Old McDonald turned his back," a hen in maximum security lockup explains to her cellmate, "I took that axe and with a whack whack here and a whack whack there, I finished him off."

Again, this is a testament to the fact that the best of the best Gary Larson jokes often stemmed from clear "source material," of sorts. They were references like this one, where something immediately recognizable was bent out of shape for comedy's sake. This got a lot of people who didn't vibe with The Far Side bent out of shape over the years, but it was foundational to Larson's rise to super stardom by this point in his career.

3 ​​​​​​​"The Chicken Of Depression"

First Published: ​​​​​​​January 20, 1988

Speaking of GOAT Far Side references, let's look at another one. "Chicken of Depression" was published just two months before "A Whack Whack Here," but this time, rather than a nursery rhyme, the song Gary Larson is referencing is an old jazz standard, "The Bluebird of Happiness."

Which has been "long absent from" the life of poor Ned, who is instead "visited by the Chicken of Depression." It appears in his window as he sits on the end of his bed in his pajamas, face unshaven and hair unkempt, the room around him in shambles.

Clothes and beer cans strewn about the floor. A broken mirror hanging on the wall. A single lightbulb hanging over his head, no shade or light fixture. It is a perfect Far Side joke from concept to completion, without question.

2 "Egg/Baby Exchange"

First Published: January 2, 1982

This is one of the best wordless Far Side comics Gary Larson ever produced, so it has to rank high on the best chickens list. It is another flawless Far Side from premise to punchline. A woman gathers eggs from her chicken coop, but then, as she's walking back into her house, she passes one of the chickens carrying her baby back to the coop.

The joke doesn't need any caption or further context to land, but it does leave us with so many questions. Number one: what happens next? Does the woman drop the eggs and grab the infant? Is it like a hostage exchange, basket of eggs for baby? Is the chicken just making a point, or are they going to cook the baby? Either way, how is this going to change the woman's attitude toward chickens?

Those are just some of the things Gary Larson could have followed up on, but despite his tendency to revisit and revise punchlines over the years, he never returned to some version of this scenario.

1 ​​​​​​​"The Other Side"

First Published: June 12, 1991

This cartoon is the perfect synthesis of everything that makes Far Side chicken jokes funny. It is a pop culture reference, an inversion of history's most repeated joke that could only happen with a chicken character. It is a silly joke with some edge to it, which was Gary Larson's bread and butter.

In the panel, a chicken stands on one side of a desert highway, contemplating a billboard across the road. "THE OTHER SIDE" it reads, and under that, it asks an existential question: "Why do you need a reason?"

The original punchline, "To get to the other side,' is very Larsonian in its own right, but Gary Larson one ups it here, asserting that even the simplest rationale for a chicken's behavior is unnecessary. It doesn't need humans to understand why it does what it does. It is humans that feel like there has to be a reason for everything. Looking at it this way, it is clear why it stands above the rest as The Far Side's ultimate chicken joke.

Final Thoughts:

1988 was the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese Zodiac, but by The Far Side's calendar it was the Year of the Chicken. Before taking a year off from making new Far Sides, Gary Larson hatched three of his funniest chicken jokes in the span of just a couple months.

The other noteworthy thing about Far Side chicken cartoons is how Larson's comedic inversion worked with them, compared to other animals. Many of The Far Side's most commonly reappearing animals were predators: bears, sharks, alligators and crocodiles. And sometimes these predators were depicted as dangerous, but even more often they were rendered harmless for the sake of the bit. With chickens, it was the absolute opposite. As we saw above, The Far Side's poultry were often downright murderous.

There are plenty more iconic Far Side chicken jokes beyond the ones curated here. Shout out to "Head Of A Chicken," "Try Sittin' On These Little Guys," and one one where a baking hen eyeballs her own eggs when the recipe calls for them as Far Side chicken classics just outside the Top 10.

Far Side readers, let's hear your personal rankings of the best chicken comics of Gary Larson's career.