Summary

• Medical situations get a Far Side twist, from bad gurney wheels to hungry dogs in ORs.
• Doctors play jokes during surgery in Larson's comics, turning serious moments absurd.
• The humor in The Far Side strips with doctors can be dark and surreal, adding a unique twist.

In The Far Side, the unexpected should be expected. Routine things like visits to the doctor get a Gary Larson spin. Even in serious things like surgery, Larson twists the situation to make it completely surreal. Many weird things can occur in a medical setting. Anyone who has seen an episode of Dr. Pimple Popper or Netflix's Emergency NYC can attest to the crazy occurrences that can happen whenever medical circumstances are involved.

When it comes to the Far Side, situations that could be considered weird on their own are amped up to 11. Through Larson's surreal and sometimes dark humor, comic strips with doctors at the center are made kooky and (sometimes morbidly) funny. Here are the wildest and most hilarious strips from The Far Side's run that focus on doctors and the medical field.

10 "One Bad Wheel"

May 31, 1990

Getting a shopping cart with a bad wheel is an annoyance that everyone has unfortunately had to deal with at one time or another in their lifetime. In a surreal twist of things, a bad wheel can also apply to a hospital gurney. While most people who find themselves in a morgue would be focused on a sea of bodies with toe tags, the man in this strip is distracted by a bad wheel on his gurney. One of Larson's specialties that is frequently seen in the Far Side was the use of mundane and typical occurrences, and putting them in weird or unusual settings. Moreover, the fact that there are dead bodies on the gurneys in the strip makes it all the more morbid, being more nightmare-ish than dream-like.

9 "Doggy Scraps"

UnpublishedA Hungry Dog In The Operating Room

In a rare move, this strip featuring a hungry dog in an operating room was so controversial that Gary Larson's editor wouldn't let him print it. A dog waiting by the dinner table for some scraps is a situation dog owners everywhere are familiar with. It can even be adorable sometimes. On the other hand, a dog standing by a surgery table is incredibly abnormal. One would think a dog in the operating room violates a number of important health codes. Yet, not only is the dog not rushed out of hte OR, but one surgeon is actually seen giving it scraps. In The Far Side, who cares about health codes and normal behavior for that matter?

8 "The Old Rubber-Scalpel Gag"

January 26, 1993Surgeons Have A Blast During An Operation

Surgery would likely be something where everyone and everything is taken with the utmost seriousness. Instead, in The Far Side, surgery is evidently treated as one big joke. During a procedure, the attending doctors take the opportunity to try out a rubber scalpel gag on one of their unsuspecting colleagues. Yikes. While the target of the practical joke appears horrified, and one would think the poor patient might not appreciate the prank, the other surgeons are clearly having a blast. Like in the best Far Side strips, with one simple tweak, something serious is transformed into being ridiculous.

7 "We'll Probably Need It"

November 29, 1986

It's a pretty safe bet that something flying into the air during a surgery is not ideal, especially when that flying object is a body part. Larson knows how to paint an equally funny and heebie-jeebie inducing picture, as displayed by this comic strip. A body part, still tethered to the patient, has sprung into the air, but at least one of the doctors has the good sense to know to keep track of it. The ridiculousness is further amplified by the uncertainty of that one doctor, who refers to the body part as "that thing" and says that they'll "probably need it." It's never good to get sick, but it's absolutely horrible to get sick and treated by these less than stellar doctors in the Far Side.

6 "You Don't Even Have A Funny Bone"

July 28, 1994

This doctor is certainly not clowning around when he gives his patient some distressing news. While the funny bone may have nothing to do with a sense of humor in real life, in The Far Side, it is appropriately named. As a result, a lack of a funny bone may just be the worst news a clown could get. How the poor clown even got into the clowning business without a funny bone is anyone's guess. Regardless, the doctor doles out the sensitive news with a seriousness that is made all the more ridiculous by the bold colored get-up, complete with red nose, of his patient.

5 "Have You Made A Wish?"

June 26, 1984

Breaking the wishbone is a tried and true Thanksgiving tradition that occurs in many households year after year. Two people each make a wish and then pull on separate sides of the bone until it inevitably breaks. Whoever ends up with the bigger half will supposedly see their wish come true. Where the wishbone tradition is typically not seen is hospitals, especially in the operating room. Larson almost fools the reader, starting off the strip by making it seem like the doctors are taking everything seriously. However, Larson puts his unique angle on it when one doctor asks if their colleague has made a wish as they evidently prepare to snap their patient's wishbone.

4 "Your Testosterone Is A Tad High"

November 3, 1987

High testosterone can cause a slew of effects in the body, including increased body hair, muscle mass, and aggression, as well as making one's voice deeper. As The Far Side points out, high testosterone levels can basically transform someone into a caveman. Of course, any doctor (or even non-doctor) could probably tell just by looking at Mr. Rosenburg that his testosterone levels are high, but the doctor in this strip goes the extra step of ordering tests to confirm his suspicions. The patient in question has devolved into an almost totally caveman-like appearance, suggesting that the doctor is understating how high his testosterone levels are.

3 "Abdominal Pain"

April 15, 1981

Stomach pains can arise for several reasons, some benign, others incredibly serious. What has rarely been considered a possible cause of stomach pain, on the other hand, is a porcupine in the abdomen. The strip raises more questions than it answers. The biggest question mark looming over the scene is: how did a porcupine get into the patient's abdomen, completely intact, in the first place? While there have been medical anomalies of weird stuff stuck in people's bodies, it could confidently be said that a full-grown, adult porcupine has never been one of them.

2 "Laughter is The Best Medicine"

June 30, 1984

There's the old adage that laughter is the best medicine. Whoever came up with that saying did not mean it to be taken literally, especially not by medical professionals. However, in The Far Side, it makes perfect sense for doctors to laugh at a patient, thinking it's the best form of medicine. They do this despite the fact that the laughter is supposed to come from the patient themselves. Like many classic Far Side comic strips, this one has an underlying darkness to it. For many people, going to the hospital only for doctors to laugh hysterically at them is the stuff of neurotic nightmares.

1 "Mr. Warner"

June 5, 1982

This strip shows a pair of medical professionals surrounding a patient who is just a remnant of a face. The doctor tells the nurse that she should make sure Mr. Warner gets as much ice cream as he wants when he wakes up, as if that will make up for whatever has happened to him. Consequently, this is possibly one of the weirdest and most surreal comics in the history of The Far Side, which says a lot considering there are a vast number of weird and surreal comics to choose from. What could have happened to Mr. Warner and how he will react is left up to the reader's imagination. Of all the out-there installments of The Far Side centered around doctors that seem like nightmares, this one takes the cake.