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The Far Side Gallery Anthologies #3
The Far Side Gallery 3
The third Far Side treasury.
Copyright © 1988 FarWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Far Side ®, FarWorks, Inc. ®, and the Larson ® signature are registered trademarks of FarWorks, Inc. in certain countries.
Copyright © 1988 FarWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Far Side ®, FarWorks, Inc. ®, and the Larson ® signature are registered trademarks of FarWorks, Inc. in certain countries.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
43 people are currently reading
2897 people want to read
About the author
Gary Larson
144 books711 followersGary Larson was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington. His parents were Vern, a car salesman, and Doris, a secretary. He attended Curtis High School before attending Washington State University and graduated in 1972 with a degree in communications. In 1987, Larson married Toni Carmichael, an archaeologist.
Larson credits his older brother Dan for his "paranoid" sense of humor. Dan would pull countless pranks on Gary, taking advantage of his phobia of monsters under the bed by, for example, waiting in the closet for the right moment to pounce out at Gary. Dan is also credited with giving Gary his love of science. They caught animals in Puget Sound and placed them in terrariums in the basement; even making a small desert ecosystem, which their parents apparently did not mind. His adept use of snakes in his cartoons stems from his long-standing interest in herpetology.
Since retiring from the Far Side, Larson has occasionally done some cartooning work, such as magazine illustrations and promotional artwork for Far Side merchandise.
In 1998, Larson published his first post-Far Side book, There's a Hair in My Dirt!: A Worm's Story, an illustrated story with the unmistakable Far Side mindset.
Larson credits his older brother Dan for his "paranoid" sense of humor. Dan would pull countless pranks on Gary, taking advantage of his phobia of monsters under the bed by, for example, waiting in the closet for the right moment to pounce out at Gary. Dan is also credited with giving Gary his love of science. They caught animals in Puget Sound and placed them in terrariums in the basement; even making a small desert ecosystem, which their parents apparently did not mind. His adept use of snakes in his cartoons stems from his long-standing interest in herpetology.
Since retiring from the Far Side, Larson has occasionally done some cartooning work, such as magazine illustrations and promotional artwork for Far Side merchandise.
In 1998, Larson published his first post-Far Side book, There's a Hair in My Dirt!: A Worm's Story, an illustrated story with the unmistakable Far Side mindset.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 164 reviews
December 30, 2014
I was a kid looking for my own identity. Whatever it was, it was going to be different than my parents' button-down world view. I wasn't a hellion, so I didn't feel I needed to go overboard. What better mentor than Gary Larson's slightly askew humor?!
Larson's work was subversive, maybe not in a poignantly political way, but more in a silly way, which is perfect when you are a young teen looking for something more edgy than Family Circus and Garfield.
I always enjoyed how he put a twist on old gags...
Back when Larson's work was current and I was a mildly rebellious teen, I wasn't looking to necessarily "stick it" to the 'rents, more like, thumb my nose at them. For example, Dad was big into outdoor sports, so Larson hit the target once more with his numerous strips centered upon the man vs. beast struggle.
Anything that poked fun at what they held so precious was gold to me. But those teen years last only so long, as does the comic value of Larson's work. One can still get a chuckle out of it now and again, but comedy has moved on. I think Larson could see the writing on the wall, and although I was sad when he retired and felt his quitting was premature, looking back on it now, I'd say the man went out on top.
Larson's work was subversive, maybe not in a poignantly political way, but more in a silly way, which is perfect when you are a young teen looking for something more edgy than Family Circus and Garfield.
I always enjoyed how he put a twist on old gags...
Back when Larson's work was current and I was a mildly rebellious teen, I wasn't looking to necessarily "stick it" to the 'rents, more like, thumb my nose at them. For example, Dad was big into outdoor sports, so Larson hit the target once more with his numerous strips centered upon the man vs. beast struggle.
Anything that poked fun at what they held so precious was gold to me. But those teen years last only so long, as does the comic value of Larson's work. One can still get a chuckle out of it now and again, but comedy has moved on. I think Larson could see the writing on the wall, and although I was sad when he retired and felt his quitting was premature, looking back on it now, I'd say the man went out on top.
March 19, 2016
500+ wacky, cracked, endearing cartoons and I laughed at every one of them. I cannot get enough of Gary Larson’s genius.
January 25, 2014
Introduction:
Now, I have heard many good things about Gary Larson’s famous “The Far Side Gallery” series, but I never had the chance to read them, until now! Surprisingly starting with the third volume of the “Far Side Gallery” series, “The Far Side Gallery 3,” I found myself rolling on the floor with laughter throughout the entire volume!
What is this story about?
Basically, this volume contains many comic strips of Gary Larson’s famous series “The Far Side Gallery” and each comic strip has a character or an animal doing something hilarious in their situations.
What I loved about this story:
Gary Larson’s writing: Gary Larson’s writing is truly brilliant and hilarious at the same time as the various characters in these comic strips are always doing something hilarious or playing off of a pun in an intriguing way. I loved the way that Gary Larson takes puns such as “Primitive Fandango” and “Parakeet Furniture” and managed to twist them around by actually having the characters take the puns seriously, such as the parakeet furniture being shown as human fingers with the parakeets perching on them. In all honesty, I really enjoyed almost all of the comic strips in this collection as they were creative and hilarious at the same time and here are a couple of excerpts that I considered to be some of my favorites in this collection:
“For crying out loud, I was hibernating! Don’t you guys ever take a pulse?” (When a bear was mistaken for being dead at a funeral)
“So, then, when Old MacDonald turned his back, I took that ax, and with a whack whack here and a whack whack there, I finished him off. (A chicken tells an inmate about how he killed Old MacDonald and ended up in jail).
“Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor hail, they said, could stop the mail…But they didn’t figure on Rexbo.”
“He’s dead, all right-beaked in the back…and, you know, this won’t be easy to solve.” (Solving the murder of a penguin among a group of penguins)
Gary Larson’s artwork: Gary Larson’s artwork is hilarious to look at as the characters look exaggerated with their bodies looking a bit wobbly and their heads being a bit larger than their bodies. I also loved the simplistic look of the artwork as it makes the comedic moments in this collection stand out even more.
What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:
Probably the only thing problematic with this series is that there are a couple of comic strips in this collection that mentions “hell” a dozen times and that might be a bit upsetting for some readers. Readers who do not like the mention of “hell” might want to skim over the comic strips that mention “hell” whenever they read this collection.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, “The Far Side Gallery 3” is a truly brilliant series for fans of Gary Larson’s “Far Side Gallery” series and you will surely start rolling around the floor with laughter at this collection!
Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog
January 4, 2019
From a Midvale Alumni
4 January 2019 – Adelaide
Well, it seems as if I have now read all of the Far Side Galleries so I guess I can now move onto something a little more constructive – maybe Garfield, Wizard of Id, or even Calvin and Hobbes. Well, I guess I do appreciate Calvin and Hobbes, namely because the main characters are named after theologian John Calvin and humanist philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Yet, despite that, it is still about a little kid and his imaginary pet tiger, and all they seem to do, at least from what I can remember, is basically play tricks on his parents. Who knows, if I end up finding a collection of the cartoons, I might just borrow it (I am referring to one in the library, as opposed to being in a shop, unless the shop is a second hand bookshop, and they are going cheap – then I might buy it).
Well, as for this collection, I have to admit that it was a little disappointing. I suspect the main problem was that almost half, if not more, of the cartoons that appeared in this volume also appeared in the Pre-history of the Far Side, which I had just finished reading a couple of days ago. As such, I literally found myself flicking through the pages, looking at the cartoons, and thinking to myself that I had just seen it previously. Maybe it was my mistake for reading the Pre-History a little too early, but then again that was because my friend had neglected to lend me this volume, possibly because he couldn’t find it when he was loading me up with books.
Still, there are a couple of good cartoons in this book, such as the one where the dogs enter the post office in disguise and then, in an co-ordinated assault, leap over the counter. Then again, dogs and postmen seem to be a favourite of Larson, as well as dogs and cats. Mind you, the whole dogs chasing cats thing has turned out to be one of those myths, because in reality it is actually the other way around. Honestly, I have even seen a full grown German shepherd leap out of the front garden and into the back seat of the car when a cat non-challantley wandered around the corner. Of course, my landlord pointed out that he was a ‘chicken’. Still, while I couldn’t find the first one, this one is still pretty cool. Oh, and since we are talking about dogs and cats, there is also this one (those Larson’s cats seem to come across somewhat stupider than elsewhere).
Oh, and we certainly can’t ever forget this one. In fact, I remember that a friend of mine even had a T-shirt with it printed on the front. Mind you, there was always the situation, where if you ended up pushing on a door that clearly said ‘pull’, people would inevitably suggest that you might do much better at The Midvale School for the Gifted.
4 January 2019 – Adelaide
Well, it seems as if I have now read all of the Far Side Galleries so I guess I can now move onto something a little more constructive – maybe Garfield, Wizard of Id, or even Calvin and Hobbes. Well, I guess I do appreciate Calvin and Hobbes, namely because the main characters are named after theologian John Calvin and humanist philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Yet, despite that, it is still about a little kid and his imaginary pet tiger, and all they seem to do, at least from what I can remember, is basically play tricks on his parents. Who knows, if I end up finding a collection of the cartoons, I might just borrow it (I am referring to one in the library, as opposed to being in a shop, unless the shop is a second hand bookshop, and they are going cheap – then I might buy it).
Well, as for this collection, I have to admit that it was a little disappointing. I suspect the main problem was that almost half, if not more, of the cartoons that appeared in this volume also appeared in the Pre-history of the Far Side, which I had just finished reading a couple of days ago. As such, I literally found myself flicking through the pages, looking at the cartoons, and thinking to myself that I had just seen it previously. Maybe it was my mistake for reading the Pre-History a little too early, but then again that was because my friend had neglected to lend me this volume, possibly because he couldn’t find it when he was loading me up with books.
Still, there are a couple of good cartoons in this book, such as the one where the dogs enter the post office in disguise and then, in an co-ordinated assault, leap over the counter. Then again, dogs and postmen seem to be a favourite of Larson, as well as dogs and cats. Mind you, the whole dogs chasing cats thing has turned out to be one of those myths, because in reality it is actually the other way around. Honestly, I have even seen a full grown German shepherd leap out of the front garden and into the back seat of the car when a cat non-challantley wandered around the corner. Of course, my landlord pointed out that he was a ‘chicken’. Still, while I couldn’t find the first one, this one is still pretty cool. Oh, and since we are talking about dogs and cats, there is also this one (those Larson’s cats seem to come across somewhat stupider than elsewhere).
Oh, and we certainly can’t ever forget this one. In fact, I remember that a friend of mine even had a T-shirt with it printed on the front. Mind you, there was always the situation, where if you ended up pushing on a door that clearly said ‘pull’, people would inevitably suggest that you might do much better at The Midvale School for the Gifted.
January 18, 2009
I keep several Far Side books by my bedside, which I read just before going to sleep. I run through perhaps a dozen comics or so until one strikes my fancy and makes me giggle, smirk, guffaw, laugh, or chortle. It is replacement for sleeping meds. Gary Larson sees the world through the eyes of a mischievous child, an alien, an insect, a snake, an amoeba (so they don't have eyes, but if they did....) and just for one moment, you can understand how anthropocentric our perception of the world really is.
December 13, 2015
I remember loving these as a youngin. They still made me laugh. What an imagination.
February 23, 2016
When you grow up life either makes you like Dilbert or you live in the far side. Very recommended
October 26, 2020
Aptly named, the Far Side offers an oblique kind of humour that takes a few comic strip panels to get used to and then becomes absolutely addictive..! I have seen a number of Far Side comic strips over the years, so when I found this book second-hand for under $2 I thought I’d give it a new home. No regrets, just snickers.
May 27, 2023
The Far Side Gallery 3 by Gary Larson (Andrews McMeel Publishing 1988)(741.5973). Here is another collection of absurdities from the fertile mind of Gary Larson. My rating: 7/10, finished 7/30/14.
May 1, 2014
I "read" one - at least - of GL's books. Maybe it was this one. My favorite is the "Bummer of a birthmark, Hal" one...
January 6, 2025
I had a high school English teacher who was infatuated with The Farside. So much in fact that he had comics painted, not taped like a poster, but hand-painted to the walls of his class. While I didn’t care much for class discussions of To Kill A Mockingbird or Of Mice And Men (I was 15 and believed that I was better than it), one time he decided to talk about the Farside and the underlying meaning in class.
He stated that seemingly, in one way or another, every strip has some connection to death. Everything we discussed about racism in To Kill A Mockingbird and finding purpose in life in Of Mice And Men went over my head in those class discussions but The Farside revelation didn’t.
It never dawned on me how true that was before and now, I can’t read it without thinking about how a harmless comic about a lion trying to unlock a safari jeep door with a clothes hanger is actually pretty dark. What happens if the lion gets in? What happens to the two safari-goers in the jeep? We don’t know…
We don’t need to know. It’s a joke moron. That’s what the Farside is. There is no deeper themes of death and the afterlife with what these strips convey. It begins and ends in a sentence and an image. Nothing more, nothing less. Gary Larson made these between a blowjob and a ham sandwich on a bi-weekly basis and made bank on them. It’s all a joke. And it’s pretty damn funny.
He stated that seemingly, in one way or another, every strip has some connection to death. Everything we discussed about racism in To Kill A Mockingbird and finding purpose in life in Of Mice And Men went over my head in those class discussions but The Farside revelation didn’t.
It never dawned on me how true that was before and now, I can’t read it without thinking about how a harmless comic about a lion trying to unlock a safari jeep door with a clothes hanger is actually pretty dark. What happens if the lion gets in? What happens to the two safari-goers in the jeep? We don’t know…
We don’t need to know. It’s a joke moron. That’s what the Farside is. There is no deeper themes of death and the afterlife with what these strips convey. It begins and ends in a sentence and an image. Nothing more, nothing less. Gary Larson made these between a blowjob and a ham sandwich on a bi-weekly basis and made bank on them. It’s all a joke. And it’s pretty damn funny.
June 1, 2022
Larson's collections always seem to find their way into my heart. Witty, dark, sarcastic, incredibly intelligent at times. and simply drawn, his comics have been part of a wide variety of people's lives for a long time. Acting like the "first" memes, these often one-panel snapshots of hilarious exchanges, uproarious commentary, and incredibly sophisticated humor has a wide accessibility.
August 5, 2021
I love far side cartoons !!! They are so fun. And they are related to science so they’re basically educational. There should be Far Side cartoons in Campbell Biology textbooks. I also have a rad 1988 Run To The Far Side 5K t-shirt (my dad’s), and I’m kind of sad it doesn’t exist anymore.
July 15, 2020
3 1/2 stars
May 2, 2009
Because I am a compulsive reader, and because there was no ceral box to read, I read this while eating breakfasts or drinking tea while Amy and I were on our honeymoon. If that sounds impossibly non-romantic, think again: homemade big breakfasts in an A-frame cabin in the middle of nowhere on Orcas Island. Bald eagles scree-ing far above the mountaintop (it felt like a mountain!) and deer munching in the scrub around the cabin. Hummingbirds zip, freeze, zipping around the windows. Amy drinking coffee and proceeding through the Twilight series on the cushy sofa. Meanwhile I, having found this book and wanting something to read while finishing my tea, paged through the big volume. It became my before-dinner and after-breakfast book.
And eh, it was alright. A few chuckles. I kept waiting for the big laughs that I sometimes got from it in its heyday. But I found it to be quite repetative and not as revolutionary as it seemed originally. The Far Side hasn't aged as well as, say, Calvin and Hobbes--another comic strip from the same era. Perhaps because Larson--unlike Watterson--gave into the marketing pressures to put The Far Side on every kind of tchotcke imaginable. By now, the anthropoligists' joke that humans are more like animals, and vice-versal, has worn thin. Or perhaps, facing our own extinction, it just doesn't seem that funny in the first place.
WHY I READ THIS BOOK: Asked and answered.
And eh, it was alright. A few chuckles. I kept waiting for the big laughs that I sometimes got from it in its heyday. But I found it to be quite repetative and not as revolutionary as it seemed originally. The Far Side hasn't aged as well as, say, Calvin and Hobbes--another comic strip from the same era. Perhaps because Larson--unlike Watterson--gave into the marketing pressures to put The Far Side on every kind of tchotcke imaginable. By now, the anthropoligists' joke that humans are more like animals, and vice-versal, has worn thin. Or perhaps, facing our own extinction, it just doesn't seem that funny in the first place.
WHY I READ THIS BOOK: Asked and answered.
March 22, 2019
Flipped through this thing all the time as a kid. It's funny to look at them now -- so many jokes are corny, there are many that I'm sure I didn't get then but get now, the few that made me laugh probably didn't make me laugh when I was a kid, and then there are the ones that I still don't get. It's not totally my sense of humor (as an adult) but every once in a while I'd see one that would make me smile.
February 4, 2017
In San Francisco, we love this twisted humor so much that we held an annal fun run at the California Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park, where everyone dressed up as a Larson cartoon! This was 10 years after Larson stopped the strip... and it was annual ;o)
November 24, 2009
These are unique and unequaled cartoons by a master. This will still be funny (and thought provoking and somewhat disturbing) so long as humans can (and will) still think.
September 6, 2011
I love me some Far Side. The forward in this one is fun too since it's done by a scientist who shares why Larson is so beloved among the scientific community.
March 11, 2014
In thousands of years time, when anthropologists unearth copies of The Far Side, I hope they don't treat them as seriously as modern anthropologists treat the paintings inside the pyramids in Egypt.
September 6, 2017
A well written book. Enjoyed reading it.
February 7, 2025
I love collections of the Far Side. I also love that Gary Larson is going to be making more cartoons soon. I am so excited about this.
April 5, 2020
Think the opposite.
January 6, 2020
Time is rarely kind to art which probably explains why when we find something that holds up over time it is truly worth praising. I think there are two components to the time effect. One is that so much art is topical referencing the landmarks of a particular time that it will readily be identified as dated before long. The more "now" something is, particularly fashion, the less likely that it will stand the test of time. One of my favorite missteps in a musicians career is when they produce something "current" such as a production sound, etc. that stands out as gimmicky when their whole body of work is later considered. I'm thinking of Lou Reed. Kind of interesting reading these 1980's comics in 2019 and being reminded of what was on our society's mind at the time. But not that interesting. The other component of time is our own personal time which hopefully aggregates into a person with a broad mind, wide experience, deep compassion and if we are really lucky, wisdom. I would suggest that artistic work that holds up over time represents a sense of that cultures collective wisdom.
So when I read these comics in high school it seemed so original and brilliant with lots of laugh out loud moments. Now in my 50's there were less than 10 of those and I think that is due to the personal component of time on the work.
So when I read these comics in high school it seemed so original and brilliant with lots of laugh out loud moments. Now in my 50's there were less than 10 of those and I think that is due to the personal component of time on the work.
November 20, 2023
The Far Side Gallery 3 is a collection of Far Side strips from the years 1987-1989. It takes strips from three collections released during this period: Hound of the Far Side, The Far Side Observer, and Night of the Crash Test Dummies. This is still more classic far side in all of its surreal and absurdist humor.
To be honest it's pretty amazing how well so many of the jokes in the Far Side keep despite how old they are. This collection probably had the overall best quality of any of the Far Side Galleries so far. There were many in this collection that I had seen elsewhere and were ones I considered pretty classic Far Side strips.
If you're a fan of the comic, you're probably going to enjoy The Far Side Gallery 3. Revisiting some Far Side is always good for a laugh, or at least a peek into the strange mind of Gary Larson.
To be honest it's pretty amazing how well so many of the jokes in the Far Side keep despite how old they are. This collection probably had the overall best quality of any of the Far Side Galleries so far. There were many in this collection that I had seen elsewhere and were ones I considered pretty classic Far Side strips.
If you're a fan of the comic, you're probably going to enjoy The Far Side Gallery 3. Revisiting some Far Side is always good for a laugh, or at least a peek into the strange mind of Gary Larson.
April 20, 2020
THE FAR SIDE GALLERY 3
Gary Larson certainly saw the world through a comedic lens – play on words, knowledge of science, and the quirkiness of humanity. ***
“For crying out loud, I was hibernating! Don’t you guys ever take a pulse?” (When a bear was mistaken for being dead at a funeral)
“So, then, when Old MacDonald turned his back, I took that ax, and with a whack whack here and a whack whack there, I finished him off. (A chicken tells an inmate about how he killed Old MacDonald and ended up in jail).
“Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor hail, they said, could stop the mail…But they didn’t figure on Rexbo.”
“He’s dead, all right-beaked in the back…and, you know, this won’t be easy to solve.” (Solving the murder of a penguin among a group of penguins)
Gary Larson certainly saw the world through a comedic lens – play on words, knowledge of science, and the quirkiness of humanity. ***
“For crying out loud, I was hibernating! Don’t you guys ever take a pulse?” (When a bear was mistaken for being dead at a funeral)
“So, then, when Old MacDonald turned his back, I took that ax, and with a whack whack here and a whack whack there, I finished him off. (A chicken tells an inmate about how he killed Old MacDonald and ended up in jail).
“Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor hail, they said, could stop the mail…But they didn’t figure on Rexbo.”
“He’s dead, all right-beaked in the back…and, you know, this won’t be easy to solve.” (Solving the murder of a penguin among a group of penguins)
March 27, 2021
It's still sad that Gary Larson no longer does weekly cartoons, because I feel like he would still have his finger on the pulse, and be making funny and absurd commentary on anything recent. But these collections are not only hilarious, but also looking back at them as an older (wiser? more learn-ed?) human, I also get new layers of jokes that I had initially just taken as face value. Every page turn keeps you laughing, if not doubled-over from shear ridiculousness.
I was so happy when they released a new Off The Wall calendar, to go back and revisit some classic Far Side cartoons. So I had to get back to all the volumes I had in my possesion. i might have to order volumes 1 and 2 just to complete the collection!
This stuff is funny for all.
I was so happy when they released a new Off The Wall calendar, to go back and revisit some classic Far Side cartoons. So I had to get back to all the volumes I had in my possesion. i might have to order volumes 1 and 2 just to complete the collection!
This stuff is funny for all.
October 21, 2023
I loved this as a child, even though upon a reread I probably didn't understand some of the science-based jokes at the time. I admire Gary Larson's frequent biology references and unabashedly weird style, but some of these comics rely heavily on stereotypes and they don't really hold up well today. I was happy to revisit this once, but I think it's going back to the Little Library where I found it..
December 3, 2023
4-page Foreword by Stephen Gould
Gary Larson is a natural historian. The foibles of human relationships with the natural world, and the bad habits of culture and society thus reflected, provide his central theme. ...
He also comments directly upon science, ...
The cartoons that lampoon animals being themselves are better (but 'rarer') than those using animals to point out human foibles.
Gary Larson is a natural historian. The foibles of human relationships with the natural world, and the bad habits of culture and society thus reflected, provide his central theme. ...
He also comments directly upon science, ...
The cartoons that lampoon animals being themselves are better (but 'rarer') than those using animals to point out human foibles.
July 20, 2019
I owned this when it came out and probably read it a bunch times then. A couple of weeks ago someone left it on the sidewalk on my block and I picked it up. Stands up pretty well, and some of the panels that I didn't understand back then now make sense. (In particular I remember puzzling over the "puddin' tame" joke and not understanding.)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 164 reviews