1 00:00:01,440 --> 00:00:07,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 2: Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck. 3 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:16,040 Speaker 2: Jerry's here too. She has had to step away for 4 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:18,680 Speaker 2: a second, but she'll be back, we imagined, and when 5 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:21,159 Speaker 2: she gets here, it'll really be stuff you should Know. 6 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:25,119 Speaker 1: That's right. I'm excited about this one because this is 7 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: sort of filed under our tribute series the Things We. 8 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 2: Love Tribute to your Taste. 9 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:33,239 Speaker 1: I don't know how you feel because we didn't even 10 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:37,560 Speaker 1: talk about this, but the cartoon from the Funny Pages 11 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:41,920 Speaker 1: and the books and more, The Far Side by Gary Larson. Yeah, 12 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: it spanned from like fifth or sixth grade to me 13 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: through the end of college, which is just kind of 14 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: crystallizes to me the perfect time to be awakened to 15 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:55,320 Speaker 1: something like Gary Larson's sense of humor. 16 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. He definitely The Far Side, I should say, 17 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 2: definitely helps shape my sense of humor, just from being 18 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,040 Speaker 2: exposed to that and finding it funny. You have to 19 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:07,840 Speaker 2: kind of find it funny to begin with, but once 20 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 2: you do, it definitely can especially during formative your help 21 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 2: shape your humor. And if you go back and look 22 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,840 Speaker 2: at them now, they're still great, but there's something that's 23 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 2: just it just had something before that. It's not like 24 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 2: it lost it now, but it's just diluted now. And 25 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 2: I was looking around and trying to figure out what 26 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 2: the deal is, and the best explanation I could come 27 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:34,759 Speaker 2: up with is that it had such an impact on 28 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:41,039 Speaker 2: culture that it actually normalized and spread that sort of 29 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:46,479 Speaker 2: humor so far and wide that it became less I guess, 30 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 2: humorous in and of itself, because it made it well 31 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:52,639 Speaker 2: normal to be funny in that way that people weren't. 32 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 2: Really nobody was doing anything like Gary Larson was when 33 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 2: The Far Side came out, but it was so popular 34 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 2: he made it a thing. 35 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: Yeah. The only thing you need to add about that 36 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 1: statement is to me, because I still think it's amazing, 37 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:10,240 Speaker 1: and I have had the best time of the past 38 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: couple of days just reading these over and over. 39 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 2: Oh good, Yes, No, I like them too. But yeah, 40 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 2: there's just something I guess it's I don't know what 41 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 2: it is. I think I already said it. 42 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:23,079 Speaker 1: Yeah, but we're talking about one of the best cartoons ever. 43 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: The difference between a cartoon and a comic generally, I mean, 44 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 1: they're kind of interchangeable in a way, but a comic 45 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: is generally a strip of several panels that tell a 46 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: story and have a bit of an arc. A cartoon 47 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:38,960 Speaker 1: is a single panel thing that tells all you need 48 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: to know in one picture, sometimes with words, sometimes without words. 49 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 2: It's kind of like comparing a book to a poem, 50 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:50,280 Speaker 2: Like a good poem is really really hard to write 51 00:02:50,639 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 2: compared to pros because it has to be more efficient 52 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,800 Speaker 2: and economical, and so a one panel cartoon has to 53 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 2: have the same impact, or in the case of Farsight, 54 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,640 Speaker 2: a far far greater impact than a strip, because you 55 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:05,120 Speaker 2: have to figure out how to get things across, like 56 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 2: the movement of time or what's like cause and effect 57 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 2: in just one single image. So when you take that 58 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,359 Speaker 2: into account too, it just makes it even more impressive. 59 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:17,239 Speaker 1: What he did, I think, Yeah, for sure, it's a 60 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: cartoon that ran for fifteen years. It's been gone for 61 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: about thirty years, but it is still one of the 62 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: most Like just his style is so instantly recognizable as 63 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: Gary Larson. He's not a guy that used you know, characters, 64 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: that wasn't like family circus where you know, you knew 65 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: these people. But he had certain a certain way of 66 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: drawing and he had certain sort of stock characters he 67 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,760 Speaker 1: would bring in, like the beehive lady with the cat 68 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: eye glasses and the little freckle faced glasses kid with 69 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: the crew cut. Lots of animals, So he would kind 70 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 1: of bring in these, you know, kind of characters in 71 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: and out. But they were never like named characters with 72 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: any kind of story. 73 00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 2: No, And sometimes they would have names, but it was 74 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 2: totally inconsequential. It would be somebody addressing them and just 75 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 2: using a right like you wouldn't point to that person 76 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 2: be like, oh, there's Barry or something like that. Like 77 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 2: they were just interchangeable archetypes that he created. 78 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, and as we'll see, you know, toward the end, 79 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:21,839 Speaker 1: a great intersection of comedy and art and science because 80 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:25,040 Speaker 1: Gary Larson was a bit of a science nerd. He 81 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 1: was born in nineteen fifty and raised in Tacoma, Washington, 82 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: and got his sense of humor apparently from his family. 83 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: He said, my older brother and his parents, whose dad 84 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:38,039 Speaker 1: was a car salesman, his mother was a secretary, and 85 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: they just had a really wacky sense of humor. But 86 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:42,920 Speaker 1: he's he hasn't done a ton of interviews over the years, 87 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:45,280 Speaker 1: but in the interviews he's given. He said, I just 88 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: that was just my family sense of humor, and I 89 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:50,159 Speaker 1: didn't hear things like wacky and left of center until 90 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:50,680 Speaker 1: much later. 91 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 2: Right yeah, like people would describe as family like that. 92 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 2: It's not like the family was like, look at how 93 00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 2: wacky we are, right yeah. Yeah. So one of those 94 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 2: big influences, in addition to like his just his mom 95 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:06,360 Speaker 2: and his dad, was his older brother. I think he 96 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 2: called out, but I saw that one of the things 97 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:10,680 Speaker 2: his older brother did was introduce him to like a 98 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,839 Speaker 2: love of nature. They would go around the beaches of 99 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 2: Puget Sound and collect live animals when they could, and 100 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,159 Speaker 2: then bring them home and put them in cages or 101 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 2: terrariums or aquariums, And later on he was like, I 102 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 2: don't think you're supposed to do that. I don't think 103 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 2: you should keep animals captive. But growing up as a kid, 104 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:34,279 Speaker 2: he had a real interest in animals and developed a 105 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 2: real love of biology. But his brother had a dual 106 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:41,719 Speaker 2: influence on him. I saw a quote where he said 107 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 2: his brother introduced him to like the beauty of a jellyfish, 108 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 2: and then also used that same jellyfish to smack me 109 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 2: in the face with which I think it's a that's 110 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:52,280 Speaker 2: a good big brother right there. 111 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:55,559 Speaker 1: Yeah, he sounded like kind of the classic tormenting big brother, 112 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:59,160 Speaker 1: but in a loving way, is what I gathered at least. Yeah, 113 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:01,040 Speaker 1: But yeah, he's always he's been in animals. He's very 114 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: much into nature and animal the treatment of animals in conservation. 115 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:07,919 Speaker 1: Now since his retirement, he's gotten really into that. But 116 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:12,400 Speaker 1: he went to school at Washington State in nineteen seventy 117 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 1: two Cougars and was initially a biology student. But he 118 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:18,720 Speaker 1: realized he didn't want to go to school for more 119 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 1: than four years and he wasn't sure what he could 120 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 1: do with a biology degree, so he switched to communications. 121 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:27,919 Speaker 1: But apparently always regretted that switch and feels like he 122 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:29,359 Speaker 1: should have stayed a biology major. 123 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, he said, it's one of the most idiotic things 124 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 2: I ever did. Yeah, we should all be pretty grateful though, 125 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 2: that he did switch, because it's not clear that he 126 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 2: would have still made the far Side. One of the 127 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 2: reasons he did make far Sites because he had a 128 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:44,680 Speaker 2: lot of time on his hands. So after he graduated 129 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:48,800 Speaker 2: with a communications degree, he got jobs like playing banjo 130 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 2: or working in a music store. I think, very coolly, 131 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:58,520 Speaker 2: he became a Humane Society investigator, and that's what he 132 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:01,600 Speaker 2: was doing when he created a strip called Nature's Way, 133 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:05,360 Speaker 2: which if you look at the original Nature's Way cartoons, 134 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 2: it's just early Farside without with a different name. 135 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: Essentially, Yeah, it was the far Side. The San Francisco 136 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: Chronicle changed the name, which you know that they've asked 137 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 1: him about that, because I remember Charles Schultz was very 138 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: particular about naming it Peanuts and keeping it that, and 139 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:24,680 Speaker 1: Gary Larson did not mind the name change, but he sold. 140 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: He got a few days off from work apparently and realized, like, boy, 141 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 1: I don't like my job, so I'm gonna try something else. 142 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 1: And he didn't have any formal art training at all. 143 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:39,520 Speaker 1: And I love his his his style, but none of 144 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 1: that was like from art class or anything like that, right, 145 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:46,920 Speaker 1: And in nineteen seventy six, sold six cartoons to Pacific Search, 146 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: a regional science magazine, for ninety bucks, sold another handful 147 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:54,520 Speaker 1: to another local magazine for you know, three to five 148 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: bucks each, and then eventually got in nineteen seventy nine, 149 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 1: got a weekly gig at the Seattle Times for Nature's 150 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:04,240 Speaker 1: Way at fifteen dollars. 151 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 2: A week, right, which is I think eighty five bucks 152 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:09,840 Speaker 2: something like that. 153 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,360 Speaker 1: Now, yeah, so not money to live on, but he 154 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:13,960 Speaker 1: did have. 155 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 2: A place in the local paper. I mean, Seattle Times 156 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:19,960 Speaker 2: is big time, right, yeah, I think that same year 157 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:23,280 Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy nine, he said, I think I can 158 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 2: do bigger, I can do better, and he took a 159 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 2: trip to San Francisco and he took his portfolio with him, 160 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 2: just one copy of his portfolio. He managed to get 161 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:35,000 Speaker 2: it to the right people at the San Francisco Chronicle 162 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:37,600 Speaker 2: and they said, hey, we really love your stuff. Apparently 163 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 2: the same day they got in touch with him and said, hey, 164 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:42,960 Speaker 2: come in here, we want to talk to you. And 165 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:45,920 Speaker 2: they said, not only do we want to run Nature's Way, 166 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 2: which we're going to change to the far side, we 167 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 2: have a syndication company so we can get you in 168 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:57,800 Speaker 2: thirty different papers across the country automatically. This is like 169 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 2: beyond life change. And Laura Clauston helped us with this, 170 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:05,839 Speaker 2: and she went on to really kind of, I think, 171 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:10,760 Speaker 2: point out just how nuts it was that this happened 172 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 2: to him, not just because he had no experience, no 173 00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:17,720 Speaker 2: art training, that he'd only made, you know, a handful 174 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:20,800 Speaker 2: of cartoons. To this point, but just the way that 175 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:25,480 Speaker 2: comics pages are and how stodgy and rooted in non 176 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 2: change they tend to be. That that really it's just 177 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:32,040 Speaker 2: crazy that he got this chance. It just all fell 178 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:33,600 Speaker 2: together for him like this. 179 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:37,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely it was. And it's still an industry where 180 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:40,720 Speaker 1: it's hard to get in, you know that the comics 181 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,880 Speaker 1: section is only so big. It's like it's real estate, 182 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: you know, and there's just not room and the classics 183 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 1: just don't go away seemingly. There's an artist, a cartoonist 184 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: named Georgia Dunn who does breaking cat news. She and 185 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:57,480 Speaker 1: this is you know, sort of a point about women 186 00:09:57,480 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: in the industry, but she said there are more dead 187 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:02,320 Speaker 1: men than live women in the funny pages, but also 188 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:05,040 Speaker 1: just sort of illustrates how how hard it is to 189 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:07,840 Speaker 1: break in to the funny pages. So the fact that 190 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:13,280 Speaker 1: he got his chance with such a weird cartoon, like 191 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:16,800 Speaker 1: the person that would take it out to the different 192 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:19,320 Speaker 1: newspapers to syndicate it and try and you know, sell 193 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:22,520 Speaker 1: it to him has some pretty great stories on like 194 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:24,679 Speaker 1: the re actions he got because Farside is one of 195 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 1: the things that you kind of get or you don't. 196 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:29,040 Speaker 1: Earlier said, you know, you have to to really grow 197 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:31,000 Speaker 1: to love, you know, love it, but some people never do. 198 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:32,880 Speaker 1: Some people hate the Far Side still. 199 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,360 Speaker 2: Yeah. One of the comments that the salesman got when 200 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 2: he was out beating the pavement was this is not 201 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:42,360 Speaker 2: a Buffalo product. Yeah. 202 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:45,439 Speaker 1: I could just see that scene, like the whatever the 203 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:48,440 Speaker 1: Buffalo newspaper is the guy, it's just like, this is 204 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:51,840 Speaker 1: not a Buffalo product, like, very sternly, please leave, sir. 205 00:10:52,559 --> 00:10:56,200 Speaker 1: And apparently he said the initial response has been quite 206 00:10:56,280 --> 00:11:00,120 Speaker 1: funny and uneditor like, and he was basically like the 207 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 1: they were so diverse and unpredictable, like he even from 208 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:04,800 Speaker 1: people he knew really well, from editors, he really knew. 209 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 1: He's like, I never knew if they were going to 210 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:08,960 Speaker 1: offer me, like to stay and have a cup of coffee, 211 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:11,160 Speaker 1: or did like say get out of my office. 212 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, because people would have a visceral response to it. 213 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,360 Speaker 2: Either they thought it was great, they didn't like it. 214 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:21,200 Speaker 2: The idea that the Far Side was ever divisive is 215 00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:25,040 Speaker 2: just hilarious to me. But it just really kind of 216 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 2: goes to show how much Gary Larson changed the culture 217 00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:32,600 Speaker 2: with the Far Side, that it was just totally far 218 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:36,880 Speaker 2: out off the wall offensive to some people. And now 219 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:40,480 Speaker 2: because he kind of laid the groundwork and launched that 220 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:44,280 Speaker 2: kind of humor and made it far and wide in 221 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:49,120 Speaker 2: the United States especially. It's just it's that much funnier 222 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:50,959 Speaker 2: now when you look back and think, like people were 223 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:52,160 Speaker 2: offended by the Far Side. 224 00:11:52,559 --> 00:11:55,079 Speaker 1: Yeah, there's another good quote here from one of the editors. 225 00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:57,640 Speaker 1: I don't know what this is, but it's not for us. 226 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:01,880 Speaker 2: But other people say, like, what a mind this man has. Yeah, 227 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:02,679 Speaker 2: he's brilliant. 228 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, again, it's just one of those things. It's 229 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:09,760 Speaker 1: very divisive cartoon. Should we take a break, Yeah, all right, 230 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:13,080 Speaker 1: we'll be right back with more on the brilliant Gary Larson. 231 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 3: Stoftly jawsh so. 232 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:49,160 Speaker 2: So one other thing happened to Gary Larson that week 233 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:51,840 Speaker 2: that he went down to the Chronicle. He got news 234 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:54,600 Speaker 2: from the Seattle Times that they were dropping him. Yeah, 235 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 2: and he went on to blame the placement in the paper. 236 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,080 Speaker 2: Apparently they put it next to a kid's crossword puzz 237 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:03,200 Speaker 2: that's not the place for the Far Side. Of course 238 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:07,280 Speaker 2: you're gonna get complaints, right, But he also said that 239 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:11,520 Speaker 2: had the Seattle Times fired him a week before, he 240 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:13,760 Speaker 2: never would have gone to San Francisco or to the Chronicle. 241 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:17,199 Speaker 2: It would have just completely deflated his any self confidence 242 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:19,760 Speaker 2: he had. So the timing of it was just amazing 243 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 2: when you put it all together. One other thing too, 244 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:26,680 Speaker 2: Apparently one of the Chronicle syndication heads tried to talk 245 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:31,320 Speaker 2: him into turning it into a comic strip with recurring characters. No, 246 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,960 Speaker 2: and he was like, I think I'm just gonna hold 247 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,200 Speaker 2: with this. So if you put all the components together, 248 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:41,640 Speaker 2: the fact that we even have the far side is significant. 249 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:44,480 Speaker 2: It also makes it seem like we're probably the only 250 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 2: version of the universe that has the far side. All 251 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 2: the other multiverses didn't get it because nothing fell into 252 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:53,800 Speaker 2: place quite. 253 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:56,240 Speaker 1: Right multiverse h M. 254 00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 2: All right. 255 00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:00,600 Speaker 1: So, because it was so divisive, it wasn't like wildfire 256 00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:03,200 Speaker 1: out of the gate. It was in thirty papers initially, 257 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:06,959 Speaker 1: I think three years later it was up to eighty. 258 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:09,880 Speaker 1: And you might be thinking, like, hey, eighty newspapers is 259 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:14,400 Speaker 1: pretty great, but for syndication's that's small beans. It really 260 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 1: just sort of took a very natural path to growing 261 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 1: in three years and went from thirty to eighty. Then 262 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:20,600 Speaker 1: a couple of years later it was up to two 263 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:24,080 Speaker 1: hundred and really kind of launched after that, and at 264 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:29,000 Speaker 1: its peak was in nineteen hundred newspapers, which made Gary 265 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 1: Larson a very very rich guy because he started putting 266 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 1: out books and calendars. In eighty three, eighty four, and 267 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:38,120 Speaker 1: eighty five, he had books on the New York Times 268 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:41,440 Speaker 1: bestseller list, and eventually I believe all but one of 269 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:43,360 Speaker 1: his twenty three books was on the New York Times 270 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 1: bestseller list and sold the combined forty one million copies 271 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:50,920 Speaker 1: and almost eighty million calendars. 272 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:54,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, those books were like when you had that book 273 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:57,520 Speaker 2: in your hands at the time. Oh yeah, the greatest 274 00:14:57,520 --> 00:14:58,240 Speaker 2: thing in the world. 275 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:00,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, and those books were coming out. I was like 276 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:04,000 Speaker 1: twelve and thirteen, so it was just Christmas morning at 277 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:05,800 Speaker 1: the Brian House was I would just grab that thing 278 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:07,120 Speaker 1: and basically run to my room. 279 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:07,680 Speaker 2: Nice. 280 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:13,240 Speaker 1: And it was also in seventeen different languages, which I 281 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:18,120 Speaker 1: just I know, it's not even a terribly American thing, 282 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:21,760 Speaker 1: but I'm just trying to imagine the far sides, weird 283 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: sensibilities going over in a foreign language country. I don't know, 284 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:27,600 Speaker 1: it just sort of surprised me. 285 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:32,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, you'd think way way more languages, right. 286 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: No, I'm just surprised it went over at all in 287 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:36,360 Speaker 1: other countries. 288 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 2: So yeah, I gotcha. Yeah, I know, I could see 289 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:43,120 Speaker 2: there being seventeen different languages that could find it humorous. 290 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:45,360 Speaker 1: Oh you could, all right, yeah, because there's like two or. 291 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:46,760 Speaker 2: Three million languages, you know. 292 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:47,800 Speaker 1: Yeah. 293 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:52,960 Speaker 2: So he was also very unsurprisingly an award winning artists 294 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:58,000 Speaker 2: and cartoonists from the beginning of his peak. I think 295 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 2: around nineteen eighty five he won the first award for 296 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:04,120 Speaker 2: Best Newspaper Panel all the way up till the end 297 00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:08,640 Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety four winning for our Outstanding Cartoonists of 298 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 2: the Year. And like you said, he was like the calendars, 299 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:15,280 Speaker 2: the books, like he was making mad Bank, as he 300 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:19,280 Speaker 2: puts it every time he's interviewed about it. But he 301 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,560 Speaker 2: really kind of drew the line a lot of merchandising, 302 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:26,600 Speaker 2: like they wanted to do everything, and he was like, 303 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:29,600 Speaker 2: one of my rules is you can't take these things 304 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 2: out of context. Like you're never going to see a 305 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,760 Speaker 2: T shirt with just a picture of the beehive Lady, 306 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:39,080 Speaker 2: beehive hard Lady with Cadie glasses, Like that's out of context. 307 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 2: Doesn't make sense. I don't want to do that. No dolls, 308 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:44,240 Speaker 2: nothing like that. But just as much as like kind 309 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:47,960 Speaker 2: of protecting what he created, he also didn't want to 310 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:50,040 Speaker 2: seem like he was making any kind of cash grab 311 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:52,920 Speaker 2: to the fans of the Far Side. He was a 312 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:57,840 Speaker 2: very sensitive person who was really probably from what I 313 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:02,240 Speaker 2: can tell, overly aware of what people thought of him 314 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:04,040 Speaker 2: or how they took his work. 315 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:06,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you could have a T shirt or 316 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:10,520 Speaker 1: a mug or something, but it was just like a cartoon, right, 317 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 1: like a Far Side panel, which was pretty brilliant because 318 00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:16,520 Speaker 1: I mean that's where the humor is. And also since 319 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:19,159 Speaker 1: they weren't characters, I think that kind of helped that 320 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:22,679 Speaker 1: decision along, right, Although I got to say, like a, 321 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:25,520 Speaker 1: if I had the doll of the little crew cut kid, 322 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:28,359 Speaker 1: I wouldn't mind that, I'm sure, as he might be 323 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:30,920 Speaker 1: ripping them off and doing something like that. So I'm 324 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 1: not sure. 325 00:17:32,359 --> 00:17:34,760 Speaker 2: I'll bet you're right, actually, and I know somebody's got 326 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 2: a Christmas coming up. 327 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:39,360 Speaker 1: He was also very sensitive to offending people. Even though 328 00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 1: he did that all the time, It's not something he 329 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,520 Speaker 1: ever set out to do. You know. He very famously 330 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:48,720 Speaker 1: always would feature God as a character. And it wasn't 331 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:50,919 Speaker 1: even you know, like, oh let me make God some 332 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:54,080 Speaker 1: like sort of wimpy weirdo like. It was this like 333 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:57,480 Speaker 1: sort of big, all powerful god with long flowing hair, 334 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:02,120 Speaker 1: and but religious people didn't like that. I guess, still 335 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,280 Speaker 1: sort of some sort of craven image. Cat people definitely 336 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:07,600 Speaker 1: didn't like them, because there was a lot of a 337 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:10,119 Speaker 1: lot of dogs preying on cats in various ways. But 338 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:14,000 Speaker 1: he just didn't want to ruffle feathers, he said, I 339 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:15,080 Speaker 1: just ended up doing it. 340 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:18,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, he was just being humorous. And one of the great, great, 341 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:22,080 Speaker 2: great things about the Far Side is it's not making 342 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 2: a comment on anything. Yeah, it's just dropping in on 343 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:30,040 Speaker 2: an absurd moment in life, somewhere in the universe or 344 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:33,680 Speaker 2: somewhere on Earth, which is why those characters are all interchangeable. 345 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:36,720 Speaker 2: They're not specific someone. It could be anyone who's having 346 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:40,560 Speaker 2: an absurd moment, right. And the best description I saw 347 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:45,199 Speaker 2: came from Carrie Soper, who's the biographer of not just 348 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:47,920 Speaker 2: Gary Larson, but The Far Side. He said that the 349 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:51,400 Speaker 2: point of Farside is that we're all just fools flailing 350 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 2: against the universe, and that the Far Side is just 351 00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:58,280 Speaker 2: basically a camera dropping in on those moments where it's 352 00:18:58,640 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 2: most pronounced. 353 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:03,360 Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, that's brilliant. Actually, that kind of says 354 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:07,879 Speaker 1: it best. We should probably illustrate a couple of verbally 355 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 1: illustrate a couple of cartoons, just if you haven't seen 356 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: the Far Side so you kind of know we're going 357 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:15,040 Speaker 1: for here. You should definitely look these up because these 358 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:19,080 Speaker 1: are some classics. But one that really kind of crystallizes 359 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:24,000 Speaker 1: what he does is Early Experiments and Transportation, and that 360 00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:26,280 Speaker 1: is a panel and at the bottom that's all it says, 361 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:30,760 Speaker 1: Early Experiments and Transportation, and it features these cave dudes, 362 00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:33,399 Speaker 1: these three cave guys holding an early kind of stone 363 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:37,040 Speaker 1: wheel with another cave guy strapped to the top of it, 364 00:19:37,119 --> 00:19:40,680 Speaker 1: just sort of sitting there with his legs out with Obviously, 365 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 1: the idea is it's going to be pushed down the 366 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:45,480 Speaker 1: hill and they haven't thought it through, and this guy 367 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:48,879 Speaker 1: is going to be rolled over, you know, with this 368 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 1: wheel crushing him. And that's sort of the brilliance of 369 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,639 Speaker 1: the Far Side. It's just a single panel. He doesn't 370 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:56,800 Speaker 1: have the next one showing the wheel rolling and the 371 00:19:56,880 --> 00:20:00,400 Speaker 1: guy going oh my bones, like you have to. It's 372 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:03,000 Speaker 1: up to the viewer and the reader to put all 373 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:05,920 Speaker 1: this together in your head and imagine what comes next. 374 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: And that was sort of the brilliance of it was 375 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,960 Speaker 1: he tapped into your imagination. The other thing I think 376 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:14,200 Speaker 1: was very larcen Esque is it could have just been 377 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:17,560 Speaker 1: that these guys on the hill, but then about halfway 378 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:21,480 Speaker 1: down the hill he adds a guy, a cave guy 379 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:26,200 Speaker 1: looking up with a little stone tablet to record the results. 380 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:29,080 Speaker 1: And it was those extra little bits in the frame 381 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:32,160 Speaker 1: for me that just took farside over the top. 382 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:36,399 Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. Another good one is the Midvale School 383 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:39,920 Speaker 2: for the Gifted, probably my favorite all time, the best known. Yeah, 384 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:45,360 Speaker 2: it's just amazing. There's no quote, there's no anything, there's 385 00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:48,200 Speaker 2: no cut line or caption or anything like that. It's 386 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:52,720 Speaker 2: just that little glasses, crew cut kid with freckles pushing 387 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:56,119 Speaker 2: on a door to get into the Midvale School of 388 00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:59,479 Speaker 2: the Gifted where he ostensibly goes to school, and it 389 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:01,200 Speaker 2: clearly on the door pull. 390 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:06,280 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, And if I may comment on this one, 391 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: the brilliance of that one to me like you could 392 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:10,199 Speaker 1: do that. You could have a kid's hand on the 393 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:13,679 Speaker 1: door pushing that says pull. But it's the way that 394 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:17,880 Speaker 1: he's leaning in his whole body, right, and you get 395 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:19,280 Speaker 1: just when you see it. I remember when I was 396 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:21,960 Speaker 1: a kid seeing that, thinking it looks like that kid 397 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 1: has been standing there for an hour right with his 398 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:27,920 Speaker 1: hand against that door, expecting it to open, right, And 399 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:30,359 Speaker 1: how he conveys that with just the way he drew 400 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:32,600 Speaker 1: that kid leaning in, I don't know. That's the magic 401 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:33,960 Speaker 1: of the Far Side, agreed. 402 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:36,840 Speaker 2: Man. I'm glad you're interpreting these for us, because you're 403 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:38,200 Speaker 2: doing a fantastic job. 404 00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:38,760 Speaker 1: No. Great. 405 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:42,439 Speaker 2: Uh. There's another one that was pretty famous too, but 406 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:45,159 Speaker 2: not necessarily everyone's seen, but you might have heard of 407 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,399 Speaker 2: the one called cow Tools that came out in nineteen 408 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:51,680 Speaker 2: eighty two. Yeah, and apparently this is the panel that 409 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:55,080 Speaker 2: taught Gary Larson that there's a lot of people out 410 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 2: there reading the Far Side because cow Tools came out 411 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:03,479 Speaker 2: and it just baffled people to the point where they 412 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:07,359 Speaker 2: were starting to get agitated because they didn't understand the cartoon. 413 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:12,119 Speaker 2: It was a pop culture phenomenon, people trying to figure 414 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:15,440 Speaker 2: out what this cartoon meant, and the problem was everybody 415 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:18,480 Speaker 2: was looking way too deeply into it and you had 416 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:21,280 Speaker 2: to take it at face value. And it got so 417 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:23,919 Speaker 2: I don't want to say out of hand, but just 418 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,160 Speaker 2: such a just so widespread that the syndicate asked him 419 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:31,159 Speaker 2: to write a letter explaining it that got published in 420 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:33,840 Speaker 2: the papers that also published The Far Side. 421 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:37,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's definitely the most divisive panel he did, and 422 00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:40,680 Speaker 1: I don't think i've ever seen that he regrets it 423 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: or anything. I think what he didn't like was that 424 00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:45,000 Speaker 1: people I don't know if he didn't like it, but 425 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:47,879 Speaker 1: people just didn't get it. And it's even one that 426 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:50,240 Speaker 1: I looked at for the first time when I was 427 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:52,840 Speaker 1: a kid, and I didn't fully get. But I don't 428 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:55,120 Speaker 1: think there was a lot of subtext. He came out 429 00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:57,880 Speaker 1: and he said, I've never met a cow who could 430 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:01,080 Speaker 1: make tools, so I felt sure that if I did that, 431 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:04,639 Speaker 1: the tools would lack something in sophistication and resemble the 432 00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:07,679 Speaker 1: sorry specimens that I showed in the cartoon, And I 433 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:10,160 Speaker 1: think people thought it was something more than that, right, 434 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:12,560 Speaker 1: and to him it was just that as just these 435 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:14,520 Speaker 1: dumb root of entry tools that a cow would make. 436 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's all it showed. It was a cow standing 437 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:21,399 Speaker 2: maybe a little proudly behind a table with their tools 438 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:23,639 Speaker 2: spread out. There's a barn in the background. He's on 439 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:27,040 Speaker 2: a farm, and one of the tools you can identify 440 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:29,480 Speaker 2: as a saw, but the other like three You're like, 441 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:32,680 Speaker 2: I have no idea what that does, and that's it. 442 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:35,880 Speaker 2: That's all it is. It's like the cow made terrible tools, 443 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:38,119 Speaker 2: but he's still proud that he made some tools. And 444 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:41,120 Speaker 2: these are cow tools. That's it. That's all there is 445 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 2: to it. And if you take it on its face, 446 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:44,199 Speaker 2: it's hilarious. 447 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:45,360 Speaker 1: But yeah, if you start. 448 00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:47,639 Speaker 2: Trying to figure out what this tool means or what 449 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:50,600 Speaker 2: he's saying with this, it just completely loses it. 450 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:52,960 Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean there were definitely cartoons I didn't get 451 00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:55,399 Speaker 1: when I was a kid. I remember looking at some 452 00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:57,240 Speaker 1: of them not fully getting it and thinking like, oh, 453 00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:59,800 Speaker 1: this must be like something you might get as an adult, 454 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:03,159 Speaker 1: but you know, maybe not, because in the Simpsons and 455 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:06,680 Speaker 1: Cheers there were definitely pop culture references where people like 456 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: Woody and Cheers wouldn't get a far side or or 457 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,080 Speaker 1: Homer wouldn't get a far side. So it became a 458 00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:15,520 Speaker 1: thing to not understand the panels. 459 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:20,520 Speaker 2: Right, I wanted to talk about one more. There's that 460 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:25,200 Speaker 2: Carrie Soaper author was asked what panel would you pick 461 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:29,120 Speaker 2: out as the quintessential far side wow, and he said, 462 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:32,720 Speaker 2: the one lupis slip of phobia, which is. 463 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:35,119 Speaker 1: Remember it. 464 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:38,840 Speaker 2: Like the caption says lupus slip a phobia fear of 465 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:42,639 Speaker 2: being chased in your kitchen by timber wolves while wearing 466 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:46,920 Speaker 2: socks on a newly waxed floor, And that's exactly what's 467 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,639 Speaker 2: going on. There's this kid who's being chased around the 468 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,080 Speaker 2: table by two timber wolves and he's wearing socks, and 469 00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 2: his floor is nice and shiny, and he's kind of 470 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:56,920 Speaker 2: hanging on to the table like he's about to fall over, 471 00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:00,760 Speaker 2: so like his his. The other funny thing about it, too, 472 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:04,600 Speaker 2: is like this person's really arcane phobia is coming true, 473 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:08,880 Speaker 2: like the nightmares happening. Yeah, that's what it is. That's 474 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:09,520 Speaker 2: a great one. 475 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,360 Speaker 1: That's so good. I also love Dog Threat Letter. That's 476 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:15,680 Speaker 1: what he has a regret about. He was a perfectionist 477 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,320 Speaker 1: and would sometimes agonize over like I should have done 478 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:22,920 Speaker 1: this or that, which is just I don't know. It's 479 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:25,600 Speaker 1: hard if you're wired that way. But as any kind 480 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:28,919 Speaker 1: of creator, my advice is to just go with it 481 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 1: and don't look back on your work and regret something 482 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,000 Speaker 1: that you didn't draw perfectly. But in Dog Threat Letter, 483 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 1: it was it's a it's a panel of these cats, 484 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:42,320 Speaker 1: one cat sitting down in a in a fat chair, 485 00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 1: and another one standing there, and there's a broken window, 486 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:50,840 Speaker 1: there's a letter that the cat is reading. There's glass 487 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 1: on the floor, there's a dog bone on the floor, 488 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:56,600 Speaker 1: which is so perfect to me because clearly this this 489 00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:58,920 Speaker 1: dog threat letter was wrapped in this bone and thrown 490 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,480 Speaker 1: through the window, right. And it's the little cutout letters 491 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:04,000 Speaker 1: like a like a you know, a kidnappers letter would 492 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:08,359 Speaker 1: be cut and pasted, and it just says arm and 493 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:10,320 Speaker 1: the cats aren't reacting, in fact, it's the backs of 494 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:13,240 Speaker 1: their heads. There's a portrait of a framed cat on 495 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:15,680 Speaker 1: the wall, which is a nice touch. And he regrets 496 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: showing the dog running away through the hole in the 497 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,240 Speaker 1: window as if he had just thrown it. He wishes 498 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:23,600 Speaker 1: he had just not had the dog. But I think 499 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:24,439 Speaker 1: it's great as is. 500 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:26,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think it detracted from it at all. 501 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:28,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, but I'm not Gary Larson. 502 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:32,360 Speaker 2: No, it's true. He also he got even more obsessive 503 00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:37,359 Speaker 2: than that with a regret which was Harry Houdini's final undoing, 504 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:42,520 Speaker 2: which was that Houdini died because his fingers got caught 505 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 2: in Chinese finger traps, and that that was the thing 506 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:47,640 Speaker 2: that he couldn't get out of. So now his dead 507 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:50,920 Speaker 2: body is on the ground, leaning up against the wall, 508 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:55,480 Speaker 2: and he's a skeleton and it's hilarious. But the thing 509 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:59,159 Speaker 2: that Gary Larson was upset about was that the tilt 510 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:02,000 Speaker 2: of Harry Houdini School should have been looking downward a 511 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:06,480 Speaker 2: little more. I'm like, dude, it's fine, Yeah, it's great. 512 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:10,639 Speaker 2: Like no one else except you thought that what you 513 00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:11,560 Speaker 2: just said. 514 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:15,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, totally agree. Should we take another break? Yeah, all right, 515 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:17,399 Speaker 1: we'll be back and we're going to finish up at 516 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:19,080 Speaker 1: the Midvale School for the Gifted right after this. 517 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 3: Soft we jowsh. 518 00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 1: Soft all right? So drawing seven of these a week, 519 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:57,720 Speaker 1: you know, he put one out every day. That's that's 520 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:01,320 Speaker 1: the work of a cartoonist and a comics It's crazy. 521 00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:03,359 Speaker 1: It's hard, you know, even though it's a single panel. 522 00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:06,359 Speaker 1: You got to come up with something that great every 523 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:08,560 Speaker 1: day because he wanted to be great, and everyone who 524 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 1: does that kind of stuff wants to be great. So 525 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:12,960 Speaker 1: that's a lot. He took a fourteen month sabbatical in 526 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:15,560 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty eight. By this time he was married to 527 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:19,800 Speaker 1: an anthropologist, no surprise, named Tony Carmichael. They traveled all 528 00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:21,399 Speaker 1: over the world. They went to the Amazon they went 529 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:24,080 Speaker 1: to Africa. He lived in New York for a few months, 530 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:28,159 Speaker 1: taking jazz guitar lessons from the great Jim Hall. Apparently 531 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:31,280 Speaker 1: the story goes that he drew one of Jim Hall's 532 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:33,679 Speaker 1: album covers, and I don't know if it's true or not. 533 00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:36,480 Speaker 1: It might be apocryphal, but he initially said I'll do 534 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:38,480 Speaker 1: it for a million bucks and then said, how about this. 535 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:41,400 Speaker 1: You give me jazz guitar lessons in exchange. So he 536 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 1: was living his best life in retirement, you know, enjoying himself. 537 00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:48,360 Speaker 1: He came back and said, all right, I can give 538 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:50,240 Speaker 1: you five a week instead of the seven. 539 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:53,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, so that was eighty eight to I think eighty 540 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:57,640 Speaker 2: nine or early ninety and I guess eighty nine. And 541 00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 2: so even drop two cartoons a week, he was clearly 542 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:07,000 Speaker 2: getting tired. He was more than that. I don't know 543 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,840 Speaker 2: if more, but at least tied with it. In addition 544 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:13,280 Speaker 2: to fatigue, he was really worried that he was his 545 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:16,800 Speaker 2: creativity was gonna go downhill, and that he was going 546 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:21,240 Speaker 2: to start making mediocre cartoons. And that is that is 547 00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 2: the mark of a creative genius, I guess, or at 548 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:31,200 Speaker 2: the very least a deeply creative person. Yes that they're like, 549 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:33,200 Speaker 2: I have to walk away because I don't want to 550 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:38,520 Speaker 2: start making something mediocre, not even bad mediocre. Mediocre is 551 00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:41,040 Speaker 2: actually worse than bad in situations like that. 552 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:41,600 Speaker 1: Yeah. 553 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 2: So the fact that he cited that, in addition to fatigue, 554 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:48,840 Speaker 2: I thought was really telling about you know who he is. 555 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:53,920 Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely. He also was never super comfortable in the spotlight. 556 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 1: If you look up Gary Larson in an image search, 557 00:29:57,400 --> 00:29:59,440 Speaker 1: you're going to see a couple of old black and 558 00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:02,840 Speaker 1: whites back in the day. If you specify like Gary 559 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:05,800 Speaker 1: Larson today, I saw like one or two pictures of 560 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: him now. So he didn't give a lot of interviews. 561 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,560 Speaker 1: He never was comfortable being in the limelight. When he 562 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:13,880 Speaker 1: did do interviews, he felt like he screwed him up. 563 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,040 Speaker 1: There was one particular interview where he got tripped up 564 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:20,400 Speaker 1: by a question and later on said, I couldn't think 565 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:22,280 Speaker 1: of anything to say. I was rooted to the spot 566 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:26,200 Speaker 1: like the proverbial rabbit caught in the headlights, which may 567 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:28,040 Speaker 1: have been the problem because I think it's a deer. 568 00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:31,720 Speaker 2: Yeah. The question was also like where is the far 569 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:34,320 Speaker 2: side and how do we get there? Yeah, Like this 570 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:39,840 Speaker 2: is like your first questionable man. Yeah, so on January. 571 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:43,440 Speaker 2: I don't remember the date, but let's just say January 572 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:48,440 Speaker 2: nineteen ninety five, the very final far side. We should 573 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:52,840 Speaker 2: save the original run the final far Side ran, and 574 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:57,880 Speaker 2: it is. It's perfect, as perfect as the ending of 575 00:30:57,920 --> 00:30:59,600 Speaker 2: the original Bob Newhart Show. 576 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:01,680 Speaker 1: Yeah agreed, where he. 577 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:05,120 Speaker 2: A man named Gary who looks vaguely like Gary Larson 578 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:09,920 Speaker 2: is standing with Glinda the Goodwitch, and he's surrounded by 579 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:13,600 Speaker 2: every character in the far side of the cows, the cats, 580 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,560 Speaker 2: the beehive hairdo lady, the nerdy kid with. 581 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:18,600 Speaker 1: The glasses Yeah, ten, Gallahat guy. 582 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:21,520 Speaker 2: Yeah ten, gallon hack guy. Everybody is surrounding him, just 583 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:24,600 Speaker 2: kind of watching him talk with Glenda the Goodwitch, and 584 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:29,360 Speaker 2: she says something like, well, basically what Dorothy was told 585 00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:31,560 Speaker 2: in the end of Wizard of Oz. 586 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:33,520 Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, should I read it? 587 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:34,400 Speaker 2: Yeah? Definitely. 588 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,320 Speaker 1: She says, why Gary, you've always and that's underlined, You've 589 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:40,440 Speaker 1: always had the power to go home. Just close your 590 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:44,080 Speaker 1: eyes quack three times and think to yourself. There's no 591 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:46,000 Speaker 1: place like home. There's no place like home. 592 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,600 Speaker 2: Right, Okay, So that's panel one. It's in color. The 593 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:52,000 Speaker 2: second panel, and this is very rare. He usually only 594 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:54,680 Speaker 2: did one panel. The second panels in black and white, 595 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:58,360 Speaker 2: and now Gary is in bed waking up, ostensibly in Kansas, 596 00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:01,800 Speaker 2: and he's surrounded by his family and friends, and they 597 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:06,400 Speaker 2: all resemble the cow and the cat and the nerdy kid, 598 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:09,040 Speaker 2: and he says, he explains to them that he just 599 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:11,240 Speaker 2: had this crazy dream and all the people in the 600 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:13,640 Speaker 2: dream looked like them, just like the end of Wizard 601 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:15,360 Speaker 2: of Oz. It was just beautiful. 602 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:18,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, it was, I mean, the perfect way to go out. 603 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:21,120 Speaker 1: I kind of wonder if he the story behind that, 604 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:22,640 Speaker 1: if he came up with it just sort of when 605 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:24,680 Speaker 1: he went to do the last one, if he always 606 00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:27,400 Speaker 1: sort of had something in mind. Yeah. I always wonder 607 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:29,360 Speaker 1: that about TV shows too, if they sort of had 608 00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:32,680 Speaker 1: the final shot or the final episode in their brain 609 00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:35,080 Speaker 1: when they're doing it. But yeah, it was a beautiful 610 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:38,480 Speaker 1: way to go out. He had in ninety four to 611 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:40,920 Speaker 1: ninety seven animated films Tales from the Far Side and 612 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:42,040 Speaker 1: Tales from the Far Side too. 613 00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:42,880 Speaker 2: Did you see those? 614 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:46,120 Speaker 1: I did not? Surprisingly Are they good? 615 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:47,760 Speaker 2: I don't know. The only place I can find it 616 00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:50,200 Speaker 2: is a Russian website and I no, okay, our work 617 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:51,640 Speaker 2: computers won't let us go there. 618 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:52,640 Speaker 1: Did it say? 619 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:56,200 Speaker 2: Yet right, but they look awesome. I did see a 620 00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:59,760 Speaker 2: clip and it's the cow, but a real life version, 621 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:03,400 Speaker 2: a real life animated version. You know what I'm talking about. Yeah, 622 00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:07,520 Speaker 2: of a cow is just their hoof playing a video game. 623 00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:10,440 Speaker 2: And the video game I think it's called Stampede and 624 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:12,880 Speaker 2: in the video game, the cows from the far side 625 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:17,440 Speaker 2: are stampeding and it's just weird because you hear the 626 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:20,560 Speaker 2: cow breathing and that's it. Like they're just playing the game, 627 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:22,680 Speaker 2: but they're breathing as they're playing it, and that's all 628 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:26,280 Speaker 2: you just see. They're hoof playing with the joystick. Yeah. 629 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:32,040 Speaker 1: I made an intentional decision to not see those, and 630 00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:33,240 Speaker 1: I still don't want to see them. 631 00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:36,160 Speaker 2: Okay, I'll see him for us and then I'll be 632 00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:38,440 Speaker 2: like yay or niet. 633 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:40,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, let me know, because I just I don't know. 634 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:42,640 Speaker 1: There's something, you know how it is when something exists 635 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:45,320 Speaker 1: in your mind as a certain thing and it's just 636 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:48,320 Speaker 1: kind of a perfect memory and thing for me still, 637 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:50,760 Speaker 1: and I don't want to take the chance of not 638 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:53,720 Speaker 1: liking it, so I'm not going to do it. He 639 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:55,440 Speaker 1: also had a kid's book in nineteen ninety nine. I 640 00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:56,880 Speaker 1: feel bad that I didn't know about this. I would 641 00:33:56,880 --> 00:34:00,680 Speaker 1: have gotten it when Ruby was littler. There's a hair 642 00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:03,440 Speaker 1: in my dirt. She'd probably still like this. Actually, yeah, 643 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,920 Speaker 1: Colon a worm story, a book about a princess from 644 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:09,600 Speaker 1: the worm's point of view, which is very Gary Larson. 645 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:12,760 Speaker 2: Speaking of kids' books, there was something that he cited. 646 00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:17,040 Speaker 2: A screen rant has like five hundred articles on Gary 647 00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:19,719 Speaker 2: Larson in the far Side. Apparently somebody there really likes him. 648 00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:23,799 Speaker 2: But they turned up that he cited a children's book 649 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,640 Speaker 2: from nineteen fifty, the year he was born, as just 650 00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:30,040 Speaker 2: kind of helping him develop, like his sense of humor. 651 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:33,759 Speaker 2: But it's called mister Bear, Squash you flat, Like that's 652 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:35,920 Speaker 2: mister Bear's name. And it's this bear who goes around 653 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,759 Speaker 2: the woods and sits on the other animals houses and 654 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:41,560 Speaker 2: squashes them and basically just makes all sorts of enemies 655 00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:43,399 Speaker 2: and then finally gets his come up and s at 656 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:46,600 Speaker 2: the end. And it's really bizarre, Like just the sample 657 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:50,160 Speaker 2: I saw, it's like illustrated like in nineteen fifties children's book, 658 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:53,800 Speaker 2: but the storyline is really weird, and the title itself 659 00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:58,040 Speaker 2: is incredibly weird too. That apparently just stayed with Gary Larson. 660 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:01,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, they almost they someone tried to develop at some 661 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:03,560 Speaker 1: point a live action far Side movie, and I just 662 00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:05,440 Speaker 1: thank god that that never happened, because there's no way 663 00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:06,120 Speaker 1: that would have been good. 664 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:07,880 Speaker 2: No way, no. 665 00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:12,200 Speaker 1: How so we mentioned talk of science. This is kind 666 00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:14,800 Speaker 1: of one of the most fun things about Gary Larson 667 00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:17,480 Speaker 1: to me now that I'm an adult who is sort 668 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:19,320 Speaker 1: of more into science than I was when I was twelve, 669 00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:23,520 Speaker 1: but he very much had an interest in science. It 670 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:27,480 Speaker 1: was pervasive through the series run, whether it was animals 671 00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:31,520 Speaker 1: or weird nature things, and there's a it was its 672 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:34,279 Speaker 1: Tentdrils kind of reached through the science world at the time. 673 00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:36,440 Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety eight, the head of the National Institutes 674 00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:41,320 Speaker 1: of Health, doctor Harold Varmus, said, boy, doctor Harold Barmas, 675 00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:43,880 Speaker 1: has there ever been a more app name to lead 676 00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:45,080 Speaker 1: the National Institute of Help? 677 00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:47,000 Speaker 2: Right, it's also a far side name too. 678 00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:48,640 Speaker 1: Oh really did he use that? 679 00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:51,239 Speaker 2: No? I'm just saying like that's a pot oh yeah name. 680 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:53,440 Speaker 1: No, I totally agree. It wouldn't have surprised me though, 681 00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:55,440 Speaker 1: because as we'll see, they sort of overlapped here and there. 682 00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:58,200 Speaker 1: But he said his influence is pervasive. I can't tell 683 00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:00,879 Speaker 1: you how many seminars been to that had a Gary 684 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:04,520 Speaker 1: Larson slide in them, and he ended up getting like 685 00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:06,279 Speaker 1: real animals named after him. 686 00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:10,799 Speaker 2: Right, well, a chewing lause at least. Yeah, there's a 687 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:13,080 Speaker 2: type of louse that's found on the feathers of the 688 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:18,720 Speaker 2: South African white faced owl, and the parasitologist Dale Clayton 689 00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:23,799 Speaker 2: named it after Gary Larson Strigaphyllis Gary Larson i. And 690 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:26,920 Speaker 2: he said he wrote to ask permission that it's simply 691 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:30,120 Speaker 2: meant to honor the enormous contribution that my colleagues and 692 00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:34,280 Speaker 2: I feel you have made to biology through your cartoon, and. 693 00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:37,560 Speaker 1: Like not saying you're a lause, right exactly. 694 00:36:37,719 --> 00:36:40,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, And so Gary Larson was quite honored, he said. 695 00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:42,800 Speaker 2: He wrote that he was honored. In the Prehistory of 696 00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:45,880 Speaker 2: the Far Side. He mentions it, what's funny is that 697 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:48,480 Speaker 2: the Prehistory of the Far Side came out before the 698 00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:53,200 Speaker 2: paper naming that chewing lause Strigophyllis Gary larsoni. So that 699 00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:57,560 Speaker 2: the paper actually cites the book The Prehistory of the 700 00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:00,920 Speaker 2: Far Side in it to basically prove that it's actually 701 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:01,279 Speaker 2: a thing. 702 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:04,600 Speaker 1: It's pretty good. He had also had a butterfly name 703 00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:07,799 Speaker 1: for him in nineteen ninety, but sadly, fourteen years later 704 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:13,640 Speaker 1: the sarah Totega Larson i was found to not be 705 00:37:13,719 --> 00:37:17,520 Speaker 1: a distinct species, so it was removed. So for a while, 706 00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:19,799 Speaker 1: I guess fourteen years he had a butterfly named after 707 00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:22,560 Speaker 1: him as well, and then I love the story of 708 00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:23,919 Speaker 1: the thagamizer. 709 00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:24,759 Speaker 2: We'll take it. 710 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:25,719 Speaker 3: There was. 711 00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:30,120 Speaker 1: A scientific term that is kind of caught on from 712 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:32,520 Speaker 1: one of his cartoons, and that is the thagamizer. A 713 00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:35,680 Speaker 1: thhag o miser i was from a nineteen eighty two 714 00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:39,759 Speaker 1: panel where there's a caveman teaching a class about the 715 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:42,200 Speaker 1: end of the stegosaurus tale the little spikes on the 716 00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:44,960 Speaker 1: end of his stegosaurus. The caption was, now, this end 717 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:48,960 Speaker 1: is called the thagamizer after the late thag Simmons, right, 718 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:52,479 Speaker 1: which is so such a Gary Larson sort of sense 719 00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:56,640 Speaker 1: of humor, sensibility in and of itself. And apparently paleontologists 720 00:37:56,640 --> 00:38:00,080 Speaker 1: sort of started using that such that it became a 721 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:03,960 Speaker 1: semi formal name and ended up in the Dinosaur National 722 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:05,279 Speaker 1: Monument at the Smithsonian. 723 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:09,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, like there displays as a stegosaurus mentioned it stagamizer. 724 00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:10,600 Speaker 1: That's amazing. 725 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:13,719 Speaker 2: So yeah, I think one of the reasons that scientists 726 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:16,440 Speaker 2: really appreciated him is this was a time when nerd 727 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:19,680 Speaker 2: was a genuine put down. It was not a hip 728 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,560 Speaker 2: term at all, Like right, if you called someone a nerd, 729 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:26,600 Speaker 2: you were being mean to them. And he was celebrating them, 730 00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:29,760 Speaker 2: even while also making fun of them to some extent, 731 00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:32,720 Speaker 2: but no more than any other humans he was making 732 00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:35,160 Speaker 2: fun of. He just had a really deep interest in 733 00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:37,279 Speaker 2: science and biology and it just happened to kind of 734 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:41,200 Speaker 2: cross paths. So I thought that was worth mentioning that, 735 00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:44,200 Speaker 2: like he was, he was glorifying nerds at a time 736 00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:47,000 Speaker 2: when nerds were not super well. 737 00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:50,239 Speaker 1: Yeah, man, that's very astute. I never really thought about that, 738 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:53,680 Speaker 1: but that's absolutely what he was doing. He was making 739 00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:56,720 Speaker 1: fun of himself and also shining a light on nerdom 740 00:38:56,800 --> 00:38:59,520 Speaker 1: at the same time. Yeah. In nineteen eighty seven, the 741 00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:02,759 Speaker 1: Californa the Academy of Sciences did an exhibit that ended 742 00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:05,400 Speaker 1: up touring all around the country, including the National Museum 743 00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:10,319 Speaker 1: of History of Science. Related far side comics and evolutionary 744 00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:12,719 Speaker 1: biologist E. O. Wilson wrote he had a couple of 745 00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:15,640 Speaker 1: bi or scientists write forwards in his books. 746 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:16,480 Speaker 2: EO. 747 00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:19,480 Speaker 1: Wilson wrote the Ford for the children's book There's a 748 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:22,720 Speaker 1: Hair in My Dirt, and a paleontologist and evolutionary biologist 749 00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:25,160 Speaker 1: named Stephen J. Gould, I believe we've talked about before 750 00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:29,080 Speaker 1: wrote the forward for The Far Side Gallery three and 751 00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:31,640 Speaker 1: called him the national humorist of natural history. 752 00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:34,560 Speaker 2: And then there's a story we talked about in the 753 00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:37,359 Speaker 2: Jing Goodall episode. I think it's worth mentioning. 754 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:39,120 Speaker 1: Again, Yeah, I thought we did. Yeah. 755 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:42,880 Speaker 2: So in nineteen eighty seven, Gary Larson had a cartoon 756 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:47,080 Speaker 2: showing an ape that's grooming another ape, and it seems 757 00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:50,920 Speaker 2: very clear that they're married, and the one ape with 758 00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:55,120 Speaker 2: glasses I think is the wife says, well, well, another 759 00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:58,600 Speaker 2: blonde hair. Conducting a little more research with that Jing 760 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:02,400 Speaker 2: Goodall tramp. And of course you meant nothing by it, 761 00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:04,560 Speaker 2: Like if you start to read too deeply into it, 762 00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:07,000 Speaker 2: you're like, wow, this is what's it got against Jane Goodall. 763 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:12,279 Speaker 2: That's all superficial, just hilarious, right, that's not at all 764 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:15,480 Speaker 2: how Sue Engel, the executive director of the Jane Goodall Institute, 765 00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:18,160 Speaker 2: apparently she read way too deeply into it, and she 766 00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:22,960 Speaker 2: wrote a truly angry letter to the cartoon editors that 767 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:26,280 Speaker 2: I guess by then he was at Universal Syndicate, basically 768 00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:28,759 Speaker 2: just lambbassing them for even running it. 769 00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:32,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, she said, it's incredibly offensive and in such poor 770 00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:35,279 Speaker 1: tastes that readers might well question the editorial judgment of 771 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:38,200 Speaker 1: running such an atrocity in a newspaper that reputes to 772 00:40:38,239 --> 00:40:40,120 Speaker 1: be supplying the news to persons with a better than 773 00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:41,160 Speaker 1: average intelligence. 774 00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:42,960 Speaker 2: Right, So she was mad. 775 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:43,600 Speaker 1: Yeah. 776 00:40:43,719 --> 00:40:46,520 Speaker 2: It turns out that Jane Goodall was in the field 777 00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:48,480 Speaker 2: when all this happened. She hadn't seen the cartoon, and 778 00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:51,080 Speaker 2: when she got back and did see the cartoon, she's like, actually, 779 00:40:51,520 --> 00:40:54,240 Speaker 2: this is funny, Sue. I think you may have overreacted. 780 00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:57,879 Speaker 2: She ended up writing forward to one of the Far 781 00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:01,600 Speaker 2: Side books, and then that cartoon was licensed for the 782 00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:05,520 Speaker 2: Jane Goodall Institute. I'm quite sure on very favorable terms, 783 00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:09,880 Speaker 2: because Gary Larson is a genuine conservationist, and in fact, 784 00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:12,399 Speaker 2: I think he gave all the proceeds from his two 785 00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:18,000 Speaker 2: thousand and seven Far Side a Day calendar to Conservation International, 786 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:19,399 Speaker 2: so he's the real deal. 787 00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:21,880 Speaker 1: Yeah. And then I think Sue ran to the bathroom 788 00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:24,719 Speaker 1: and cried, I'll bet dude, nothing's ever good enough for Jo. 789 00:41:25,719 --> 00:41:28,080 Speaker 2: And also I want to say, I keep using was 790 00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:30,640 Speaker 2: Gary Larson is still very much alive, So I'm not 791 00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:32,640 Speaker 2: sure why I keep referring to him in past tense. 792 00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:35,439 Speaker 2: I don't know anything that he doesn't know, So don't 793 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:37,360 Speaker 2: worry if you're listening to this Gary Larson. 794 00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:40,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, God, how great would that be? I'll just retire 795 00:41:40,719 --> 00:41:43,719 Speaker 1: tomorrow if I found out he like listened in like this. 796 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:46,040 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, not that he was about to die. 797 00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:49,520 Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, okay, he'd probably find that funny though. 798 00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:49,920 Speaker 2: Probably. 799 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:51,759 Speaker 1: Yeah, he's got a website he finally put up, and 800 00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:56,560 Speaker 1: apparently we'll occasionally put out a new thing or two 801 00:41:56,600 --> 00:42:01,000 Speaker 1: here and there. Definitely will put out some like lost 802 00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:05,000 Speaker 1: archival stuff for you know, stuff like that. But I 803 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:07,799 Speaker 1: think you got like a sort of digital drawing thing, 804 00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:10,000 Speaker 1: and I was like, hey, I found that. I'm sort 805 00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:12,680 Speaker 1: of enjoying this again. And everybody I remember when that happened, 806 00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:14,360 Speaker 1: and everyone was like, oh my god, is it happening. 807 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:16,880 Speaker 1: And he's like, no, it's not really happening, but you know, 808 00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:18,360 Speaker 1: here's here's my website. 809 00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:21,319 Speaker 2: That's right, You got anything else? 810 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:24,320 Speaker 1: Got nothing else? That was a fun one. 811 00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:27,240 Speaker 2: Just to thank you, Gary Larson, Thank you for doing 812 00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:30,640 Speaker 2: what you did and being here. That's right, And since 813 00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:33,560 Speaker 2: we just thank Gary Larson everybody has for told in 814 00:42:33,560 --> 00:42:36,040 Speaker 2: two thousand and eight, we've just unlocked a listener mail. 815 00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:40,840 Speaker 1: That's right. I'm gonna call this a short and sweet correction. 816 00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:44,520 Speaker 1: Hey guys, longtime listener, love the podcast, et cetera, et cetera. 817 00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:49,600 Speaker 1: That's actually what Josh of the letter writer Josh says. Guys, 818 00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:51,799 Speaker 1: I'm sure you're getting millions of emails about this, but 819 00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:55,520 Speaker 1: while orc is are dolphins, I think you guys said 820 00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:58,160 Speaker 1: that this means they aren't real whales. In reality, all 821 00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:03,319 Speaker 1: dolphins are whales and philogenetics, dolphin is a type of whale. Okay, thanks, 822 00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:05,839 Speaker 1: love you bye, Josh. 823 00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:08,719 Speaker 2: Josh, you just come along and razzle dazzle us with 824 00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:11,440 Speaker 2: the word like phylogenetics and expect us to believe you. 825 00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:13,280 Speaker 1: I don't know, yeah exactly. 826 00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:15,080 Speaker 2: We're gonna have to look that one up before I 827 00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:17,319 Speaker 2: formally thank Josh. 828 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:19,920 Speaker 1: I looked it up. Yeah, all dolphins are whales. 829 00:43:19,719 --> 00:43:22,320 Speaker 2: All right, Well, thank you, Josh. We appreciate that correction. 830 00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:25,400 Speaker 2: That was actually a pretty good one. Yeah. If you 831 00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:27,200 Speaker 2: want to be like Josh and get in touch with us, 832 00:43:27,239 --> 00:43:29,880 Speaker 2: please do send us an email, send it off to 833 00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:35,360 Speaker 2: stuff Podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com. 834 00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:37,759 Speaker 1: Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. 835 00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:41,439 Speaker 3: For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 836 00:43:41,640 --> 00:43:44,560 Speaker 3: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.