The Three Stooges

The Stooges in Pop Goes the Easel, as excerpted on Muppet Babies.

Moe, Larry and Crocodiley from "Beach Blanket Babies".

"Eight Flags Over the Nursery"

The Three Stooges were a classic comedy team, whose best known incarnation consisted of Moe Howard, Curly Howard, and Larry Fine, and had their roots in vaudeville as "stooges" to Ted Healy. They accompanied Healy to Hollywood but soon broke out on their own, appearing in numerous Columbia film shorts emphasizing slapstick, physical violence, and pie-throwing.

Moe and Larry were the only constants, with the third stooge played variously by Curly Howard (1932-1946), Shemp Howard (in vaudeville, one 1930 film appearance, and up until 1932 and replacing Curly from 1946 to 1955), Joe Besser (1956-1958), and finally Curly Joe DeRita (1959-1975, for later television and film appearances). The classic trio of Moe, Larry, and Curly was frequently referenced on Muppet Babies, usually through stock footage.

Muppet Babies writer Jeffrey Scott is the grandson of Stooge leader Moe Howard.

References

The Muppets

• In the Play-Along Video, Neat Stuff To Know & To Do, a rabbit in the "Ewe-Can-Do-It" sketch is heard making noises made by Curly Howard in the various short films.

• In the recurring series of Muppet Time sketches, "The Three Silly Bears," the third bear, Ted, is portrayed as the Curly Howard of the trio, using many of his well known catchphrases and sounds.

• In episode 201 of Muppets Tonight, Dr. Phil van Neuter puts a threat on his and Mulch's plans to visit a Three Stooges convention.

• "Listen to the Mocking Bird," one of the themes used for their shorts, is worked into the closing vamp of "Make 'Em Laugh" in Here Come the Muppets.

Muppet Babies

• In the first season Muppet Babies episode "Good Clean Fun," Baby Fozzie engages in a whipped cream pie fight with the Stooges, using footage from the short Slippery Silks (1936).

• Beginning in the second season of Muppet Babies, random clips from the feature film The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962) were frequently used as stock footage, usually for chariot scenes.

• In the fourth season episode "Beach Blanket Babies," Baby Fozzie confronts his fear of crocodiles by imagining Three Stooges-like crocodiles as his swimming instructors: Moe, Larry, and Crocodiley.

• The fourth season episode "Beauty and the Schnoz" includes footage from the short Pop Goes the Easel (1935), illustrating Skeeter's claim that Scooter's artwork looks like a monkey painted it.

• Baby Gonzo (as Batboy) opens a door in "Sing a Song of Superheroes" to reveal a clip of Curly lip syncing Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia sextet as seen in the 1945 short Micro-Phonies.

• In "Hats, Hats, Hats," Kermit and Gonzo try to find a door that leads out of Gonzo's head. One door they encounter has footage from Spook Louder (1943), where Moe (voiced by Frank Welker) yells at them, "Say! What are you lookin' at?!"

• The final episode of the series, "Eight Flags Over the Nursery," features clips of the Stooges as a part of the Mr. Weirdo's Universe ride. A clip of the three riding cars from Men in Black (1934) is used and Skeeter and Baby Gonzo zoom through a clip from Spook Louder (1943) of the Stooges being hit with pies.

Sesame Street

• Episode 1576 features a group of birds called the "Canary Brothers," two of which are named Curly and Moe.

• After Susan, Olivia, and Maria sing "One of These Things" using articles of Slimey's clothing in Episode 1822, an annoyed Oscar the Grouch refers to them as Larry, Curly, and Moe.

• While Maria goes through baby names in Episode 2559 that start with the "SH" sound, Mr. Snuffleupagus mentions "Shemp."

• In Episode 3265, Elmo utters "Moe, Larry, Curly" as part of his magic words (along with "Laurel and Hardy").

• A mother bird is seen with two baby birds named Curly and Moe in Episode 3710.

• Episode 3768 features Goldilocks reading the story of the Three Little Pigs, who share the names of the Stooges.

• In Episode 3860, Telly chooses what names to give to Chuckie Sue's newborn babies, suggesting Chuckie, Curly, Moe, and Larry for male names.

• A common Grouch nickname for Gordon is Curly, referencing his bald head. Oscar calls him this in episodes 1736 and 3119, for example.

Farscape

• In the Farscape episode "DNA Mad Scientist," Crichton refers to D'Argo, Zhaan, and Rygel as Larry, Curly, and Moe.

• Crichton calls himself, Rygel, and Aeryn Sun the "Three freaking Stooges" in the episode "Out of Their Minds."

• In "Could'a, Would'a, Should'a," Crichton looks through various photos taken in a wormhole when he spots an image of The Three Stooges on a television screen, suggesting Earth would be about 40 million light years away.

Connections

• Tom Bergeron hosted the special The Lost Stooges Tapes
• Zoë Coyle played Betty Healy in The Three Stooges (2000)
• Marton Csokas played Ted Healy in The Three Stooges (2000)
• John Debney composed the music for The Three Stooges (2012)
• David Downer played Winfield Sheehan in The Three Stooges (2000)
• Lewis Fitz-Gerald played Jules White in The Three Stooges (2000)
• James Frawley directed The Three Stooges (2000)
• Mel Gibson was a producer for The Three Stooges (2000)
• Linal Haft played Harry Cohn in The Three Stooges (2000)
• Sean Hayes played Larry Fine in The Three Stooges (2012)
• Phillip Hinton played Edward LeSaint in The Three Stooges (2000)
• Dwight Howard played himself in The Three Stooges (2012)
• Jennifer Hudson played Sister Rosemary in The Three Stooges (2012)
• Casey Kasem voiced characters in The Robonic Stooges
• Jane Lynch played Mother Superior in The Three Stooges (2012)
• Brian Doyle-Murray played Monsignor Ratliffe in The Three Stooges (2012)
• Anna Lise Phillips played Mabel Fine in The Three Stooges (2000)
• Olivia Pigeot played Cohn's secretary in The Three Stooges (2000)
• Peter Scarf played Moe (age 15) in The Three Stooges (2000)
• John Stephenson voiced the main title announcer and others on The Robonic Stooges
• Sofía Vergara played Lydia Harter in The Three Stooges (2012)
• Frank Welker voiced Curly and other characters on The Robonic Stooges
• Peter Whitford played Del Henderson in The Three Stooges (2000)

External links

• Official site