Who's a better Stooge?

[Brettfern]

Besides Howard and Fine, who do you prefer: Howard, Howard, or Besser?

NOTE: I didn't add Curly-Joe DeRita. Since only the original theatrical short Stooges are included since the theatrical shorts were and will always be the best.

[Michael24]

Definitely Curly, but I also like Shemp just as much. Joe Besser was the worst, though. Too much of a sissy. "Not so hard." Puh-leeze!

[DarkAngel]

Besides Howard and Fine, who do you prefer: Howard, Howard, or Besser?

Joe was just terrible. I've heard he refused to do a lot of stuff and I'll never, ever consider him a true stooge. Curly and Shemp were both great, though. Shemp will probably always be in Curly's shadow, but he was as much a part of the Stooges. He was there at the very beginning, before Curly, and he's Moe and Curly's brother. Moe, Larry, Shemp, and Curly are the Stooges and no one else.

[Frank Castle]

Curly

[Boy Wonder]

Curly was the stooge who made the Three Stooges what they were. He was a glutton for punishment and his visual gags were always on target. However, his partying and nightlife started to catch up to him and, surprise, Shemp was brought in. Shemp was the original third stooge back in the day of when Healy, a brawling drunk who screwed the stooges out of money they deserved, was the leader and Moe, yes Moe, was the recipient of most of the punishment. Shemp, for what he had to go through, I think he was the best third man. He had a good-ol' boy feel with the Stooges, plus he is a role model for most people, though he had a soft spot for those boxing fights. Ironically, Shemp died in his limo after a fight 50 years ago (wow, 50 years already) of an apparent heart attack. Joe may be horrible, but his crudentials made him somebody before th Stooges. He was famous on the burlesque stage, and starred in a few movies. You guys forgot Curly Joe, and yeah we wouldn't get any votes either, but this man should have been in Joe's spot if he was secured in a contract already at the time.

[The Weed Of Cri]

Curly was the best comedian, but I think Shemp was the best actor. Apparently other people thought so too, since he did movies without the other Stooges.

Joe Besser was a one-note song and it mystified me how he ever got to be as successful as he was. In addition to his work as a Stooge, I've seen him work with Jack Benny and Abbott And Costello, and he did the same schtick as he did with the Stooges. Even Benny's writers couldn't make him funny.

Curly was the stooge who made the Three Stooges what they were. He was a glutton for punishment and his visual gags were always on target. However, his partying and nightlife started to catch up to him and, surprise, Shemp was brought in.

It wasn't the partying that wrecked Curly's career. He had a stroke in 1946 that probably had more to do with the punishment he took on camera than his lifestyle. He was borderline-masochistic in his willingness to take a hit for a laugh and, like a boxer who takes too many shots to the head, the cumulative punishment caused blood-vessel damage in his brain.

[TnAdct1]

No contest. Curly.

Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk.

[Boy Wonder]

It wasn't the partying that wrecked Curly's career. He had a stroke in 1946 that probably had more to do with the punishment he took on camera than his lifestyle. He was borderline-masochistic in his willingness to take a hit for a laugh and, like a boxer who takes too many shots to the head, the cumulative punishment caused blood-vessel damage in his brain.[/QUOTE]
Yep, it was that in a nutshell, or in this case, Curly's bald cranium.

[NachoHat]

Iggy Pop.

BUH DUM CHISH!