Characters / The Three Stooges

General

• Breakout Character: The Stooges used to be lackeys under Ted Healy, a famed vaudeville star during the late '20s. Nowadays, the latter is practically unheard of except among fans while the former went solo, starred in their film shorts and became comedic icons still popular to this day.
• Casanova Wannabe: In shorts where the three are shown drooling over the ladies, they always come off more clumsy than charming.
• Comic Trio: One of the more famous examples in film.
  • The Leader: Moe.
  • Only Sane Man: Larry.
  • The Fool: Curly, Shemp, Joe and Curly-Joe.
• The Ditz: They’re called ‘Stooges’ for a reason.
• Extreme Omnivore: All of them would tend to eat downright bizarre things like fruit peels and nut shells.
• Freudian Trio: Moe is the Superego, Larry's the Ego, and Curly's the Id.
• Jack of All Trades: Each short has them with a different occupation.
• Literal-Minded: A lot of jokes, puns, double-entendres and other elements of figurative speech would fly over their heads. Case in point, once Curly had to cook up a turkey following a cookbook, he followed the instructions to the point he put up a whole can of peas, with tin and all, inside the bird.
• Nice Mean And In Between: Moe (Mean), Larry (In-Between) and Curly (Nice).
  • Another "Nice" Stooge is Shemp, yet he might share the In-Between role with Larry in most shorts.
  • Curly-Joe can also fall into the "Nice" category.
• Sibling Team: On shorts where they're depicted as brothers, by having the same set of parents. In Real Life, Moe, Curly and Shemp were brothers, too.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: While they're not necessarily ugly, some shorts depict them with attractive wives.

Primary trio

"Hello...
Hello...
Hello...
Hello!"^note Left to Right: Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard

For their Self-Demonstrating Article, click here.

Moe

Moe Howard

Calling Dr. Howard...

Born: June 19, 1897
Died: May 4, 1975
Years Active: 1922-1970
Portrayed by: Paul Ben-Victor (2000 biopic), Chris Diamantopoulos (The Movie)

The Head Stooge as it were. Famous for his bowl cut and surly attitude.

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• Actually Pretty Funny: In one short, he gets a painting smashed over his head, and jokingly states that he's been framed.
• Big Brother Instinct: Mostly in the movie, where he comes off very protective of Curly and Larry. In real-life Moe was also Curly's big brother and the de-facto leader of the group as well.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: His promiment physical feature, after his bowl cut.
• Berserk Button: NIAGARA FALLS! Or just about anything the other Stooges do.
• The Bully: He generally physically and verbally abuses the other Stooges, especially anyone who's the third member (like Curly, Shemp, etc.)
• Butt-Monkey: Not as bad as Curly or Shemp, but if it wasn't happening to either of them, it was happening to him (usually due their (or his own) incompetence or stupidity).
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "Why, I oughta..."/ "Why, you...!"
  • "I'll moider you!"
  • "Spread out!"
    • "Recede."
  • "What's the matter with you?"
  • "Pick out two!"
• Cool Old Guy: In-universe, while Moe was never old per se, Moe Howard became this in real life during his later years.
• Deadpan Snarker: Normally it's Larry who does the snarking, but Moe has his moments in the shorts as well.
• Death Glare: While not exactly a death glare, his angry glare and exaggerated frown usually portended an imminent slap or eye-poke.
• Dirty Coward: While all the Stooges were cowards to some degree, Moe was by far the worst, as he'd often force Larry and Curly to go into dangers he'd never consider.
• Dope Slap: One of Moe's signature moves on the other Stooges, along with (of course) the ...
• Eye Poke: Actually performed by poking the eyebrows. The movie parodies this with actors playing the Farrelly Brothers explain how it works so kids wouldn't try it at home.
• Flowery Insults: "Chowderheads" and "numbskulls" are his most frequent (and iconic) go-to insults for the other stooges.

• Hair-Trigger Temper: If Larry, Curly and Shemp ever do anything to piss him off (even by accident), expect Moe to lash out with a murder threat and some good ol' slapping.
• How Many Fingers?: A Running Gag would be that Moe asked the other guys how many fingers he was holding up, and when they answered "two", he would poke them in the eyes.
• Hypocrite: If not coinciding with Hypocritical Humor, he often gets angry at Larry and Curly for doing something he considers stupid/foolish. However, Moe is quite a bumbling fool himself.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: He freely hits the other Stooges, but he gets really mad if they ever hit each other, and punishes such antics, well, hitting the offender.
  Moe: (to Larry, after he headbonked Curly) What are you hittin' 'im for? (slaps him)
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance
• I'll Kill You!: Or "I'll murder you!" One of Moe's signature threats. Thankfully never follows through it, and it's hinted in Three Sappy People, in which he gets upset with Curly for making a note of reminding him to tear out his Adam's apple, that he never means it literally.
  Moe: Remind me to kill you later!
  Curly: I'll make a note of it!
• Insufferable Imbecile: He's very surly and constantly bullies the other Stooges for their stupidity, yet it's proven time and again that he's just as dumb as they are.
• I Will Show You X!: Closely related to the above. Usually delivered in the form of "I'll (verb) YOU!"
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: For all the abuse he throws at them, Moe truly does care for his fellow Stooges, and when the boys come across some wrong in need of righting, he's often the quickest to offer help.
  • It comes to a point of being the dramatic climax of the movie, where it's stated that for all the abuse Moe gives the other two, he would never truly live without them, if given the chance.
• Kavorka Man: In any episode where the Stooges have love interests, Curly, Shemp or on rare occasions Larry might end up with the one Butter Face of the female trio, but Moe never does.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: As the "boss" stooge, he often rudely bullies Larry and Curly (and Shemp) around for goofing up and considers himself smarter than them, but he's clearly every bit as dim as they are.
• The Leader: Self-appointed leader is more like it, mainly because of his strong personality.

• Man Bites Man: Played for Laughs; it became another of Moe's signature moves against his fellow Stooges in later shorts, biting either their fingers or their noses.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: Moe is the most abusive member of the group and is more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. The real Moe Howard was a very normal person who enjoyed family weekend BBQs, loved entertaining kids, and absolutely adored his fans to the point of inviting them into his home for dinner.
• The Napoleon: Moe was 5'4" and had a nasty temper.
• Never My Fault: Probably one of the Trope Founders, if not the Trope Codifier.
• The Nicknamer: Will frequently refer to other people using an insulting nickname based on their demeanor and/or appearance. Notably fond of calling Larry "porcupine".
• Only Sane Man: Or so he thinks of himself.
• Pie in the Face: Both on and offscreen, Moe was infamous for having deadly aim with his pie throws. Chances are, if a pie was thrown from offscreen at another actor, Moe probably threw it. Not that Moe was never on the receiving end, of course...
• Power Trio:
  • Comic Trio: The Leader
  • Freudian Trio: The Superego
  • Nice Mean And In Between: The Mean
  • Four-Man Band: Also, if you add Shemp or any of the replacements to the roster, Moe is The Smart Guy.
• The Smart Guy: That's really a matter of opinion. He acts the part, but sometimes he's little more sensible or rational than Curly is.
  • Ironically, in real life Moe was highly intelligent and very business-savy, to the point he managed the Stooge's careers for as long as they performed following their split from Ted Healy.
• Stage Name: Moe's real name was Moses Harry Horwitz.
• Straight Man: In the movie, although he has own share of bizarre antics, the least normal of which is appearing on Jersey Shore of all things, as Dyna-Moe!
• Surrounded by Idiots: Made all the more ironic because Moe himself wasn't all too bright.
• A Taste Of His Own Medicine: He usually domineered the other stooges, though every now and again he'd push one too far and they'd return fire in slapstick abuse. Shemp was most liable to do such.
• True Companions: Would often make sure the other Stooges were keeping up if they were running away from something.
• With Friends Like These...: With everybody!

Larry

Larry Fine

...Dr. Fine...

Born: October 5, 1902
Died: January 24, 1975
Years Active: 1925-1970
Portrayed by: Evan Handler (2000 biopic), Sean Hayes (The Movie)

The closest thing to a Straight Man in the Stooges. Most noticeable for his famously curly hairstyle and talent with the violin.

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• Breaking the Fourth Wall: "Rhythm and Weep" was perhaps the most ingenious fourth-wall moment. When the boys embrace a trio of girls, he looks directly into the camera and says:
  Larry: This I like. And I get paid for it, too!
• Butt-Monkey: To Moe's incompetent plans.
• By the Hair: Moe always pulls off from Larry's hair whenever he gets mad.
• Character Catchphrase: "Leave 'im alone!"
  • "What's goin' on around here?" was said by him in "If a Body Meets a Body" and "Rhythm and Weep"
• Chubby Mama, Skinny Papa: In the earlier shorts, he was paired with a female character portrayed by the overweight June Gittelson. One would think Larry had a thing for big girls.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Not to the extent of Curly, but he does have his moments.
• Deadpan Snarker: Larry will tend to make a sarcastic remark or response to Moe. One example in Three Little Pirates:
  Moe: (noticing a skull attached to the wall) If that guy don't stop starin' at me, I'll knock his block off.
  Larry: Somebody beat ya to it.
• Einstein Hair: Larry's most recognizable feature.
• Extreme Doormat: The fact that Larry is the most sensible of the Stooges but would usually go along with Moe's schemes anyway makes him this.
• Genius Ditz: Again, Larry probably had the most common sense.
• In-Series Nickname: "Porcupine", on account of his hair.
• Jerkass Ball: It's usually noticeable in most of the Shemp-era shorts, such as "He Cooked His Goose".

• The Lancer: To Moe.

• Made of Iron: Not shown as often as with Curly, but a good example is in Goof on the Roof,where he gets hit on the head with several bricks falling from a two story roof, and suffers only minor pain.
• Mediation Backfire: Larry's attempts to keep Moe from picking on Curly (or Shemp, or Joe, or Curly Joe) would invariably result in Moe smacking Larry instead.
• Mirror-Cracking Ugly: Larry got hit with this in Gypped in the Penthouse.
  Larry: I break more mirrors that way!
• Only Sane Man: The sanest of the bunch, at least.
• Power Trio:
  • Comic Trio: Only Sane Man
  • Freudian Trio: The Ego, most of the time (A couple of Shemp shorts do reverse the roles making him into the Id, such as Brideless Groom).
  • Nice Mean And In Between: The In-Between
  • Four-Man Band: Only Sane Man
• Redhead In Green: In the colorized shorts, Larry's suit is usually painted green. IRL Larry was also a redhead.
• Signature Instrument: Larry in real life was a very talented violin player, and he would often play during the shorts. Unfortunately, due to the nature of physical comedy, the violin would just as often find itself destroyed.
  Larry: My Stradivarius! Oh, my beautiful Stradivarius!
• Stage Name: Larry's real name was Louis Feinberg.
• Straight Man: Well, sort of. At least in the sense that he's not as cacophonous as Curly, nor bad-tempered as Moe.
• True Companions: Larry and Moe had been together for as long as any of the other Stooges. One could wonder why Larry never stopped being friends with Moe in-universe after all the abuse he's gone through throughout the years.

Curly

Curly Howard

...Dr. Howard!

Born: October 22, 1903
Died: January 18, 1952
Years Active: 1932-1947
Portrayed by: Michael Chiklis (2000 biopic), Will Sasso (The Movie)

The stoogiest Stooge. Known for his high voice, and assortment of vocal noises and tics.

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• Acrofatic: Him running down to the bottom floor in "False Alarms" is a prime example.
• Ambiguous Innocence: Its difficult to say how much of the Stooges schemes Curly really understood.
  • In one short, Curly says he's never hit anybody in his life. In another, he expresses he's always had the desire to "punch a cop right in the nose".
• Berserk Button: Four of them.
  • Hearing the song "Pop Goes the Weasel" turns him into a boxing sensation in Punch Drunks.
  • Seeing a mouse in Horses' Collars, the only way to stop this is stuffing cheese into his mouth.
  • Smelling a certain perfume in Grips, Grunts, and Groans; only way to stop this is to tickle his feet.
  • The very sight of tassels (of all things) in Tassels in the Air.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Sometimes.

• The Big Guy: Taller than Moe and Larry (albeit barely) as well as being the fat one in the group, soitenly so!
• Breakout Character: Curly is probably the most popular and recognizable of the Stooges.
• Butter Face: While Moe and Larry typically got the attractive women, he would usually end up with one of these.
• Butt-Monkey: The worst things would typically happen to him, usually caused by his or Larry's stupidity and Moe blaming him for something that was directly his own fault.
  • Iron Butt Monkey: Took far more damage than the others, and just brushed it off
• The Cameo: Post-retirement, Howard appeared as a sleeping train passenger in the Shemp-era short, Hold That Lion. This was the only Stooges short to feature all three Howard brothers.

• The Casanova / Casanova Wannabe: He's the Stooge that's seen the most flirting with the ladies (when it isn't all three of them drooling).
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk."
  • "Soitently!"
  • "I'm a victim of soicumstance!"
  • "Ruff! Ruff!" (barking when angry.)
  • "Woob-woob-woob!"
• Character Tics: Several.
  • Curly would frantically flurry his hands over his face whenever he was frustrated.
  • Whenever he was really excited, he'd jump up and down while twisting.
  • Moving backwards while kicking his right leg behind him. Usually while he was dancing.
  • Also had a habit of rubbing his fingers under a woman's chin while trying to woo her, or under a guy's chin while trying to annoy him.
• Cloudcuckoolander: What could wonder why Curly was flamboyant and upbeat.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass:
  • Curly may seem like just a hare-brained simpleton at first glance, but he's actually a fighting machine whenever he hears the song, "Pop Goes the Weasel." In the episode Punch Drunks, Moe takes advantage of this situation and advertises Curly as the next great boxer.
  • If the fellas happened to be squared off against a bunch of thugs, the fight usually ended with Curly knocking everyone out himself (this sometimes included Larry and Moe).
• Dashingly Dapper Doiby: He's usually seen with one in most shorts. But reaching the last few years of shorts, it wasn't recurring as it was before.
• The Ditz: He seems the most naive and scatterbrained of the team.
• Extreme Omnivore: He's usually seen eating whatever's unnatural. "So Long, Mr. Chumps" had him shown eating a banana peel.
• Fat Idiot: The fattest of the trio and easily the dumbest.
• Genius Ditz: "Cookoo Cavaliers" reveals he knows how to bleach hair.
  Curly: You take a gallon of gasoline, two tumblers of bicarbonate of soda, an ounce of iodine and a pinch of mustard.
• Hard Head: Hard enough to bend and warp metal saws when Moe used them on him, and even flatten a golf ball at one point.
  Moe: What do you got, an iron plate in your head?
• Heroes Love Dogs: Real-life Curly was fond of dogs and tended to adopt strays that followed the stooges whenever they went on tour.
• Hollow-Sounding Head: No kidding. The movie takes this up to eleven; see Made of Iron.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Early on it was spelled "Curley", with an e, before switching to "Curly" WITHOUT an e.
• Ironic Nickname: "Curly", referring to his buzzcut hair, although in real life his hair was quite curly.
• Kavorka Man: Curly was this in-universe as well as in real-life, to the point it lead to the ultimate downfall of his health and finances.
• Kindhearted Simpleton: On screen, both the dumbest and the nicest of the classic Stooges line-up.
• The Klutz: It's very likely he wouldn't last long on his own without Moe or Larry looking after him.
• Large Ham: He usually exclaims hysterically in surprise or other.
• Lethal Chef: Whenever the Stooges got to do domestic chores, he was often relegated to the kitchen. You can imagine how well that went.
• Made of Iron: Curly was probably the most metallic stooge. It's cranked up in the movie when Moe uses a chainsaw against his head and the chainsaw breaks.
• Manchild: He was seen as the most immature out of Moe and Larry.
• Nice Guy: Easily the nicest of the Stooges, he's really too simpleminded for anything else.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: See Stage Name. Likewise, Curly's name could have simply been "Jerry", but "Curly" was something he was tagged with because of his curly locks in real life. And Curly also works as irony due to his buzzcut.
  • In the earliest shorts, where the Stooges were billed individually, he was credited as "Jerry Howard".
• Power Trio:
  • Comic Trio: The Fool
  • Freudian Trio: The Id
  • Nice Mean And In Between: The Nice
  • Four-Man Band: The Pervert
• Pun: Most of his impromptu jokes fall into this category.
• Signature Laugh: "Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk."
• Stage Name: Curly's real name was Jerome Lester Horwitz.
• True Companions: Regardless of Curly putting up with Moe's abuse like Larry, he's still around to help as the Nice Guy he is in the group.
• Vocal Dissonance: A very high-pitched voice in contrast to his large size.
• Vocal Evolution: At the start of the trio's run, his voice was much like his regular voice, then eight shorts later, his voice sounded like the iconic one we know today; reaching the 1943-era, his voice was hoarser and continued until "Half Wits Holiday".

Other members

Shemp

Shemp Howard

Born: March 11, 1895
Died: November 22, 1955
Years Active: 1922-1932, 1947-1955
Portrayed by: John Kassir (2000 biopic)

The original third Stooge. Known for his Verbal Tic, cowardly attitude and replacing Curly during the '40s and '50s.

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• Ad Lib: In-Universe example. A lot of Shemp's trademark one-liners were ad-libs that weren't included in the script. Shemp was well known for his ad-libbing and sometimes going off-script.
• Aside Glance: His trademark.
• Big Brother Instinct: In real-life, Shemp was the oldest of the Stooge brothers, and once Curly fell ill, Shemp left his successful solo-career aside to save his brothers and best friend from being fired.
  • After Curly's stroke, Shemp made it a point to never treat Curly like an invalid and according to Moe, was the only person who could ever snap Curly out of his shyness.
• The Big Guy: By the standards of the group, anyway. At 5'6", Shemp was the tallest Stooge.
• Butter Face: While Moe and Larry typically got the attractive women, he (like Curly) would usually end up with one of these.
• Butt-Monkey: Shemp took Curly's place as group Butt-Monkey.
• The Casanova / Casanova Wannabe: After Curly, he's the Stooge that is seen flirting the most with the ladies.
• Character Catchphrase: The "Hebebebebebe" call he would do when scared or in his sleep.

• Face of a Thug: As Moe put it in one short, "Sometimes I think you should get a new face. You scare people." And according to those who knew him, the trope was played even straighter in real life. He even called himself "The Ugliest Man in Hollywood" once as part of a publicity stunt!
• Fake Shemp: The Trope Maker. The actual Trope Namer in question is Sam Raimi, who coined the term in regards to the Stooges during the filming of The Evil Dead (1981).
• Kavorka Man: He once went along with a publicity stunt naming him "The Ugliest Man in Hollywood". He later told the reporters, "I'm hideous." In some shorts, e.g., Brideless Groom et al., he manages to fall in love with an attractive girl; in "Scrambled Brains", he gets married to a Butterface homely, partially toothless woman whom Shemp deliriously believes to be attractive.
• The Lancer: Not as much as Larry, but Shemp was known as the Stooge who often struck back whenever Moe got too out of hand with his abuse.
• Lovable Coward: In real life as well as onscreen; Shemp had multiple phobias, including airplanes, automobiles, dogs, and water.
• Made of Iron: Shemp suffered a mild stroke in November 1952, but was back at work after only a few weeks.
• Messy Hair: Shemp's hair always ends up this way after he's been chased around or roughed up quite a bit.
• Nice Guy: Perhaps not to the same extent as Curly, but still nicer than Moe and Larry.
• The Pete Best: Sort of. Shemp was part of the original act with Ted Healy, and stuck around long enough to appear in the film Soup to Nuts. However, Shemp hated working with Healy and left the act, after which he was replaced with Curly. When Curly's poor health forced him to retire from the act in 1946, Shemp rejoined the act and would remain part of it until his own death in 1955. While Shemp is not an unknown figure among Stooges fans, his stint in the group is widely considered less prolific than Curly's.
• Power Trio:
  • Comic Trio: The Fool
  • Freudian Trio: The Id most of the time, though a bare few shorts portray him as The Ego (with Larry stepping in as The Id).
  • Nice Mean And In Between: The Nice. Yet, he'll usually fall into the In-Between territory.
  • Four-Man Band: The Butt-Monkey
  • Though some shorts also portrayed him as The Smart Guy.
• Stage Name: Shemp's real name was Samuel Horwitz. His nickname came from the way his mother, with a thick Litvak accent, would pronounce "Sam".
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Averted, as Curly and Shemp had different onscreen personas. While Curly played the role of an enthusiastic manchild, Shemp was more of a cowardly, laid-back dimwit.
• Thinking Tic: Shemp would go into spasms whenever trying to piece something together, leading to a clonk on the head from Moe.
• True Companions: Gave up his own successful solo career to help his brothers and best friend out when they needed him to step in.

Joe

Joe Besser

Born: August 12, 1907
Died: March 1, 1988
Years Active: 1956-1958
Portrayed by: Laurence Coy (2000 biopic)

The less-than-popular third Stooge. Known for his prissy attitude, not getting slapped around by Moe and having the briefest tenure.

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• Aside Glance: One of his signatures, usually to express his hatred of Moe.
• Camp Straight: Joe often posed as a camp, sissy Manchild as he had in roles before, though recurrently shown as much fondness for the women as Moe and Larry.
• Character Catchphrase: "Not so haaard!"

• Idiot Houdini: A meta enforced example, Joe's contract initially enforced he didn't take part in the Comedic Sociopathy. There were notable exceptions however.
• Immune to Slapstick: Downplayed. While Joe still took part in a lot of standard slapstick, his contract forbade Moe to manhandle him the same way he had Curly and Shemp (largely due to him not being as experienced with slapstick as those two had been). There were still exceptions or loopholes however, especially later on.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Averted — instead of emulating Curly or Shemp, he used the "whiny man-child" persona he established in previous roles. This, combined with the "no physical abuse" clause, didn't help him gain any fans.

Curly-Joe

Curly-Joe DeRita

Born: July 12, 1909
Died: July 3, 1993
Years Active: 1958-1970
Portrayed by: Peter Callan (2000 biopic)

The final third Stooge. Known for his physical similarity to Curly and for appearing in the trio's feature films during the '50s and '60s.

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• Butt-Monkey: Not just as a Stooge, but in his own solo acts before becoming Curly-Joe.
• Fat Idiot: If not similar to Curly's level of intelligence.
• Power Trio:
  • Comic Trio: The Fool
  • Freudian Trio: The Id.
  • Nice Mean And In Between: The Nice.
  • Four-Man Band: The Butt-Monkey

• Stage Name: Curly-Joe's real name was Joseph Wardell. His stage name was initially Joe DeRita; the "Curly" was added to avoid confusion with Joe Besser.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: At least, physically. When he first joined, he styled his hair like Shemp. However, when the Curly shorts returned to popularity on television, he shaved his hair to look more like him. Persona-wise, however, he wasn't as manic as Curly and had a bit more backbone, occasionally daring to talk back to Moe. ^note This could be attributed to the Stooges toning down the physical violence around that time and/or to a conscious decision by DeRita to not copy Curly.

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