The Amaze Inc Far Side Story

How did you get Gary Larson to say Yes? I’ve been asked 1,000 times. The answer involves edible bugs, a canoe, knee surgery, Bill Gates, basketball and a product concept that eventually became the 1992 Software Product of the Year for its category. It’s a great story about three young entrepreneurs in a basement who didn’t take “no” for an answer.

In a Denny’s Restaurant in Rochester, Minnesota, Todd Gilbertsen and I were creating a company concept called Amaze Inc! on a napkin. We sketched out a “Far Side” product idea that our third partner Dan Elenbaas had come up with years ago. Gary Larson and The Far Side were selling millions of cartoon calendars and books annually and was the hottest brand in the land. And yet here we were two years later and nobody had created a computer version yet. Why not us! All we had to do was get Gary Larson to say “YES” to three young guys in a basement. How hard could that be!

The three of us worked on our proposal to Gary Larson’s representatives and sent the proposal off to his publishing agents in Kansas City. Yes, entrepreneurs occasionally follow protocol too! We were using the Front Door. Our conference call with Gary’s agent started off cordial but ended with “No” three minutes later. When we pushed a bit, we got the definitive, “Gary Larson would not approve this concept in a thousand years! Goodbye.” (click) Okay, so much for the Front Door. Time to crawl in through a window now.

We had to get to Gary Larson himself. Gary lives in Seattle. We live in Seattle. How hard could it be? After two weeks of networking and researching we found that it could be very hard indeed. Gary Larson was extremely private and reclusive. After talking to over 70 of our connections, we had come up with only two clues: 1) Gary lived within walking distance of the University of Washington and 2) he lived near Bill Gates’ old brown, waterfront home in Laurelhurst. Our search through King County real estate records had come up empty — the house was not in Gary Larson’s name. But we knew exactly where Bill Gates lived. It was decided we should stalk Gary Larson via water, and I was somehow elected for this mission.

I rented a canoe at the University of Washington Boathouse and paddled around the Laurelhurst area. I had my binoculars and a camera. The reconnaissance mission had begun. I spotted a house with a gold-plated cow skull, a dinosaur egg and a pterodactyl hanging from the ceiling. If this was not Gary Larson’s house, it was probably someone we should report to the authorities. “Yes, officer, well I was in my canoe peering into houses with my binoculars, and I spotted….” (Well, maybe we wouldn’t go to the authorities.)

Later, back on land, we came across a young guy playing basketball at a neighborhood sports court near Bill Gates’ house. “Gary Larson likes to shoot baskets here,” he told us. Yes! We can do this. We love basketball! So every day that week, we would go there to play basketball in our sweats. We decided that playing “H-O-R-S-E” was not “Far Side enough” so we invented our own version, A-M-O-E-B-A. We were afraid that we would offend Gary Larson if we were not weird enough. This question would continue to haunt us throughout the process: “Are we being Far Side enough? Are we being Far Side enough?”

Several days passed and no Gary Larson playing basketball. We were deflated. If Gary Larson had played basketball with us, I’m not sure exactly what we would have said to him, to be honest. “Nice shot, Gary! Oh, by the way, here is our product idea for The Far Side!” That seems rather awkward, doesn’t it. On our last day at the court, a college student showed up. We asked if he had ever played basketball with Gary Larson. “Yes, but Gary can’t play basketball right now. He just got arthroscopic surgery on both of his knees. He’ll be in bed for a while!” Oh no! Basketball is out. On to Plan C!

We decided that some “Get well soon” flowers and our business proposal would have to do. I volunteered to get the flowers. My only instructions from my partners: “Make sure that it’s Far Side enough!” Indeed. I went to Pier One Imports in search of an African vase. I opened the door and straight ahead of me was the prize. Yes, a display of African vessels of various shapes and sizes. I wanted the tallest one of course, but my heart sank when I read the price tag: $310. I was financially on fumes by then. But fortunately I flipped the tag over to see a list of crossed-out prices: $310, $260, $215, $150, $99, $78! YES!! Sold for $78. I have the vase, now I need the flowers. I hauled the big vase to the florist three doors down. And when I walked in…

At some point in every life, you realize that you just can’t do it all by yourself. You need a helping hand. You need a break. I walked into this florist shop and literally there were Far Side cartoons plastered on every wall. I had walked into the unofficial Far Side florist in Seattle. I just shook my head in disbelief at my good fortune. I could not have chosen a better florist if I’d visited every one in the entire Puget Sound area.

After thoroughly convincing the skeptical owner that these flowers really were going to Gary Larson, he inquired, “So what is your budget?” I looked at my dwindling checkbook, gulped, and answered $80. The owner just laughed. “Well, that won’t get you very far.” Then came That Moment. “I’ll tell you what,” he said. “If you let our store include a Get Well card signed by all of our employees, I will fly in some Far Side worthy flowers from around the world!” What! Are you kidding!! You see, even the florist knew that if it wasn’t Far Side enough, why bother. It was a tribute to the high bar Gary Larson had set on scientific weirdness.

We returned two days later to the strangest floral arrangement I have ever seen. There were Cobra Lilies (the ones that eat bugs) from Africa. There were four foot high bean pods from Australia. There were some ferns that were completely prehistoric. I didn’t want to touch any of them. I have no idea how much this owner spent flying in specimens from around the world, but this was definitely Far Side enough! My partners and I could not be more pleased. This was perfect! It was now time to drop them off at Gary’s back porch. I was elected. I guess they figured since my dad was a judge, I’d have the best chance of getting out of any trespassing charges.

As I drove across the 520 Bridge, the voice kept haunting me, Is it Far Side enough? Is it Far Side enough? Of course it is, I replied to the voice. Just look at these weird flowers! But the voice would not go away. As I drove past the University of Washington, I got a flashback of my high school Biology class with Mr. House. Visions of our sophomore bug collections permeated my thought. Of course! Bugs! We can’t deliver flowers to Gary Larson without bugs. What an insult. Gary Larson would be thoroughly offended. And off I went to locate the Entomology Building on Campus.

At the Entomology Department, Professor Rick Sugg greeted me like my request was completely normal and this was an every day occurrence. “Hi, Skip, just call me BUGG, everybody else does.” Turns out Bugg idolized Gary Larson and had met him twice. He showed me his lecture transparencies he used in class. There were two stacks: one stack with lecture talking points and the other stack with nothing but Far Side cartoons. “Yeah, if my students start falling asleep, I just zap them with my Far Side transparencies!”

Bugg was more than happy to donate some insect specimens for the cause. When he saw the floral arrangement, he instantly knew how high the bar had been set. “For Gary Larson, we need to go down to our private reserves.” What! Private reserves? He led me down to the basement and through the dark, dingy underground tunnel system at the University. After a while we stopped at this cavern with dozens of six-foot high lateral filing cabinets. Each drawer was filled with hideously gorgeous insect specimens. One drawer had fifty huge Rhinoceros Beetles. “Do you think Gary would like this one better? or this one?” the Professor deliberated to himself mostly. They gave me chills. It was like being in an Indiana Jones movie. I felt like saying, Who cares! Pick some out and let’s get the heck out of here!

After Bugg had carefully selected a dozen bugs it was time to stick them on the flowers. Of course Biology people just don’t stick bugs on flowers. He typed out little while labels with the Common Name and Scientific Name and carefully pinned them to the flowers. Something every Biology teacher on our planet is required to do, I’m convinced. I sarcastically quipped, What if Gary wants to eat the bugs? And without surprise or emotion, Bugg replied, “No problem, I have recipes for each one!” He can’t be serious. This is just too weird, I thought, as I wrote down each recipe that he gave to me.

“This is a Dung Beetle. He hangs out in dung. Make sure Gary rinses thoroughly before eating.” Professor Sugg kept talking and I kept writing. “This is the Blue-bottom Fly. We used to eat these around the Lab until we found out they were a carrier for tapeworm! Ha ha!” Bugg chuckled. I hoped he was kidding. I just wanted out of there, but not until I had all of the recipes. Finally we were done and I made it out to fresh air. I was now at peace. The voice was gone. This was DEFINITELY “Far Side enough!” Time to take it to Gary’s house.

I pulled into the neighborhood and parked my car in front of Bill Gates’ house. It had been raining and my tires sunk into Gates’ lawn leaving deep tire tracks. Oops. I waved to a neighbor walking by. After all of the time I had invested there, I knew most of the neighbors by name. Sharon, I had found out over coffee, had gone to Stanford with my daddy. George was one of the partners at a consulting firm we had used a few years back. Cathy was Gary Larson’s next door neighbor and had agreed to let me in the back gate that connected her yard with Gary’s yard. She had a key.

You might ask me, “Skip, did you really introduce yourself to a neighborhood of complete strangers, get to know them by name, and even had coffee with some of them?” Yes, in fact, I did. That is my strange talent. It’s been that way since I was two years old, and I don’t think that will change any time soon.

So, Cathy let me into Gary’s backyard, and I neatly placed everything on his back porch. The vase with the flowers and the bugs and the cards. Our recipes for the bugs. Our proposal. And a Note from us to Gary that read: A Gift from Amaze Inc! and our Edible Bug Collection. Get Well Soon and Bon Appetit!

And then we waited and waited and waited. Three weeks of nothing. Then one fine day I received a phone call, “Gary would like to meet you guys,” said his wife. Heart pounding! We knew our lives would never be the same from that day forward. We quickly finished the demo. I would be drawing and cartooning during the day and Todd would incorporate my artwork into the product at night. I chuckled that my senior year blow-off art class in college with Dr. Felch really had come in handy after all! Plus I had been taking cartooning classes at the University of Washington at night. Hey, whatever it takes!

The Far Side Computer Calendar demo was now ready. The product featured daily cartoons and it had random animations appearing out of nowhere. Meteors crashing through your screen. Pterodactyls flying by. Cows mooing. It was whacky and weird and fun. But we kept asking ourselves, What would be Gary’s #1 concern? Computer graphics in those days did not look great in lower resolution monitors… that was a concern. But this was Far Side, not Calvin & Hobbes. Finally, we concluded that Gary’s biggest objection would be, “Are people really going to laugh at their computer screens?” We had to prove to Gary that they would.

So I flew down to Los Angeles and filmed various groups watching our demo on the computer. They laughed at the computer while I filmed them laughing. It was genuine. Not only did they love the product, but afterwards they would all sit around the “invisible campfire” and verbally describe to each other their favorite Far Side cartoons. It surpassed anything I could have scripted. This was the proof. This product was clearly a winner.

Peter Sauers, my film producer buddy at Disney, took my videos and created a professional looking 5-minute film with intros and transitions and a soundtrack. Damn! it looked amazing. I went back to Seattle lacking only one thing. I did not own a TV at that time. And for Gary, it needed a big TV to show our 5-minute film. I flipped through my overdrawn credit cards and stumbled upon a rarely-used SEARS card. Sure enough, I had $1200 available on the card. A miracle! So I bought the most expensive SONY television I could buy and thought, If Gary Larson says Yes, I’m keeping it. And if Gary says NO, I’m taking it back!

The day came. We walked Gary and his wife into my living room and showed them the 5-minute film of people laughing at our demo on their computer screens. Gary loved it. Then we went down to the basement and showed Gary the actual product demo on the computer and let him play with the product himself as Todd and Dan walked him through. Did he like it? Five of us sat around in a circle chatting away for awhile, followed by several minutes of awkward silence. Dan Elenbaas finally asked the big question, “Well Gary?” And then his wife turned to him and asked again, “Well, Gary?” No response. He was thinking. Finally, Gary Larson grinned, put two big “thumbs up” high into the air, and said, Let’s Do It!! After which, his wife slapped him on the shoulder and said, “Gary, you are supposed to play Hard to Get.” Gary said, “Sorry, dear, I don’t have much practice at this.” And he wasn’t practiced at all. We later found out that Gary had turned down most licensing opportunities and we were only the third “Yes” he had given to the last 10,000 proposals. We had beaten the odds.

Fast forward and we have an Amaze Inc! product launch that gets covered in over 300 newspapers and magazines. The story I just told you made the front page of USA Today and the San Jose Mercury News business section. The product became a bestseller and we received Product Of The Year for our category. We accepted the award in our tuxedos. Comedian Jon Lovitz, as Emcee, announced us as winners along with Microsoft’s Bill Gates, yes THE Bill Gates, Gary Larson’s next door neighbor Bill Gates, who presented us with the award. You could not have scripted this any better. And at that moment, as Bill Gates handed us our Award, I did feel a bit sorry about the tire tracks I left on his lawn.