10 Funniest Non Sequitur Comics, Ranked (2024)

Launched over three decades ago, Wiley Miller's Non Sequitur is a sharp-witted comic strip that started off with unconnected gag-a-day strips, resembling something akin to The Far Side. As the strip progressed, it began incorporating more political commentary into its comics while adding recurring characters like the Pyle family.

Other frequent characters added include Obviousman, a superhero who lectures characters about topics he thinks are obvious, and the Graevsytes, a group that resembles the Addams Family. Evolving from single-panel strips with one-off characters to multi-panel strips and recurring characters, Non Sequitur has changed a lot over the years while keeping its core identity intact.

10 Demons Were Upset Their Child Was Well-Behaved

Publication Date: April 21, 1992

This strip featured an absurd premise that flips the reader's expectations, with a clearly evil-looking couple—perhaps Satan and his wife—disappointed that their child was well-behaved, rather than the standard reversed situation where a normal couple is upset that their child is misbehaving. A lot was left unsaid as a one-panel comic, with Miller not labeling the demonic couple explicitly, leaving their identities to be inferred.

Their son was successful, having an award pinned to his bulletin board, reinforcing that he excelled at whatever his parents could not accept. Amusingly, even as he participated in good behavior, the son wore a sinister cloak, providing an additional humorous contrast between the child's expected behavior and his actual behavior. The innocence of the childlike pictures on the son's wall also provided a funny contradiction against his evil-leaning environment.

9 The Dress Code Was Taken Literally

Publication Date: November 22, 2005

One staple of the simplistic gag cartoons often found in Non Sequitur is that they will take a simple concept and find a way to make it absurd. In this comic, Bob the employee clearly misunderstood the very common expression of the office having a "dress code" to mean that he was required or allowed to wear a dress instead of his office attire.

Bob's fellow employee—possibly his superior in the workplace—was so baffled by Bob's choice that he felt the need to correct him in front of all the other employees, perhaps implying that the suit-wearing worker could not even fathom taking Bob aside and quietly correcting his mistake. Notably, none of the other employees were seen reacting to Bob's dress, suggesting that they did not care or were accustomed to Bob's dress already.

8 Danae Walked Around the Inside of the Panel

Publication Date: February 24, 2024

A rather sweet moment occurred between Danae and her father, Joe, in this strip. At the mere hint that her father was in a low mood, Danae entertained him by breaking the fourth wall and walking around inside the panel. Appreciative of Danae's efforts, Joe thanked her for giving him a break from reality, to which Danae accepted his gratitude and strutted off, self-satisfied.

In a smaller detail, Joe's newspaper, rather than having a newsworthy headline, had the sentence "You don't want to know" written on it. Once that detail is noticed, Joe's desire and motivation for escapism become clearer. This strip can be analogous to anyone reading the news and getting depressed over current events as the need for a bit of a distraction increases.

7 Bob Socially Distanced Outside His Office Building

Publication Date: July 28, 2020

By mid-2020, social distancing had become a term that most of the world was familiar with. The joke in this comic was that poor Bob the office worker drew the short end of the stick. Either because of an overabundance of caution or the office merely having gotten sick of Bob, he was forced to perform his office duties outside the window of the office building, balanced on the ledge.

Humorously, one can see two empty chairs in the panel, one across from Bob for a nonexistent coworker or a potential meeting, while the other was inside the office, confirming that the office had room for Bob. The casual addition of birds surrounding Bob also reinforced his amusing predicament, as they were his only company, and he looked longingly inside the office window.

6 Using a Cat as a Bird Avoidance System

Publication Date: April 23, 2009

This simple gag had a few factors going for it. For one, there's the implication that sticking a cat on the wing of a plane was not only a sensible thing to do but also an environmentally friendly thing to do. The pilots also did not seem particularly knowledgeable about why a cat was on the plane's wing. Rather, they just accepted that the feline was now necessary for the plane to function.

Whether the cat, which may be only one in total or one on each wing, was meant to scare away the birds from the engine or eat them was left ambiguous. Either way, neither pilot seemed to be bothered about the situation, nor did the cat. There was a casualness to the whole affair in its presentation that enhanced the humor of the ordeal.

5 A Surprise in the Middle of the Street

Publication Date: February 16, 2023

As presented here, this strip included another easy-to-understand joke, giving just the aftermath to the reader, allowing them to infer whatever humorous incident occurred. Implied by the existing elements, a man with a briefcase attempted to cross the street, only to be surprised by a jack-in-the-box that sprang up from the road itself.

There was an amusing juxtaposition between the calm, smiling people watching the scene, who were mostly going about their business and gathered to watch what happened, and the victim of the jack-in-the-box who was either still shocked by the incident or was completely knocked unconscious by the big jester on a spring. The one line of dialogue from the bystander underscores the humor of the understated response, with the man acting like the frightening sight that knocked over the individual in the street was just a pleasant surprise.

4 A Different Interpretation of "Gallows Humor"

Publication Date: August 2, 2003

In this instance, the joke was just a simple sight gag, using an enjoyable play-on-words. Gallows humor is a style of black comedy where people make jokes about an especially terrible situation. As depicted here, however, a literal gallows with a noose meant for executing was livened up with a tiny clown puppet that held an ax.

Presumably, the clown was being held up by an individual's arm, which leads to an amusing line of thought where one wonders how someone would even come across such a job in the first place. An audience gathered to watch the spectacle, even though nothing was happening by that point. The illustration also begged the question of how the executions would even work, as the trap door was open, meaning potential victims could not stand on the platform to be hanged while the puppet was out.

3 The Camera Literally Added Ten Pounds

Publication Date: August 10, 1996

Another strip that focused on playing with a commonly-known saying, this 1990s comic showed a woman telling Ed that he had gained weight, only for Ed to reply that "they say the camera adds ten pounds." This was a literal application of the phrase, which typically means someone looks heavier when photographed or filmed. Instead, Ed acted like the camera he was wearing was the only thing making him look like he weighed more.

Whether Ed was genuinely confused or merely trying to find an amusingly worded excuse was left up to the reader to decide. The minimalist drawing with a nonexistent background allowed the reader to focus on the joke without any distractions. Ed leaning away from the woman adds an awkward element of cringe comedy to the strip.

2 Trick-Or-Treaters Found a Deserted Island

Publication Date: October 30, 2010

The single-panel joke in this strip featured two individuals stranded on a desert island, only for two children who were trick-or-treating to show up, spoiling the one benefit of the situation for the stranded duo, which was presumably the privacy their new situation provided. Alternatively, the one benefit they were referring to was that exact scenario of trick-or-treaters showing up, which gives the joke an even funnier specificity.

This comic was published one day before Halloween, ensuring the joke was thematically appropriate for that time of year. Much like many Non Sequitur jokes, the action the reader sees happens at the tail end of a conversation or after an action, allowing for imaginative possibilities. For example, how did the children get on the island? Were they also stranded there with the other two men? The reader will never know.

1 Someone Died Juggling Samurai Swords

Publication Date: September 27, 2014

This absurd joke had a few layers to it to maximize the hilarity. Once again, the reader is dropped in on the aftermath of the events, with the individual who the funeral was about, Lee Salem, already having died. The reader is left to assume the rest of the speech given by Lee's presumed widow, only bearing witness to the funniest part.

The dialogue of the widow was funny enough on its own, then the reader turns their attention to the gravestones, which heavily imply that Lee chopped himself into pieces after following his newfound passion of juggling samurai swords. The multiple gravestones present made such a dark joke funnier, implying that each body part was buried separately for whatever reason. This joke was emblematic of the type of wit that Non Sequitur brings to each day.