Who was the greatest member of the Three Stooges, and why?

Image courtesy of John Duckworth Illustration.

 

We asked some of our friends the following question:

Who was the greatest member of the 3 Stooges, and why?

From Wikipedia – The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: “Moe, Larry, and Curly” or “Moe, Larry, and Shemp,” among other lineups. They started as “Ted Healy and his Southern Gentlemen” which comprised Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard. This original trio did one feature film entitled Soup to Nuts after which Shemp left the group to pursue a solo career, and was replaced by his brother Curly Howard. This incarnation of the team was the first to be known on film as The Three Stooges.

Corinna Bechko - "Um, Sparkles? Wait, I might be thinking of Get a Life, the Chris Elliot show from the early 90's."

Nick Bradshaw - "Curly...he had the way, with the ladies."

Bong Dazo - "Curly, he was an animal lover, during shooting break, he would give those stray cats on the set some milk to drink which he brought along."

Juan Bobillo - "Moe is the leader. He has all the hair."

Jim Calafiore - "None; the whole is greater than the farts-- I mean parts."

Sebastian Fiumara - "Shemp. He always lived in his own world."

Dan Jurgens - "There's only one answer-- CURLY! Any Stooges short without Curly was not the Stooges!"

Eduardo Risso - "Curly. He was the coolest one."

Cullen Bunn - "Curly Howard. Is that really something people can argue? He was the heart of the Stooges."

Mark McKenna - "If it doesn't have Curly Howard, its not watchable IMHO."

Chris Houghton - "Larry. He's got the funniest haircut."

Mark Andrew Smith - "Larry because he's a dick and the leader."

David Petersen - "I'm not really a Stooges fan...I prefer the Marx Bros. But I guess I see Larry as the stand out performer there. He had to do the verbal humor well, he had to receive the physical stuff as well as give it."

Owen Wiseman - "I was never really a stooges guy, sorry to say. Pure slapstick doesn't do enough for me"

Paul Tobin - "That would be Curly. Why? Because it was his complete lack of guile that acted as a center post for Larry and Moe to work with.  And he could take the biggest hits."

David Baldeon - "Wow. The Stooges are not part of my pop culture baggage, being Spanish and all.  I don't feel prepared enough to answer such a delicate question.  I mean, these guys are HUGE, that I get!"

Dean Haspiel - "John Ritter"

Daniel Corey - "Moe. Top of the food chain."

Fred Van Lente - "They subjected us to those shorts, and Laurel & Hardy (which I liked better), when we'd have rainouts in school at New Jersey. After seeing all of them multiple times in a dark gymnasium when apparently playing inside never occurred to the Powers That Be, I'd have to say my favorite Stooge was the unspoken fourth one: Death."

Greg Pak - "Shocking confession: I was never a Stooges guy. It's all about the Marx Brothers in La Casa Pak.  And yeah, Groucho"