# Will Ferrell, Three Stooges **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 13, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907 "2008-08-13T22:48:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![herownself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8baadc/32.png) [@herownself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herownself)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/1 "2008-08-13T22:48:24Z")
Is it just a guy thing? I’ve met very few women who really enjoy the Stooges. I’ve met very few women who dig the recent crop of Will Ferrell movies. I can’t say much about the Stooges because it literally causes me pain to watch them. Plus, no trailers. When I see a trailer for a Will Ferrell movie I get than painful/humiliation feeling. I can’t imagine watching the movie even if someone was _paying me_. But guys go to Will Ferrell movies. My movie club goes to all of those movies - stag. Is it a true social phenomenon or am I just horribly bigoted against Will Ferrell? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/2 "2008-08-13T22:53:40Z")
My wife loves Will Ferrell movies. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/3 "2008-08-13T22:59:40Z")
IAAMale and I don’t care for them. On the other hand, I love the Stooges. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/4 "2008-08-13T23:02:15Z")
I am a male. Will Ferrell is retarded. The Three Stooges stress me out and make me need to leave the room. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/5 "2008-08-13T23:08:07Z")
The trailer for Traveling Pants - 2 was playing on the TV the other day and this generated a discussion with my 16 year old daughter. I asked her, do girls really think seeing a girl fall down is the height of comedy? It seems to be chick-flick movie shorthand for “she’s funny!” My daughter did find it that funny, personally. Now, by the same token, for guys the equivalent seems to be getting hit on the head (the 3 Stooges being the past masters). Also within the last couple of decades, self humiliation has been big. It’s something Will Farrell specializes in, but many contemporary comedy guys play the same song. Some females have tried it (did you see The Heartbreak Kid, oy!) but it just doesn’t seem to work. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/6 "2008-08-13T23:08:07Z")
Count me as a male who hates both the Stooges and Will Ferrell. I actively root for him to bomb at the box office, hoping that eventually they’ll stop giving him contracts… alas, his last one has made 81 Million so far. But I’m not sure that discounts your theory. I’m sure we can find plenty of exceptions, but the question remains: Is the majority of Will’s fans male? I can’t answer. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/7 "2008-08-13T23:20:07Z")
The Three Stooges (well, almost all five of them) were comic greats. Will Ferrell is rarely comedic. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/8 "2008-08-13T23:21:29Z")
I am a male and 51. I have loved the Stooges since I was 3 years old and still do. I do not like Will Ferrell movies. I don’t hate Will Ferrell, mind you. He seems like a pretty nice guy. But I do hate his movies. There is just no way you can compare a Will Ferrell movie against a Three Stooges picture, unless it has Joe Besser. That’s the only fair way to compare them. By the way, if you’re a Stooges fan, you owe it to yourself to go to [AOL TV](http://video.aol.com/show/three-stooges). There are some shorts featuring Moe, Larry, and Curly with Ted Healy, before they parted ways. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/9 "2008-08-13T23:29:13Z")
At their best, The Three Stooges, like the Marx Brothers, are a performance art form. They’re not for everyone, and Curly Joe is just a whiny bitch, but Larry, Moe, and Shemp or Curly are good for fifteen minutes of inspired idiocy. (At movie length, however, they wear thin. Stupid, even really clever stupid, only goes so far.) Will Ferrell, on the other hand, is just lame. He’s the guy in the back of the bus who continues to try to be funny with the same stupid gags long after everyone has fallen asleep. Stranger ---
**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:** [August 14, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/10 "2008-08-14T00:06:17Z")
Will Ferrell was quite good in **Stranger than Fiction** and **Bewitched**. Most of his other roles suck rocks through a straw. He tends to oversell the jokes, which keep him from being funny. The Stooges did best in short subjects; even granting they were way past their prime when they started doing features, their comedy is hard to sustain. They also were a bit uneven. But at their best (usually when Del Lord directed), they were great. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/11 "2008-08-14T00:29:13Z")
I am male. Will Ferrell is not funny, and should be excised from Hollywood retroactively. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/12 "2008-08-14T00:38:51Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] Will Ferrell was quite good in **Stranger than Fiction** and **Bewitched**. Most of his other roles suck rocks through a straw. He tends to oversell the jokes, which keep him from being funny. The Stooges did best in short subjects; even granting they were way past their prime when they started doing features, their comedy is hard to sustain. They also were a bit uneven. But at their best (usually when Del Lord directed), they were great. [/QUOTE] I forgot about **Stranger than Fiction**. It’s good enough not to be classified with “Will Ferrell movies” in my brain. ---
**Author:** ![HoboStew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f17d59/32.png) [@HoboStew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoboStew)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/13 "2008-08-14T00:56:09Z")
Will Ferrell backlash? You guys are SO late to the party. Or is this the Will Ferrell backlash-backlash backlash? ---
**Author:** ![Charger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@Charger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charger)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/14 "2008-08-14T01:03:36Z")
Another male chiming in who does not like The Three Stooges or Will Ferrell. If I had to choose between the two, I’d choose Will Ferrell, because I didn’t mind him in some of his movies. Every time I see an ad for a new Will Ferrell movie, I utter one of my catch phrases: “Will Ferrell is in too many movies.” I wish there were a specific term for unfunny comedy, because I am fascinated by the fact that so much of what I consider to beinsultingly unfunny, other people revere as the summit of all comedy. I hope scientists can isolate the gene that makes people laugh at desperate-to-be-funny-but-fails-miserably “comedy.” ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/15 "2008-08-14T01:10:33Z")
I’ve never seen a movie with Will Ferrel in it; I have seen trailers and clips. Blech! None of these movies interest me in the least. The Stooges, on the other hand, are classic. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/16 "2008-08-14T01:58:33Z")
[QUOTE=Charger] I wish there were a specific term for unfunny comedy, because I am fascinated by the fact that so much of what I consider to beinsultingly unfunny, other people revere as the summit of all comedy. [/QUOTE] Antihumor. Ferrell has a humor-dampening effect on me that I refer to as antihumor. Antihumor is more than just not being funny. His unfunny stunts can turn a light hearted, promising comedy setup situation into an embarrassing misfire that sucks the amusement out of the souls of all onlookers. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/17 "2008-08-14T14:38:44Z")
I know plenty of girls who like Will Ferrell movies. Elf and Anchorman are popular ones, in particular. I don’t have a single friend who likes the Three Stooges, and I can’t think of anything that I’ve found _less_ funny than what I’ve seen of their films. I think my dad likes them. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/18 "2008-08-14T14:56:00Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] I forgot about **Stranger than Fiction**. It’s good enough not to be classified with “Will Ferrell movies” in my brain. [/QUOTE] Yes, it’s not a Will Ferrell _comedy_. Very good movie. I think he’s good in small doses, generally when he’s not the lead. His small role in Austin Powers was funny, for instance. Same with the Three Stooges; quick clips of them are funny, and I tend to make Curly’s whooping sound when I’m about to do something stupid, but I couldn’t bear to sit through an entire actual episode. I admit I found parts of Anchorman ridiculously funny. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/19 "2008-08-14T15:13:02Z")
[QUOTE=Icarus] I asked her, do girls really think seeing a girl fall down is the height of comedy? [/QUOTE] NO we don’t! It bugs me so much when the supposedly kooky lead actress in a rom-com or even a straight comedy falls down. It happens a lot. Julia Roberts, Renee Zellweger, Christina Applegate. I suppose male characters do it, too, but often it is the _only_ “funny” thing these women get to do in the trailer, or even the entire movie. But I guess that’s what happens when you cast for looks over comedic training. Oh, and I know plenty of women who love Will Ferrell’s movies and his old SNL stuff (though it is wearing thin). Perhaps they’re just not as vocal, or tend not to imitate him loudly? ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907/20 "2008-08-14T15:15:53Z")
I make it a rule to not go to or rent a movie with Will Farrell in it. I always get the feeling his humor is an “in-group” type of humor and he chooses not to let the audience into the group. The Three Stooges’ humor seems to me to be exactly the opposite. Everybody is invited to be in on the joke. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-ferrell-three-stooges/459907.md?page=2)