I can drone on and one regarding Gary Larson's Far Side. Just a few
humorists who had a great impact on my life before I launched Londons
Times Cartoons. Most were movie and television actors, and only two
have been cartoonists. Larson was the major influence and continues to
be. The others were comedians and actors such as Steve Martin, Mike
Myers, Steven Wright, Red Skelton, Jack Benny, Billy Crystal, Dana
Carvey, Peter Sellers, and and others of whom I cannot think of at the
moment. One other cartoonist was the late great Charles Schulz, and
they all influenced me in a different way.
The reason Gary Larson had such an impact is that, like a lot of
confused young people in our society at that time, his even greater
confusion made sense of it all, and did so with very few words,
sometimes no words, but only an illustration. He was a step above so
many other cartoonists in that he most often "stuck to what he knew".
He had a major in biology and aside from the frequent use of cows and
insects, biology and mad funny looking scientists were often his
theme-de-jour. Before Larson launched The Far Side, he was working on a
cartoon called "Nature's Way". The Seattle Times was the first paper to
publish it in 1979. A year later, Chronicle Features picked The Far
Side up for syndication and it ran fifteen years. Larson put down his
pin on New Years Day, 1995. For awhile we heard nothing. Then he wrote
a very biologically-accurate children's story about worms titled
"There's A Hair In My Dirt" which quickly became a New York Times Best
Seller. When asked why he was retiring, he said, he simply didn't want
to become mediocre. He stopped while he was ahead. He could be labeled
more than a cartoonist, perhaps a "cartoon surrealist" of sorts. A lot
of his cartoons featured bovine behavior and conversations that cows
had when no people were around. The behavior was often erudite to make
the reader understand he or she perhaps might not be so much smarter
than these cows (and other animals, from squid to deer to bears. A
great many dogs and cats appeared in The Far Side as well, usually as
"mortal enemies". One of the most popular is a dog who has led a trail
with chalk that said "Cat Fud" that led to an open dryer in a laundry
mat and the dog thinking while holding the door open ready to close it,
"Oh Pleeeeeze", but the cat is just standing in the middle of the
laundromat not taking the bait.
One popular Far Side panel features two chimpanzees grooming each
other. One discovers a blonde human hair on the other and asks
"Conducting a little more 'research' with that Jane Goodall tramp?" Her
institute board members felt it was in bad taste, and had their lawyers
draft a letter to Larson and his distribution syndicate, in which they
described the cartoon as an "atrocity". They were stopped in their
tracks, though, from no other than Goodall herself, who loved the
cartoon. Since then, all profits from sales of a shirt featuring this
cartoon benefit the Goodall Institute. Most recently, Larson has
published a 2007 calendar and 100% of the royalties benefit
Conservation International. Not many people, including myself, have the
kind of talent, Gary Larson has. And when they do, they don't behave as
well as he does. People are always looking for role model and turn to
sports, acting etc. They might try turning towards this quiet retired
cartoonist. I think he has his act together. I will always remember The
Far Side, and its continued impact on me, and even better knowing there
is such a good guy behind it.
