# Could a Comedic trio Like The "Three Stooges" Work Today? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 14, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-comedic-trio-like-the-three-stooges-work-today/731211 "2015-09-14T15:35:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-comedic-trio-like-the-three-stooges-work-today/731211/1 "2015-09-14T15:35:06Z")
I ask because I was watching some old TS shorts-from 1940-44. amazing how old they are! Still funny though-could three modern comedians like them be successful today? Although I doubt that the head-knocking and eye-poking would be allowed today. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-comedic-trio-like-the-three-stooges-work-today/731211/2 "2015-09-14T15:39:04Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I ask because I was watching some old TS shorts-from 1940-44. amazing how old they are! Still funny though-could three modern comedians like them be successful today? Although I doubt that the head-knocking and eye-poking would be allowed today. There was a successful BBC series calledThe Young Ones. Never before had violence of such degree, squalor, physical foulness, blood, sex and death, all been used as such a regular part of a flagship comedy programme. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-comedic-trio-like-the-three-stooges-work-today/731211/3 "2015-09-14T15:40:07Z")
Guess you are unfamiliar with the TV show & movie series “Jackass.” They hurt each other way beyond head-knocking & eye-poking. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-comedic-trio-like-the-three-stooges-work-today/731211/4 "2015-09-14T15:44:04Z")
Heck, the moderately successful 2012 Stooges movie is getting a sequel, so I guess we shall see. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-comedic-trio-like-the-three-stooges-work-today/731211/5 "2015-09-14T15:45:39Z")
In a world where a movie called “Dumb and Dumber” can be successful and spawn sequels, I don’t doubt that a group of talented physical comedians could pull off a regular slapstick schtick. The main reason the Stooges are legendary was due to massive overexposure on television in the fifties, when TV was desperate for programming to fill program hours, and Columbia Pictures was willing and able to sell them old Stooges shorts in package deals. Can’t see that sort of lightning happening these days, though. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-comedic-trio-like-the-three-stooges-work-today/731211/6 "2015-09-14T16:05:08Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Heck, the moderately successful 2012 Stooges movie is getting a sequel, so I guess we shall see. It was surprisingly well done. I didn’t think they could pull off. The movie that might have been is too weird to contemplate. Jim Carrey was set to play Curly but dropped out after he decided he could put on the weight needed. Sean Penn was set to play Larry but dropped out to do humanitarian work in Haiti. Benicio Del Toro and Hank Azaria were up for Moe. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-comedic-trio-like-the-three-stooges-work-today/731211/7 "2015-09-18T20:26:34Z")
Society is too pussified today for a group of bumbling oafs knocking the shit out of each other (well, other than the WWE, anyway). ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-comedic-trio-like-the-three-stooges-work-today/731211/8 "2015-09-18T20:43:25Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Society is too pussified today for a group of bumbling oafs knocking the shit out of each other (well, other than the WWE, anyway). And politics. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-comedic-trio-like-the-three-stooges-work-today/731211/9 "2015-09-18T20:48:23Z")
The [Mr Bean](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Bean) character by Rowan Atkinson has a lot of Stooge-like humor. Most of the series has no dialogue at all, sometimes filled in by an unintelligible mumble rather than actual words. It’s only a single guy, and it’s not necessarily eye-poking, but it is pure physical humor. It was pretty successful back in the 90’s. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-comedic-trio-like-the-three-stooges-work-today/731211/10 "2015-09-19T00:52:18Z")
The show Workaholics reminds me a bit of the 3 Stooges.