As comical as The Far Side is, it can also venture into dark places, and even its portrayals of clowns are capable of keeping readers up at night. Gary Larson's surrealist storytelling pushes the boundaries of our world in disturbing yet evocative ways, with clowns being among the everyday figures he redefines beyond recognition.

The Far Side's clowns are cruel and conniving, whether they're mugging people on the street or unleashing nuclear warfare.

Clowns are normally regarded as harmless entertainers who seek to bring smiles to others' faces, but when translated through Larson's pen, they devolve into harbingers of wanton violence and destruction. The Far Side's clowns are cruel and conniving, whether they're mugging people on the street or unleashing nuclear warfare. Here are 10 Far Side cartoons that present a new side of clowns as absolute nightmare fuel.

10 "At the Strategic Pie Limitation Talks"

The Far Side's Clowns Take Pie to the Extreme

Pies are commonly associated with clowns as one of their tried-and-true gags, hence their frequent appearance throughout Gary Larson's depictions of them, and this first cartoon is no exception. The clowns here don't only limit their pies to their performances, however; these parties of clowns are negotiating about their pies just as world leaders would negotiate the launch of missiles.

The Cold War is a strong influence on Gary Larson's creative works, with elements of the conflict bleeding into The Far Side. The caption references the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks that the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in during the Cold War to regulate their manufacturing of nuclear weaponry. To the clowns in Larson's wacky world, their pies are more than mere desserts, as further cemented in other comics.

9 "I Like It...I Like It"

The Far Side Doesn't Take Kindly to Clowns

As lively as clowns tend to be, not everyone is a fan of their comedic tendencies. The king in this comic expresses his hatred for the profession as he has a new guillotine set up that's painted with a clown's design. By the looks of it, his intention is for anyone who gets executed to look like a clown as they do, correlating them with death.

Guillotines appear surprisingly often in The Far Side due to the series' fixation on brutal methods of execution, with this allusion likening the act of executing citizens with clownish pursuits as a jab at the overall concept. Gary Larson is no stranger to making dark jokes as a form of commentary, and this cartoon adheres to that iconic staple.

8 Clown Godzilla

The Far Side Turns A Clown Into a Kaiju

The Far Side gets its own version of Godzilla in this comic, one of many instances in which Gary Larson depicts a giant-sized monster resembling a kaiju. Here, the monster in question is a clown who wreaks havoc upon a city just as Godzilla does in his own universe. To combat this enemy, surrounding soldiers prepare to launch a massive pie at the clown, fighting fire with fire by turning one of his pranks against him.

Clowns are already known to be troublesome enough in Larson's outlandish rendition of reality, and their capacity to terrorize those around them increases exponentially when they're able to deal damage on a wider scale. No pie can slow this clown down as he takes The Far Side's world by storm.

7 "Laugh At Me, Will They?"

This Far Side Clown Is Tired Of Being Mocked

A clown's job is to make people laugh first and foremost, but one clown has officially had enough of being subjected to endless laughter. At his wits' end, this clown decides to purchase a gun as he ominously says, "Laugh at me, will they?" The implication here is that he plans on using the gun he receives to exact his revenge against those who have dared to mock him.

The Far Side can get seriously dark thanks to Gary Larson's penchant for joking about the most chilling topics imaginable. Shootings themselves are no laughing matter in the real world, yet the idea of this clown tiring of his intended purpose and being pushed to a breaking point as a result is as unsettling as it is funny.

6 "I Don't Think I'll Be Able to Tell The Kids About This One"

Even Clowns Face Execution in The Far Side

The Far Side's recurring theme of execution makes a comeback in this cartoon in a way that's all the more unnerving. This time, two men are seen bringing a clown in to face the death penalty as an electric chair is pictured in the next room. As they walk with him, one of them its he will have trouble breaking the news about this act to his children.

Because clowns tend to be associated with their work in children's entertainment, it's difficult to believe they're capable of horrific deeds. One can only imagine what this specific clown did to warrant such a bleak punishment. Gary Larson has once again taken a sharp turn into dark territory, emphasizing that there are no limits to how far the appropriately-titled Far Side can go.

5 "That Clown Asked You to Smell His Boutonniere"

The Far Side Meets The Wizard of Oz

This cartoon is surprisingly relevant, given the recent popularity of Wicked, a spin-off of 1939's The Wizard of Oz. Within the original story, the Wicked Witch of the West is weak against water, so Dorothy splashes her with it and causes her to melt into a puddle. Gary Larson plays with that idea by revealing the ultimate weakness of witches: clowns.

The Far Side's final comic - published on January 1st, 1995 - includes another reference to The Wizard of Oz as Gary Larson awakens and compares the people in his real life to the characters in his series, just as Dorothy does at the end of the film.

Although most of The Far Side's clowns rely on pies as their weapon of choice, one is smart enough to change tactics when faced with a witch. This clown tricks her into sniffing his boutonniere, only to spray her with water in a classic clown prank and partially melt her face. Evidently, if Dorothy had worn her own clown-like boutonnière, she could have dealt with the witch much sooner.

4 "Neither Man Was A Clear Winner"

A Clown's Secret Weapon Is As Formidable As a Gun

In this comic, a clown faces an untimely end, but not before inflicting his murderer with a fate equal to death. His end arrives as the result of a duel against a cowboy in a reference to the Old West, a recurring trope within Gary Larson's work. The cowboy brandishes a smoking pistol that insinuates he's won the duel by dealing a killing blow, yet the situation isn't as cut-and-dry as it appears.

As per the caption, "neither man was a clear winner". While the cowboy did deliver the finishing blow, the pie in his face is a clear indication that the clown dealt an attack of his own during their skirmish. Therefore, in the eyes of their bystanders, the duel ends in a draw. This absurd outcome can only occur in the world of Larson's The Far Side.

3 "When Clowns Go Bad"

The Far Side Turns Clowns Into Criminals

In The Far Side, clowns aren't as harmless as they seem, and there are some who even turn to a life of crime. For instance, in this comic, two clowns lurk in an alleyway and prepare to ambush an unsuspecting man as he walks past. Instead of holding knives or guns at the ready to commence their mugging, however, they brandish their signature pies.

The Far Side features its fair share of shady figures, such as the many trench coat-wearing characters who grace the series, and these clowns rank high among them. Despite lacking traditional weaponry, their plot to attack someone is no less sinister than it would be if they were otherwise armed. Clowns traditionally bring joy to people, but these particular clowns are anything but friendly.

2 "I Have Friends in Pie Places"

These Clowns Have Insidious Connections

This next cartoon escalates the joke from the previous one in a brilliant way that only Larson could pull off. Instead of one clown mugging an innocent erby, two clowns are shown facing off in an alleyway this time around. Once again, in true clownish fashion, the "mugger" clown wields a pie rather than a firearm, though his victim holds his ground.

In response to the threat, the clown on the right declares that he has "friends in pie places", a hilarious spin on the usual phrase of having "friends in high places". The back-up being alluded to by this clown would undoubtedly consist of even more clowns, which suggests an entire criminal underworld swarming with them. Anything is possible in The Far Side - even a clown mafia.

1 "What's That Clown Think He's Doing?"

In The Far Side, Clowns Start Wars - Literally

The clowns who mug civilians on the streets are certainly the stuff of nightmares, but the most frightening clown of all escalates his hunger for destruction on a global scale. Here, someone launches a missile from a military base, causing an onlooker to call out, "What's that clown think he's doing?" Gary Larson's wordplay strikes again, with the "clown" in question being a literal clown.

Larson portrays a number of clowns throughout The Far Side, with their antics ranging from silly to downright haunting. This clown, of course, is easily the scariest of all due to the sheer scale of the damage he causes. Most who dress as clowns in the real world wouldn't set off a nuclear apocalypse, but when it comes to The Far Side, clowns should never be trusted with explosives.