The Three Stooges' comedy routines have inspired generations of tributes in other media. The following information is a partial list of such tributes. Depending on the form of media used, there are direct and indirect references to the Three Stooges. Beginning with the Stooges themselves as the trio did make small guest appearances in movies or in small bumper clips for their cartoon series. Clips from the Stooges shorts are sometimes featured in the actual footage of a movie, TV show, or advertisement, or the line from the short Men in Black (1934 film), “Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard” is used. Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard (Or Curly Joe DeRita) appeared as cartoon versions of themselves.
Contents
- Film
- Literature
- Childrens Literature
- Comic Books
- Humor
- Magazines
- Novels
- Music
- Advertisements
- Animation
- Drama
- Childrens Television
- Made for TV Movies
- Video Games
- Other
- References
The indirect references are harder to spot. These are the ones that fans of the shorts would instantly recognize, but another viewer not familiar with the series may not recognize. A careful viewing of all the original shorts reveals that each of the Stooges had his own signature haircut, catchphrase, and action. The easiest reference would be simply talking about the Stooges, or accusing another character of acting or reminding them of the Stooges.
Each Stooge had his own signature insult or catchphrase. While very rarely did any of the other Stooges insult Moe or injure him, Moe did come up with the most insults of the entire group. He frequently called Larry a porcupine. He used other insults such as mongoose, dope, hyena, applehead, soft-boiled egghead, grapehead, frizzletop, and birdbrain. While the catchphrases for each Stooges such as Moe's use of "Remind me to kill you later", Curly's with "Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk" or "woob, woob, woob", Shemp Howard's noise babbling, and Joe Besser's "Not so hard!", are nearly always paired with the signature haircut of the same Stooge.
For their haircuts, Moe had a bowl cut, Larry was bald on the top of his head with his remaining hair frizzled out, Shemp had a more loose hairstyle (It frequently fell into his face), while Curly, Joe, and Curly-Joe were all bald. Characters could appear in groups of three, sporting the signature haircuts.
Each Stooge developed his own signature action and reaction. Moe would frequently eye-poke the others, to which they developed a signature hand block. He always slapped one of the others. Curly had a shuffle where he would spin on the floor. Larry played the violin. Joe would always give a soft punch to the arm while using his catchphrase. So characters may also act like the Stooges using their signature phrases and actions.
The hardest references to spot are the ones where only the names may be used such as a group of three being called Moe, Larry, and Curly. Places and buildings might have one of the Stooges names or the actors’ names. And perhaps the hardest of all, a character having a slight Stooge-like tone such as the elephant in Rabbit Fire.
Film
In the film list, the action varies depending on the scene. If the Stooges themselves were used, clips from their shorts were shown such as in Lethal Weapon and Flubber. However, in some cases, due to copyright demands of Columbia Pictures, most often these scenes are edited out or the scene only uses the voices and sounds from the clips. Several scenes use the famous line “Calling Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard” from the 1934 short, Men in Black, which can be heard in the background. Most often characters would be seen acting like Curly such as barking at people, using both hands to repeatedly clean the face, or using his catchphrase of “Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.”. Although the simplest reference used is when one character refers to another as the Three Stooges.
The Stooge antic that is most often used in movies is the eye-poke. This was the usual punishment Moe delivered to all the other Stooges. Usually, Moe would “hit” the target, but other times, they would use a hand-block to stop him. The hand block involves holding the hand perpendicular to the face, against the nose. The fingers are blocked from “poking” the eyes. (A careful viewer of the shorts can see that Moe never really pokes anyone in the eyes. A combination of the face twitching, the head moving, and a loud noise, disguises the fact that Moe is actually hitting the eyebrows or forehead.)
Literature
In printed media the idea of Stooges can be very difficult to spot. Since most of the Stooges' traits were visual, the reader would have to be familiar with how the Stooges acted in their shorts, or details about the actors’ backgrounds in order to find the parody. The exception would be in comic books where the artist or author may leave an easy to spot reference.
Children's Literature
Comic Books
Humor
Magazines
Novels
Music
Music can be just as difficult to determine the parody to the Stooges as print media. With the exception of Jump 'N the Saddle Band's The Curly Shuffle, or if the video to the song shows a clip from one of the shorts such as I Love This Bar by artist Toby Keith, the listener would have to be familiar with how the Stooges looked and acted in their shorts. The lyrics may refer to someone acting like / admiring the Three Stooges, refer to their names, hairstyles, or pre-Columbia work. The simplest reference can come from when a group names their band after trio such as the group The Stooges.
The Curly Shuffle was a direct homage and featured clips from 26 of the Curly-era Three Stooges shorts. Including An Ache in Every Stake, A Bird in the Head, Calling All Curs, Punch Drunks, No Census, No Feeling, and A Plumbing We Will Go. Each lyric sang the praises of the Stooges and included imitations of some of their famous lines such as Oh, wiseguy? and Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. All of the Stooges with the exception of Joe (Curly-Joe’s image is used) are talked about in the lyrics.
Some songs such as The Haircut Song by Ray Stevens, Timbuk3’s Hairstyles and Attitudes, and Modern Band’s Moe reference the Stooges unique hairstyles, while others like Meat Loaf’s Everything Louder Than Everything Else, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies' Sockable Face Club, Frank Black’s Two Reelers, and Chris Brown’s Look At Me Now contain small references to the trio. The 1934 short Men in Black, provides the line Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard. The names or the actual voice/line is used as part of song/video such as in the background of the video to "Weird Al" Yankovic’s Like a Surgeon, or the title of a song on album Boppin’ the Blues by NRBQ.
Some artists go further in their references. The Canadian rock group Rush used the Stooges' television series theme music, a derivative of Three Blind Mice, as introductory music during their album Signals through Hold Your Fire Tours, and again for the Vapor Trails Tour. A picture of the Stooges and their names are included in the band's album Counterparts liner notes, and are included in the "assistance, inspiration, comic relief" listing.[2]
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Animation
With animation, the creators can be very liberal when it comes to having characters looking like the Stooges. The easiest way to spot the look-a-likes is through the hair. Very often a set of three characters (despite race, type, or even gender) will have the traditional haircuts of Moe, Larry, and Curly. Animators may combine this with Stooge antics such as eye-pokes, slaps, insults, phrases, and head-bops. If Stooge antics aren’t used, the personalities will be according to the hairstyle. If a character has Moe’s haircut, they are usually the boss of the group, where as the one with Larry and Curly’s hairstyles would act closer to a combination of the other Stooges.
Drama
Children's Television
Made-for-TV Movies
Video Games
The Three Stooges appear in their own self-titled video game for both the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy series. This game featured the Stooges as three heroes trying to raise money for an orphanage by a deadline while trying to outwit an evil bank owner. Pictures of Moe, Larry, and Curly appeared in the beginning as well as during the cracker eating game, and their voices can occasionally be heard during the game. One mini-game featured Three Stooges Trivia. While it was a game exclusively for the trio, it received many low reviews due to its bad game controls, slow timing, and lack of a true ending.