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The Three Stooges--Funny/Not Funny. Why/Why not. (Original Post) debm55 Jul 6 OP
Kinda funny, but BOSSHOG Jul 6 #1
Same here, BOSSHOG debm55 Jul 6 #7
Hilarious The Madcap Jul 6 #2
Thank you The Madcap. I agree with the anti-Hitler takes. debm55 Jul 6 #8
Interesting.Watched them pretty young - all that went past me. electric_blue68 Jul 6 #59
They did a couple of shorts where Moe was a Hitler like character. I didn't like that at all debm55 Jul 6 #61
This message was self-deleted by its author Omnipresent Jul 8 #76
I thought they were pretty funny when I was a kid. Ocelot II Jul 6 #3
Thank you very much Ocelot II Same here. debm55 Jul 6 #9
Intensely not funny. Eye-gouging is not gigg;e-inducing. Glorfindel Jul 6 #4
Thank you Glorfindel. debm55 Jul 6 #10
Never cared for that kind of comedy, even as a kid Jilly_in_VA Jul 6 #5
I get you Jilly_in_VA debm55 Jul 6 #12
I liked it as a kid kimbutgar Jul 6 #6
Thank you very much kimbutgar. debm55 Jul 6 #13
No wonder the water don't work, there's wires in these pipes. dem4decades Jul 6 #11
Thank you, dem4decades they were against fascism. debm55 Jul 6 #14
I thought they were hilarious ... crosinski Jul 6 #15
HAHAHAHAHA, Thank you very much for sharing with us.crosinski. debm55 Jul 6 #17
Well it all depends on who the third stooge is Fiendish Thingy Jul 6 #16
Thank you very much, Fiendish Thingy. I didn't know that there were four actors playing the Third Stooge at different debm55 Jul 6 #18
Agreed on 3rd stooge The Madcap Jul 6 #41
They had some pretty pointed social commentary in their dialogue rurallib Jul 6 #19
Thank you rurallib, debm55 Jul 6 #26
As a child, Moe frightened me. Harker Jul 6 #20
Same here. As a young kid My grandmother would cut our hair using a bowl. I looked like Moe debm55 Jul 6 #22
You've transcended much, to everyone's benefit. Harker Jul 6 #33
Omg! {hug} electric_blue68 Jul 6 #60
I wore a babushka when I was a kid so you could only see my bangs. debm55 Jul 6 #62
Curly was funny, Larry occasionally had some funny lines. subterranean Jul 6 #21
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, debm55 Jul 6 #24
That short was titled "An Ache In Every Stake." One of their best! subterranean Jul 6 #39
Hilarious! johnp3907 Jul 6 #23
Thank you johnp3907, but I don't read German. debm55 Jul 6 #25
Yiddish! johnp3907 Jul 6 #27
As a kid I spoke to my grandparents in Yiddish and don't remember those words.But it was many many years ago. debm55 Jul 6 #30
I kinda liked them---until I heard that Mel Gibson considered them to be comic geniuses. Paladin Jul 6 #28
Mel Gibson is a stooge. I think he is a Moe. debm55 Jul 6 #31
Mel Gibson is a trashy rightwing douchebag. Paladin Jul 6 #37
That too. Thank you Paladin. debm55 Jul 6 #49
Nyuck Nyuck Nyuck. Funny. My Mom forbid us from watching it. underpants Jul 6 #29
Thank you underpants. That is a funny memory. debm55 Jul 6 #32
Glorfindel's post #4 speaks for me. 3catwoman3 Jul 6 #34
Thank you very much 3catwoman3 debm55 Jul 7 #71
Funny ProfessorGAC Jul 6 #35
Im shocked, shocked I tell ya.HAHAHAH. Thank you ProfessorGAC debm55 Jul 6 #57
Loved them for 60 years. MichMan Jul 6 #36
Thank you very much for sharing that information, MichMan. debm55 Jul 6 #55
Hilarious as a kid SheltieLover Jul 6 #38
Thank you SheltieLover. debm55 Jul 6 #47
not fun justaprogressive Jul 6 #40
Thank you justaprogressive. I will add, and abused debm55 Jul 6 #46
Some very funny shorts Mystery To Me Jul 6 #42
Great post, Mystery To Me, and welcome to DU debm55 Jul 6 #44
Not funny. I'm not really into their type of comedy. sakabatou Jul 6 #43
Thank you very much sakabatou debm55 Jul 6 #45
If you wanna know my type of classic comedy, it's the Marx Brothers sakabatou Jul 6 #64
Very good choice, sakabatou. Thank you. debm55 Jul 7 #68
saw a latter three stooges movie where the stooges got a rocket into space and landed on venus and came back. AllaN01Bear Jul 6 #48
Thank you Bear. My aunt took us to the theater to see it. debm55 Jul 6 #54
i esp: liked the "unicorn" AllaN01Bear Jul 6 #56
Thanks bear. debm55 Jul 6 #58
Funny as hell. edbermac Jul 6 #50
Thank you edbermac.for sharing debm55 Jul 6 #53
They were awesome. LuvLoogie Jul 6 #51
That you , LuvLoogie. for sharing. debm55 Jul 6 #52
I liked them briefly as a young kid, but fairly quickly disliked the violence. The anti-fascist, and other social... electric_blue68 Jul 6 #63
Same here. thank you electric_blue68. debm55 Jul 7 #72
Definitely slapstick humor LogDog75 Jul 6 #65
i agree ,I really liked Laurel and Hardy. Thank you sharing LogDog75 debm55 Jul 7 #73
Once I was a little girl and I loved the fun of the Three Stooges.. Tikki Jul 6 #66
Thank you very much, Tikki for sharing with us. debm55 Jul 7 #70
What's funnier than the Three Stooges themselves ... Jeebo Jul 7 #67
So true, Jeebo.thank you. debm55 Jul 7 #69
Not funny. Slapstick is too broad. haele Jul 7 #74
Thank you very much, haele. for expressing your opinion. debm55 Jul 8 #75
I have never thought they were not funny. Emile Jul 8 #77
thank you so much. Double negative. You thought they funny. debm55 Jul 8 #78

Response to debm55 (Reply #61)

Ocelot II

(126,300 posts)
3. I thought they were pretty funny when I was a kid.
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 04:06 PM
Jul 6

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

Glorfindel

(10,147 posts)
4. Intensely not funny. Eye-gouging is not gigg;e-inducing.
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 04:07 PM
Jul 6

I find everything about them repellent.

Jilly_in_VA

(12,534 posts)
5. Never cared for that kind of comedy, even as a kid
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 04:09 PM
Jul 6

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!

kimbutgar

(25,662 posts)
6. I liked it as a kid
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 04:11 PM
Jul 6

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

dem4decades

(13,016 posts)
11. No wonder the water don't work, there's wires in these pipes.
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 04:15 PM
Jul 6

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.

crosinski

(654 posts)
15. I thought they were hilarious ...
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 04:20 PM
Jul 6

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

Fiendish Thingy

(20,205 posts)
16. Well it all depends on who the third stooge is
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 04:21 PM
Jul 6

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

(48,797 posts)
18. Thank you very much, Fiendish Thingy. I didn't know that there were four actors playing the Third Stooge at different
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 04:27 PM
Jul 6

times.

The Madcap

(1,342 posts)
41. Agreed on 3rd stooge
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 05:59 PM
Jul 6

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

(63,967 posts)
19. They had some pretty pointed social commentary in their dialogue
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 04:35 PM
Jul 6

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

debm55

(48,797 posts)
22. Same here. As a young kid My grandmother would cut our hair using a bowl. I looked like Moe
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 04:41 PM
Jul 6

subterranean

(3,661 posts)
21. Curly was funny, Larry occasionally had some funny lines.
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 04:37 PM
Jul 6

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

(48,797 posts)
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,
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 04:46 PM
Jul 6

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

(3,661 posts)
39. That short was titled "An Ache In Every Stake." One of their best!
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 05:54 PM
Jul 6

I particularly love the scene where Curly shaves the ice!

debm55

(48,797 posts)
30. As a kid I spoke to my grandparents in Yiddish and don't remember those words.But it was many many years ago.
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 05:07 PM
Jul 6

Paladin

(31,123 posts)
28. I kinda liked them---until I heard that Mel Gibson considered them to be comic geniuses.
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 04:54 PM
Jul 6

Haven't watched them, since...

underpants

(191,723 posts)
29. Nyuck Nyuck Nyuck. Funny. My Mom forbid us from watching it.
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 05:01 PM
Jul 6

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.

MichMan

(15,536 posts)
36. Loved them for 60 years.
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 05:26 PM
Jul 6

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?

Mystery To Me

(21 posts)
42. Some very funny shorts
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 06:57 PM
Jul 6

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.

AllaN01Bear

(26,685 posts)
48. saw a latter three stooges movie where the stooges got a rocket into space and landed on venus and came back.
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 09:35 PM
Jul 6

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 .

LuvLoogie

(8,170 posts)
51. They were awesome.
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 10:13 PM
Jul 6

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

electric_blue68

(22,676 posts)
63. I liked them briefly as a young kid, but fairly quickly disliked the violence. The anti-fascist, and other social...
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 10:57 PM
Jul 6

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

LogDog75

(678 posts)
65. Definitely slapstick humor
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 11:33 PM
Jul 6

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.

Tikki

(14,885 posts)
66. Once I was a little girl and I loved the fun of the Three Stooges..
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 11:55 PM
Jul 6

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

Tikki

Jeebo

(2,491 posts)
67. What's funnier than the Three Stooges themselves ...
Mon Jul 7, 2025, 01:17 AM
Jul 7

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

-- Ron

haele

(14,432 posts)
74. Not funny. Slapstick is too broad.
Mon Jul 7, 2025, 10:01 PM
Jul 7

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.

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