Since people are debating the SNL vs. MP in another thread, I thought I would bring up the age old question of the Three Stooges.
Who was the best stooge in the rotating third part? Was it Curly, Shemp, Joe, Curly Joe, (any other I am not recalling)?
My vote is Curly. He was the best. You could always count on the ones with Curly to make you laugh.
Shemp was a reasonably close second. The others should have never have been stooges.
Other opinions?
Jeffery
Curly, hands down. I think Curly was ahead of his time, anticipating in some ways the comedy stylings of Andy Kaufman and Robin Williams.
Shemp had his moments, but he was no Curly. The others shall remain unacknowledged in this post.
Guy I agree completely, he probably even led the way for future commedians.
“Look at the Grouse.”
Jeffery
Joe? JOE?!?!?!?!?
Why I oughtta …
I’m probabally in the minority here. I agree
that Curly was a comic genius, but I find
Shemp even funnier. Of course, that’s just
my opinion. Curly Joe was adequate, but
Joe Besser was an abomination. Shemp should
have been replaced with Emil “Hold hands, you
lovebirds” Sitka.
“No wonder these pipes don’t work … they’re full of wires!”
Curly.
In my opinion, Curly was, to date, the funniest man to ever walk the planet. Bar none.
Oooooohhh, a cordial…
That being said, Shemp could never fill his brother’s shoes. As I gracefully age and continue to watch the Stooges, I come to appreciate Shemp’s work more and more. Of course, brother Sam will never approach brother Jerome’s FQ (funny quotient). But that doesn’t mean Shemp wasn’t funny in his own right.
I think that’s why so many people hate (or at least dislike) the Shemp shorts. They’re comparing Shemp’s work to Curly’s and it just doesn’t rate. However, it’s still very, very funny. It’s kinda like saying “Jeff Beck ain’t as good as Eric Clapton, so he sucks…”
Joe Besser == Look up annoying in the dictionary, there’s a picture of Joe Besser.
Curly Joe DeRita == Sorry, just not funny.
Personally, I’m also a big Moe fan. I find Moe just a hair behind Curly in the FQ department.
Why you! Remind me to kill you later.
I’ll make a note of it.
President of the Vernon Dent fan club.
I think that Shemp was awfully funny, but Curly was the best 3rd stooge. Keep in mind that originally, Curly replaced Shemp because of Shemp’s differences with Ted Healy, so Shemp was actually the original 3rd stooge. In case you don’t know, Shemp rejoined after Curly’s stroke. Joe sucked. Curly Joe was better than Joe, but that’s not saying much. It must’ve been tough on Moe - losing 2 brothers, frequently seeking replacement stooges, and still maintaining a sense of humor.
I liked Curly the best, But Joe Besser was better than Shemp. He was pure camp.
Did anyone ever notice how really really really really ugly all of the stooges were?
The problem with the Joe Besser shorts
was not Joe. He was a riot. The problem
was Moe and Larry. They were so long in
the tooth by this time, the late fifties,
that they were no longer funny.
Curly was the funniest. No contest.
" Do the Curly Shuffle!’ Da-da-DAH!
The only Stooge to get a song named after him was the greatest Stooge of all!
We have met the enemy, and He is Us.–Walt Kelly
Curly was Homer Simpson before there was a Simpsons. Nuff said.
You dont like Shemp cuz he is ugly? Seriously?
Such a disgrace to Humanity
This may be shocking to you but I never found Curly funny. His whoop whoop whoop and nyuk nyuk nyuk may be iconic but not really funny, it was awfully cringe to me. My favorite is Joe Besser, he was the funniest to me then Shemp.
Curly was without question the most talented Stooge but Shemp is still my favorite third Stooge. Curly could have done so much more with his talent if he’d had the opportunity. Shemp got away from the act for a while, Curly should have done the same for his own sake, but the brothers were there for each other to keep the act together.
I assume you mean Joe Besser and not Curly Joe. Curly Joe was an inoffensive third Stooge. Better to have had him then no Stooges at all. There was a story that Moe never slapped Joe Besser because Besser didn’t like getting hit. The real story was that Moe didn’t want to get his hand dirty from slapping that no talent loser.
Seeing as this thread has been bumped, I’m moving it to Cafe Society, where it will feel at home.
Curly all the way. He was funnier, and Shemp was fighting against the deteriorating quality of the scripts. Curly was very surreal, while Shemp was more grounded, which made him less funny.
Curly Joe was bland and had very little personality, and the scripts by then stunk.
Joe Besser didn’t want to be a stooge, and it shows. He also suffered from bad scripts.
Still a little slow this morning. Before I noticed how old the thread was I thought, wow, the ‘System’ message board bot is having a discussion with itself over who’s the best third stooge. We thought A.I. would eventually take over, but instead it’s sunk to our level of discourse. 
I shudder to consider the results an AI would produce for the human race, if it were trained on Three Stooges material.
Curly Joe was the disappointment he was because by the time he joined the act the Stooges were considered a kid’s show, and the scripts reflected that.
Joe Besser had his schtick and Moe and Larry had theirs, and the two never really blended. The three of them got along well together surprisingly, but no, that’s not good comedy.
Shemp was a good performer, and the Shemp shorts have their moments. But unfortunately, they are doomed to be overshadowed by the genius that was Curly.
I love Curly, but I think the whole thing that held the act together all those years was Moe.
No Moe, no Stooges.