Three Stooges | The

were an iconic American vaudeville and comedy team active from the 1920s through the 1970s, best known for their short films featuring slapstick, physical humor, and distinctive character traits. The original lineup, which appeared in over 190 short subjects for Columbia Pictures (1934–1959), consisted of Moe Howard (the bossy, bowl-cut leader), Larry Fine (the frizzy-haired, easily flustered middleman), and Curly Howard (the childlike, high-spirited bald one known for his “nyuk-nyuk-nyuk” and “woo-woo-woo!”). After Curly suffered a stroke in 1946, he was replaced by Shemp Howard (Moe and Curly’s real-life older brother), who had been an original member in the early 1930s. Later lineups included Joe Besser and “Curly Joe” DeRita.

The Three Stooges were never critical darlings. They were rarely invited to the highbrow parties of Hollywood. But they outlasted almost all of their contemporaries because they offered something primal: the joy of chaos. They proved that a pie in the face is timeless, and that as long as there are three guys trying to fix a leaky pipe, there will be an audience ready to watch the waterworks—both the plumbing and the tears of laughter. the three stooges