Gary Larson ended The Far Side on 1 January 1995 with a two-panel strip that transformed its 15-year history into a final self-referential joke. Rather than offering a sentimental farewell, the cartoon suggested that the strip’s surreal world had been a dream inspired by Larson’s everyday surroundings, reinforcing the comic’s preference for absurdity over continuity.

The first, colour panel parodies The Wizard of Oz, with Larson told to say “There’s no place like home” and quack three times, recalling the strip’s recurring duck humour. The second shifts to black and white and shows him in bed among people resembling Far Side characters, echoing Oz’s visual transition while implying that cows, cavemen and other figures sprang from his imagination. By then, The Far Side had appeared in nearly 2,000 newspapers, been translated into more than 17 languages, and featured thousands of cartoons.