Customer Reviews

Do Not Disturb Any Further

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"Do Not Disturb Any Further" is a collection of one-panel cartoons by John Callahan. In a cover blurb, "Far Side" cartoonist Gary Larson says of Callahan, "[H]e makes my own work look normal."

Callahan may be the ultimate politically incorrect cartoonist. Nothing is taboo in this book. He mines humor from the following subject matter: AIDS, blindness, obesity, hell, baldness, suicide, anal sex, eating disorders, demonic possession, crucifixion, homelessness, and evolution, among others.

Callahan's subject matter is well served by his ultra-crude drawing style. His grotesque human figures are ugly and misshapen (but oddly endearing!).

I'll describe two typical cartoons from this book. A female Grim Reaper, accompanied by two Reaper children, encounters a man giving away free puppies. The little Reapers excitedly ask, "Mommy! Mommy! Can we kill the puppies?" In another equally warped cartoon, a man is confronting his topless wife, one of whose breasts has been replaced by a pirate hook. He exclaims, "You're going back to that surgeon and demanding a more attractive prosthetic device!"

Is Callahan the most depraved and offensive cartoonist of all time? I don't know, but I do think he's one of the funniest. If you've got a strong stomach and a thick skin, enjoy!

I've shown this book to many friends. Watching as they look through it, I have yet to find one person who does not laugh out loud, usually within the first few pages, and then it gets louder. Callahan spoofs holy cows others dare not touch.

The late John Callahan was certainly unique and had a view of the world unlike many others. Besides being very funny, what made me a Callahan fan was that he was a multiple paraplegic who drew his cartoons with a foot (it's true, you can look it up). "Do Not Disturb Any Further" is one of my favorite publications and over the years I've ordered many copies for friends and family.

I can't get enough of John Callahan. He is a great comic, and has done amazing work.

. . .when you first open this book. Be especially careful not to
eat or drink as danger of choking during a laugh spasm increases.
Also, if you find yourself cutting cartoons out of this book to
send (pointedly) to friends, try not to cut yourself. In fact,
sharp instruments aren't such a good idea either, so maybe it's
best to just send them their own copies which are, heaven
knows, cheap enough.

What makes Callahan so ridiculously funny is that he apparently
spends a lot of time thinking and not very much drawing. What
he thinks about are things like dogs reserving their seats in
the movies by urinating around them, the exotic dancer vomiting
up cake at the bulimia convention and of course the sherrif's
posse that finds the fugitive's abandoned wheel chair in the desert
and is told 'don't worry, he won't get far on foot'.

The best way to use this book is to leave it in the bathroom
when you have guests and listen for the howls of laughter
followed by the gasping sounds as your company struggles to
catch its breath.

--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the forthcoming novel bang BANG from Kunati Books. ISBN 9781601640005

John Callahan is nothing shy of brilliant. The title "Digesting the Child Within" demonstrates in itself the amazing sense of humor of the author. He has the keen ability to take issues and situations that seem humorless, and with his witt, make them really funny. Not unlike Larson he has the remarkable ability to think of the most absurd things and makes them hysterical. Everyone I have shown his books to has enjoyed them. Bar none.

This man knows no limits, and lets you know it. His biting social commentary gives you no choice but to laugh and think - a winning combination for the best of authors, let alone a cartoonist.