The Three Stooges--Funny/Not Funny. Why/Why not.

[debm55]

[BOSSHOG]

1. Kinda funny, but

Didn’t care for the never ending violence.

[debm55]

7. Same here, BOSSHOG

[The Madcap]

2. Hilarious

So much poking fun at the aristocracy. Also some pretty good anti-Hitler takes.

[debm55]

8. Thank you The Madcap. I agree with the anti-Hitler takes.

[electric_blue68]

59. Interesting.Watched them pretty young - all that went past me.

[debm55]

61. They did a couple of shorts where Moe was a Hitler like character. I didn't like that at all

[Ocelot II]

3. I thought they were pretty funny when I was a kid.

Now, not as much; the slapstick gets a bit old.

[debm55]

9. Thank you very much Ocelot II Same here.

[Glorfindel]

4. Intensely not funny. Eye-gouging is not gigg;e-inducing.

I find everything about them repellent.

[debm55]

10. Thank you Glorfindel.

[Jilly_in_VA]

5. Never cared for that kind of comedy, even as a kid

Now the Marx Brothers...THAT'S funny! I even thought they were funny when I was 7. Then when I was around 12 I started catching the meaning of some of the double-entendres, and they were REALLY funny!

[debm55]

12. I get you Jilly_in_VA

[kimbutgar]

6. I liked it as a kid

And now as an adult I think Moe is such a bully, curley/ shemp are weak and Larry is irrelevant!

[debm55]

13. Thank you very much kimbutgar.

[dem4decades]

11. No wonder the water don't work, there's wires in these pipes.

Sorry, that's funny, as they rip all the electrical wires out of the pipes and tie them into the plumbing system.

Yes, they were idiots, but they were against fascism, unlike today's idiots.

[debm55]

14. Thank you, dem4decades they were against fascism.

[crosinski]

15. I thought they were hilarious ...

… because my dad thought they were hilarious! And even now, I can’t help but smile when someone gets a pie in the face.

[debm55]

17. HAHAHAHAHA, Thank you very much for sharing with us.crosinski.

[Fiendish Thingy]

16. Well it all depends on who the third stooge is

With Curley: mostly funny
With Shemp: mostly not funny
With Joe Besser (the forgotten stooge, only made a handful of films in the 50’s): surprisingly funny
With Joe De Rita (“Curly Joe”): awful

[debm55]

18. Thank you very much, Fiendish Thingy. I didn't know that there were four actors playing the Third Stooge at different

times.

[The Madcap]

41. Agreed on 3rd stooge

Except I did like Shemp. And the last few Curly films were not so good due to his stroke.

Didn't like Joe Besser nor Joe DeRita.

[rurallib]

19. They had some pretty pointed social commentary in their dialogue

As they got older their jokes and routines didn't hit as well. But they were mostly funny and at time uniquely hilarious.

[debm55]

26. Thank you rurallib,

[Harker]

20. As a child, Moe frightened me.

As did Ralph Kramden.

[debm55]

22. Same here. As a young kid My grandmother would cut our hair using a bowl. I looked like Moe

[Harker]

33. You've transcended much, to everyone's benefit.

[electric_blue68]

60. Omg! {hug}

[debm55]

62. I wore a babushka when I was a kid so you could only see my bangs.

[subterranean]

21. Curly was funny, Larry occasionally had some funny lines.

Moe, on the other hand, is not funny at all in my opinion. Most of his "humor" consisted of slapping and physically abusing the other Stooges.

I never found Shemp that funny, but some people I know think he's the funniest one.

They were probably all funnier to audiences in the 1930s and 1940s.

[debm55]

24. That's very true. The only short that I found funny was when Curley had to deliver a hunk of ice to a house with many,

steps at the top of the hill. By the time he got to the top, it was an ice cube. He had to go down and get another hunk of ice for the ice box.Only time.

[subterranean]

39. That short was titled "An Ache In Every Stake." One of their best!

I particularly love the scene where Curly shaves the ice!

[johnp3907]

23. Hilarious!

And if you don’t agree… ver gerharget! 🤣
And I don’t mean efsher!

[debm55]

25. Thank you johnp3907, but I don't read German.

[johnp3907]

27. Yiddish!

True Stooges diehards will get it!

[debm55]

30. As a kid I spoke to my grandparents in Yiddish and don't remember those words.But it was many many years ago.

[Paladin]

28. I kinda liked them---until I heard that Mel Gibson considered them to be comic geniuses.

Haven't watched them, since...

[debm55]

31. Mel Gibson is a stooge. I think he is a Moe.

[Paladin]

37. Mel Gibson is a trashy rightwing douchebag.

Hence my lack of enthusiasm for him.

[debm55]

49. That too. Thank you Paladin.

[underpants]

29. Nyuck Nyuck Nyuck. Funny. My Mom forbid us from watching it.

So we watched to first 1/2 of each episode before she got home. She got home once and saw Moe picking up Curly by the temples with giant metal ice tongs. That’s horrible. You all can’t watch that anymore

She taught, librarian who make LESS that school teachers, so she’d get home about 20 minutes after we got on the bus. We’d run in - latch key - turn on the Stooges and watch for her to pull in the driveway. Change the channel (manually) and turn off the TV.

We’d act like we were finishing up a snack and jump on our bikes. Give her some time. Mom and 2 boys.

Shakey’s pizza had projection TV’s that ran the Stooges. Continuously. Good sort of deep dish pizza. Loved it.

[debm55]

32. Thank you underpants. That is a funny memory.

[3catwoman3]

34. Glorfindel's post #4 speaks for me.

Thoroughly repellant.

[debm55]

71. Thank you very much 3catwoman3

[ProfessorGAC]

35. Funny

Theater of the absurd.
It's slapstick, machine gun humor.

[debm55]

57. Im shocked, shocked I tell ya.HAHAHAH. Thank you ProfessorGAC

[MichMan]

36. Loved them for 60 years.

Curly was an animal lover and rescued a bunch of dogs. It is estimated that he rehomed 5000 of them in his lifetime. He would often pick up a couple strays in every town he visited.

Shemp had left for a solo career and upon Curly's health issues wasn't all that keen on returning , but realized that not doing so would likely mean the end of the careers of Moe and Larry. Unfortunately the studio never paid them appropriately considering their popularity.

Even though they had a lot of violent pranks, as kids we understood they weren't real and knew better than to try and throw bricks at each other or hit each other with hammers.

I always wondered since Moe, Shemp and Curly were all brothers, if they started performing these antics as kids. Wonder what their mother had to go through?

[debm55]

55. Thank you very much for sharing that information, MichMan.

[SheltieLover]

38. Hilarious as a kid

That slap stick, unexpected behavior.

[debm55]

47. Thank you SheltieLover.

[justaprogressive]

40. not fun

for kids who were picked on...

[debm55]

46. Thank you justaprogressive. I will add, and abused

[Mystery To Me]

42. Some very funny shorts

Especially the early stuff. Our daughter must have been about 5 years old when she saw Disorder in the Court. We had never heard her laugh so hard. My wife used to enjoy the occasional Stooges shorts with me until I got the complete works. She quickly reached her saturation point and now I have to watch them alone.

[debm55]

44. Great post, Mystery To Me, and welcome to DU

[sakabatou]

43. Not funny. I'm not really into their type of comedy.

[debm55]

45. Thank you very much sakabatou

[sakabatou]

64. If you wanna know my type of classic comedy, it's the Marx Brothers

[debm55]

68. Very good choice, sakabatou. Thank you.

[AllaN01Bear]

48. saw a latter three stooges movie where the stooges got a rocket into space and landed on venus and came back.

moe was always the instigator of that , and at the end of the movies the 3 were in a space car traveling from earth to the camera. as iris closed the other 2 grabbed 2 pies and let moe have it , poetic justice i think. dbm id say half and half .

have rocket will travel i think the name of the movie was .

[debm55]

54. Thank you Bear. My aunt took us to the theater to see it.

[AllaN01Bear]

56. i esp: liked the "unicorn"

[debm55]

58. Thanks bear.

[edbermac]

50. Funny as hell.

[debm55]

53. Thank you edbermac.for sharing

[LuvLoogie]

51. They were awesome.

Loved Moe's slow burns. Curly's fuck it attitude. Larry's dead pan.
Schemp's resilience.

[debm55]

52. That you , LuvLoogie. for sharing.

[electric_blue68]

63. I liked them briefly as a young kid, but fairly quickly disliked the violence. The anti-fascist, and other social...

commentary went right over my head.
Never watched them again.

[debm55]

72. Same here. thank you electric_blue68.

[LogDog75]

65. Definitely slapstick humor

Slapstick humor considering Moe did a lot of slapping. Their humor was funny for their time (30s - 50s).

Now, Laurel and Hardy were funny even though Oliver Hardy did a lot of hitting on Stan Laurel much the same way the Skipper used his hat to hit Gilligan on Gillian's Island. What I like about Laurel and Hard was their comedic timing. It was always joke, joke, pause, joke. Once I learned this timing of their I became a fan.

[debm55]

73. i agree ,I really liked Laurel and Hardy. Thank you sharing LogDog75

[Tikki]

66. Once I was a little girl and I loved the fun of the Three Stooges..

Now I am an older lady and I still love the fun that surrounded them.

Tikki

[debm55]

70. Thank you very much, Tikki for sharing with us.

[Jeebo]

67. What's funnier than the Three Stooges themselves ...

... are the impressionists who do imitations of the Three Stooges.

-- Ron

[debm55]

69. So true, Jeebo.thank you.

Last edited Mon Jul 7, 2025, 08:22 AM - Edit history (1)

[haele]

74. Not funny. Slapstick is too broad.

Though the gags are well timed and acted out.
I can appreciate the art that went into it.
It's just not my sense of humor.

[debm55]

75. Thank you very much, haele. for expressing your opinion.

[Emile]

77. I have never thought they were not funny.

[debm55]

78. thank you so much. Double negative. You thought they funny.