Picture: a gleeful chimpanzee on a vine with an elehant looking on in the background.
Text: He had seen Tanzania, and most of Mozambique was already behind him. There was no mistake. Chippy had done what most chimps only dream about: He had caught the Perfect Vine.
I’m sure I’m the only one that likes this one, but it cracks me up.
What Mr. Moto said on page 1.
My absolute favorite: A female chimp is grooming a male, and she says, “Well, well, another blonde hair. … Conducting a little more ‘research’ with that Jane Goodall tramp?” (I think if you imagine that last word shouted angrily, that makes it even funnier!)
Goodall first saw it when the then-executive director of the Goodall Institute showed it to her, icily saying, “Just look at that, will you!” Goodall’s reaction was to laugh and say “Wow! Real fame at last!” But the director told her that she had found it very offensive because it suggested she had sex with the chimps! She had even had a lawyer write a letter of complaint which appeared in the paper! Goodall was very angry about this and meant to write a letter of apology to Larson, but she was very busy and forgot about it.
About one year (and one new executive director) later she got a call from National Geographic who wanted to reprint the cartoon, but Larson’s company refused because of the lawyer’s letter. Things were finally straightened out and the cartoon was reprinted.
Some previous threads on this subject.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=19145
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=57220
There’s a clown in a gun store looking at hand guns and thinking “Laugh at me will they!”
We see the mother talking to the little boy in his bed on the 2nd story of a two story house. The mother says something like, “Go to sleep now, Billy, or once more, I’ll have to tap my foot three times and summon the floating head of death.” On the first floor? Billy’s father holding a big balloon with a monster face painted on it right below Billy’s window.
Two come to mind:
Couch ,projector, movie screen,single cell creatures on couch,on screen is an ameoba dividing with two little black rectangles
" Ameoba porn flicks"
15th annual “Run to The Far Side” 5K/10K race t-shirt
A cheetah putting on a brand new pair of running shoes while antelopes watch in the distance
My favorite was one that apparantly he never printed in the papers.
It had a baby crib, and there was this snake that had slithered in, but now couldn’t escape because of a big bulge in the center from its recent… meal.
The look on the snake’s face – angry because it couldn’t get out of the crib – was enough to make a person crack up. There was no caption, but the bottom of the page simply said “no, you didn’t really see this. just turn the page.”
Just the thought that he had this masterpiece, but couldn’t print it is so hilarious.
For me it’s a toss-up between the one Labdad mentioned, with the spiders on the playground slide, and this one: Two guys are sitting on rocks, with chains around their ankles, flames all around, obviously in hell. One says to the other, “I hate this place.”
One caveman to another: “Use napkin. Have mammoth on lip.” Other caveman has 11-foot tusk stuck to his lip.
The one captioned “Stupid Clerks”: A man with an enormous trench coat, obviously with a piano underneath, is exiting a music shop. The clerk is running after him, saying, “Excuse me, sir, but I think you dropped this” while holding up a piano stool.
A husband and wife are lying on the floor, appearing to be dead. Another couple is seen exiting the house. The caption goes something like, “The Thompsons feign death until the Andersons, sensing awkwardness, are compelled to leave.”
God on Jeopardy.
I love that one, too, and the name on the store is the Larsonesque “Plenty O’ Pianos”.
Two of my favorites, both deer-hunting related:
Two deer are standing up, looking at what looks like a target painted on one of the deer’s chest: “Bummer of a birthmark, Hal”
And another hunting scene with a deer (standing up) hiding behind a tree, the whole scene looking rather film noire, and saying to himself: “I have to think, quickly! Who is this guy and why is he after me?”
This was an old line from the 40s or earlier (at least I heard it from my father and I was born in the early fifties).
One person asks, “What’s your name?”
Answer: “Puddin’ Tame. Ask me again, and I’ll tell you the same.”
This goes on for a couple of iterations, and the last one finally goes:
“What’s your name?”
“Charlie Brown. Ask me again, and I’ll knock you down!”
I’m not sure if it was from a vaudeville act, or just a childhood routine.
Many favourites have been mentioned, but one that I love that hasn’t yet :
Moses standing in front of the mirror, parting his hair.
It kills me every time and makes me think of all the mundane stuff you could do with special powers, after you’d saved the day a couple of times 
Most of my favorites already mentioned:
Spiders building a web on the playground slide.
CAT FUD 
God beating the current Jeopardy champ 100,000 to 0 (or so)
Alien ungracefully falls down the ramp on first contact with humans.
Not mentioned yet:
All-time fave:
Q: Ever been absolutely stumped by a Far Side panel?
Darn you **RedNaxela, ** you got to my favorite first! Oh well, another deer cartoon I like is where two buck are standing up and looking down at the one buck’s belly. It has a large target mark on it and the other buck is saying “Bummer of a birthmark, Hal.”
Picture: Bald men standing around in robes carrying long staffs the heads of which are pipe wrenches. Master and student facing one another.
Text: “When you can snatch the crescent wrench from my hand, little flusher, it will be time for you to go”
Caption: The Shaolin school of plumbing
Cracks me up every time.
b.
So, so very many to choose from…off the top of my head, though, it would have to be:
"Step on it Arnold! Step on it!"
If my name were “Doug”, though, I think my favorite would be “Beware of Doug”. Also, I have a T-shirt with “School for the Mechanically Declined” on it. When people notice it, I point to one of the students in the back and say “That’s me.” And he does kinda look like me…
Also…
It’s a woman, not a guy.
It’s actually in the lobby of an apartment complex, the guy is getting his mail.
Yes, I’m a Far Side Geek :p.
In no particular order:
Anaetidaphobia
Cat fud
The Dobie-o-matic
The Nose of Doctor Verlucci
The professor who forgot to bring his duck
The Floating Head of Death
Cow Tools - that was just so surreal
good morning friends,
my favorite is a fish floating upside down towards the surface with the caption: “louie was given styrofoam shoes and sent to sleep with the humans”
And who can forget these two classics:
Cat Pressed hard against the inside of a living room window, arms outstretched while viewing the wreck of two vehicles directly outside the house: One, a truck of rodents, the other, small flightless birds.
And,
One day a pet owner comes home to find the bird cage has been blown open by a Plunger-style TNT device, feathers everywhere, and the cat reclining nearby with “I know nothing…” in a thought balloon above his head.
I nearly evacuated myself when I first saw this one:
A father bear is putting his cubs to bed in their cave. He has a human skull on heach paw, as per hand puppets. He says to the cubs, “OK, one more time, then it’s off to bed. ‘Gee Bob, do ya think thar’s any bears in that cave?’ ‘I don’t know, let’s check it out!’”