# Larry, Curly, Shemp, and Joe **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-curly-shemp-and-joe/481314 "2009-01-14T20:39:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-curly-shemp-and-joe/481314/21 "2009-01-15T20:45:36Z")
**Why do they keep being friends with Moe when he hits them all the time?** In the act because they are stooges and stooges don’t know better. Outside the act, for the $$$$$. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-curly-shemp-and-joe/481314/22 "2009-01-15T21:47:38Z")
I figured there would be some sort of pyschological reason there. Like Larry, Curly, Shemp, and Joe were abused at children, and therefore didn’t recognize abuse as an aberrant form of behaviour, not to be tolerated. Or pehaps it is MOE who is at fault. Perhaps his family was so weak that Moe from an early age had to take on more responsiblity then he knew how to handle correctly. So he turned into a dictatorial bastard, and his friends Larry, Curly, Shemp and Joe were working with him to change this. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-curly-shemp-and-joe/481314/23 "2009-01-15T22:19:28Z")
Of course, in real life, Moe Howard was the opposite of his character…a shy intovert who disliked conflict and strong emotional displays. But the real reason the act was that way was because all three of them were stooges of Healy, and when Healy and they broke up, Moe stepped into Healy’s character. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-curly-shemp-and-joe/481314/24 "2009-01-16T01:26:51Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Of course, in real life, What do you mean “in real life?” This was reality TV before there was TV ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-curly-shemp-and-joe/481314/25 "2009-01-16T01:27:20Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > I think for several years they were just billed by first name and/or collectively “The Three Stooges,” but some time in the '40s they started being credited as Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard, which would have been a clue. Their last names were used in dialogue in at least one short.\* As a kid, it still took me a while to figure out that Curly and Moe were brothers, although I connected Moe and Shemp right away (like that was hard). No, in the Columbia short subjects, they were always billed as Moe, Larry, and Curly (and Shemp and Joe). No last names. The “Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard” was in “Men in Black,” their third film (and the only one to get an Oscar nomination), but it was not used after that. And, from most accounts, Moe had a way of letting his hand go limp when he slapped a face, so the victim felt nothing. The eye poke never got anywhere near the eye (usually the side of the face, if he touched you at all). Sound effects made it all sound like contact was being made. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-curly-shemp-and-joe/481314/26 "2009-01-16T02:02:57Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The eye poke never got anywhere near the eye (usually the side of the face, if he touched you at all). Actually, my recollection was that if you watched carefully, Moe’s eyepoke landed squarely on the brow or forehead. The victim would then flinch so violently that you never noticed. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-curly-shemp-and-joe/481314/27 "2009-01-16T11:35:15Z")
Were they always playing the same characters from short to short? The only ones with any continuity I can think of offhand are “You Nazty Spy” and “I’ll Never Heil Again”. FTR: Both Moe and Shemp are referred to by last name in “The Brideless Groom” (1947). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-curly-shemp-and-joe/481314/28 "2009-01-16T17:00:02Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > The technical term is “knucklehead.” Not “nyucklehead”? 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-curly-shemp-and-joe/481314.md?page=1)