Its surrealistic humor is often based on uncomfortable social situations, improbable events, an anthropomorphic view of the world, logical fallacies, impending bizarre disasters, (often twisted) references to proverbs, or the search for meaning in life.

[1] After a 25-year hiatus, in July 2020, Larson began drawing new Far Side strips offered through the comic's official website.

Larson enjoyed drawing as a child but never thought he would become a cartoonist; thus, he never studied art in school outside of required classes.

The editor was impressed and paid him US$90, so Larson quit his job to start cartooning and created Nature's Way, a single-panel comic strip that served as the basis for The Far Side.

Larson showed Nature's Way to the editor of the weekly newspaper Summer News Review, who began to publish it on a regular basis.

In 1979, a reporter for the Seattle Times who had met Larson while investigating "pony abuse"[10][6] showed Nature's Way to her editor.

After about a year, Larson took a vacation from his humane society work to drive to San Francisco at the encouragement of his girlfriend.

In what he called a "daring plan to expand this 'publication empire'", Larson left a portfolio with his work at the headquarters of the San Francisco Chronicle.

[13] When Larson returned to Seattle, he received a letter informing him Nature's Way had been canceled because it generated too many complaints; he attributes this to the fact it ran next to a crossword puzzle aimed at children.

From October 1988 to January 1990, Larson took a hiatus from The Far Side to travel abroad and study jazz guitar with Jim Hall.

[20][6] Larson wrote a letter to his followers in October 1994 that explained he was ending the series due to "simple fatigue" and avoid having The Far Side fall into the "Graveyard of Mediocre Cartoons" if he continued.

[23] Larson has expressed disapproval of the distribution of his cartoons on the internet and has requested that fans do not do so; he wrote in a letter that his work is too personal and important to him to have others "take control of it".

[6] In 2003, Gary Larson drew a cover for the November 17 edition of The New Yorker magazine[27] (the Cartoon Issue), a prestigious offer he said he could not refuse.

It features a "daily dose" of several randomly selected Far Side comics, a weekly themed collection, and additional material including art from Larson's sketchbooks.

In an accompanying post, Larson explained that frustration with his pens clogging from disuse on the rare occasions when he drew following his retirement (primarily for his annual Christmas card) led him to try working on a digital tablet.

The Far Side is primarily told through the use of a single, vertical, rectangular panel,[10] occasionally split into small sections of four, six, or eight for storytelling purposes.

[23] Brigham Young University professor Kerry Soper described it as "an anomaly" among other newspaper cartoons[36] and ComicsAlliance wrote it was "surreal, random, and occasionally very dark".

[42] Recurring themes in The Far Side include people stranded on desert islands, aliens, Heaven, Hell, the life of cavemen, and medieval dungeons.

Generally, they also avoided publishing cartoons with scatological humor; Larson recalled that during the strip's first few years he was not even allowed to draw an outhouse.

[6][44] Larson was frequently asked about the meaning of the cartoon by the media, and received numerous letters, some angry and questioning where the humor was in the comic.

[50] The arrangement of spikes originally had no distinct name, but Larson's neologism was adopted gradually by paleontologists, albeit only in a casual context.

Larson often laughs at the controversies as evidenced in The Prehistory of The Far Side, in which he writes that the people complaining have usually misunderstood the cartoon.

Andrews McMeel acquired the rights to publish collected editions of the series in 1982, the year the first Far Side book was released.

It contains commentary on individual strips, letters from angry readers, unpublished cartoons, and some of Larson's personal favorite Far Sides.

[41] In 1994, Larson produced an animated special, Tales from the Far Side, featuring his art style and gags from the strips.

Later the display became a traveling exhibit that was shown in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Chicago, Toronto, New York City, Denver, and Los Angeles.