Did Joe Besser Avoid Slapstick Comedy In The 3 Stooges?

Many Stooge fans maintain that Joe Besser shunned Stooge-style mayhem.
But he objected only to being literally slapped in the face.
And even that objection would eventually be forgotten.
Otherwise, he joined in the roughhouse antics like any other official Stooge.
HOOFS AND GOOFS (1957)
MUSCLE UP A LITTLE CLOSER (1957)
A MERRY MIX-UP (1957)
SPACE SHIP SAPPY (1957)
GUNS A POPPIN! (1957)
HORSING AROUND (1957)
RUSTY ROMEOS (1957)
OUTER SPACE JITTERS (1957)
QUIZ WHIZZ (1958)
FIFI BLOWS HER TOP (1958)
PIES AND GUYS (1958)
SWEET AND HOT (1958)
FLYING SAUCER DAFFY (1958)
OIL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (1958)
TRIPLE CROSSED (1959)
SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS (1959)
I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

[@BravesFan30281]

Moe and Larry were lucky to get Joe Besser to be a stooge. There weren't very many comedians willing to do that type of physical comedy at their age. And many comedians like Groucho Marx looked down on them. Joe served his purpose by allowing the Stooges to complete their contract with Columbia.

[@cigoLxeL]

_"Joe served his purpose by allowing the Stooges to complete their contract with Columbia."_ This is like saying that a handful of raw flour will serve its purpose in keeping someone from starving to death. It is _a_ compliment, but it's not exactly a ringing endorsement.

[@mH8675309]

They could’ve done allot worse

[@kevinmiller6380]

@@cigoLxeL Hater.

[@tonymaurice4157]

It was terrible!

[@melissacooper4282]

Although Joe Besser wasn't my favorite Stooge I respect him for not trying to imitate Curly. The same with Joe DeRita. The Stooges best works were when Curly and Shemp were alive.

[@BigWillyStyl3]

100% curly by far the best and funniest

[@cigoLxeL]

I've never understood why that's held up as a point in his defense when _none_ of the replacement stooges tried to imitate Curly.

[@notme191]

@@cigoLxeL I never thought of that. Great point.

[@mH8675309]

@@cigoLxeL curly didn’t try to imitate Shemp - the original third stooge

[@melissacooper8724]

​@@mH8675309 Shemp didn't try to imitate Curly either.

[@benadam7753]

Thanks for laying to rest the myth that Joe Besser did not take bumps and hits! I laughed so hard!!!

[@SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand]

To be honest even though Joe Besser gets a lot of hate, he has some of the absolute most underrated episodes ever. These include A Merry Mix Up , Space Ship Sappy, Outer Space Jitters, & Flying Saucer Daffy. These are 100% the most unique stooge episodes by far.

[@beck-tn9gl]

I agree. So was Muscle up a little Closer.

[@jsull6430]

People need to realize that when Joe Besser became one of the stooges, Moe turned 60. Larry and Joe were in their late 50's. So there is no way Joe even had a chance of being close to Curly or Shemp. They didn't have that energy levei anymore. Same with Joe Derita. But Curly and Shemp really loved the stooges and gave it their all.

[@cigoLxeL]

Curly Joe gets a pass because while he wasn't particularly funny, he also wasn't _annoying_ the way Besser's character is.

[@phillipanderson7398]

And when Shemp returned to the Three Stooges after he had dropped out of the team in the very early 1930s he was with them throughout his 50s and up util he died at age 60.

[@phillipanderson7398]

@@cigoLxeL I find CJDR more annoying than Joe Besser. I think it has something to do with Joe B loving being a Stooge and Joe DR just treating it as a job.

[@avalond1193]

@@phillipanderson7398 you have it the other way around cjdr loved being a stooge and even after moe died tried to continue the act albeit very briefly. Besser didn't want be a stooge and at first felt it was beneath him and place in his contract not to be hit as much. To him it was just job to help moe finish the contract to Columbia but eventually Besser warmed up to the guys and ended up really enjoying his time with them

[@tonymaurice4157]

It was terrible

[@sergtchannel]

What I love about the Joe Besser days was the intro of Hello, Hello, Hello.... Hello. Loved it as a kid and even now. Preferred him as Stinky when he worked alongside Abbot and Costello!

[@johnrobinsoniii4028]

Well that’s what he was most famous for.

[@surenity766]

I’ll give him this. A big reason his shorts weren’t that good wasn’t all his fault, but the fact that the writing in them was quite weak, and they were mostly remakes. This was happening in Shemp’s late shorts too.

[@jayo1212]

Especially after he died and they had to do the "Fake Shemp" to fulfill his contract...

[@brianmccormick3837]

On this date in 1988, Joe Besser died. My dad's second-favorite Stooge, behind Curly. Joe was his favorite Stooge during his lifetime. Don't worry, everybody. My dad's still alive. 36 years on, rest in laughter, Joe.

[@terrorsaur599]

Personally, I think Joe should’ve been characterized as less whiny and more aggressive, someone who could truly match Moe’s bossiness while still retaining the silliness of a third Stooge.

[@ToonReel001]

It kinda looks like while he didn't like being slapped, he was open to loopholes, ones that maybe weren't as painful to execute but served as well in terms of slapstick. Sometimes more bizarre alternatives like being hit by a cake or getting salt poured on his tongue were even funnier than a slap.

[@justinturley7071]

Most of his shorts were remakes of mostly Curly shorts and a few Shemp shorts, so salt on the tounge was Curly in Idiots Deluxe.

[@kevinmiller6324]

@@justinturley7071 Guns A Poppin' was a remake/reworking of Idiots Deluxe. Only difference was Mad Bill Hookup and the sheriff (Frank Sully) weren't in it.

[@justinturley7071]

Fun Fact: Joe Besser said his favorite Stooge short with him was sadly the last one filmed, Flying Saucer Daffy.

[@abrahamlincolnjones2922]

Very interesting. It was indeed the last short filmed but the last one released was Sappy Bullfighters!

[@Drewit1]

Honestly I think Flying Saucer Daffy should have been the final Three Stooges short. It definitely had the best, although also the saddest, ending you could give The Three Stooges.

[@mH8675309]

It was a funny episode

[@beck-tn9gl]

My favorite episode is Muscle up a little Closer

[@bobbybickert]

It's almost like Cinderella. Moe and Larry are the mean stepsisters. The aunt is the mean stepmother. And the female aliens are like Joe's fairy godmothers.

[@solomongibsoniii4865]

Although I was never a big fan of Joe Besser's 'big sissy', he gets props for giving it his all, and could be fun to watch.

[@albertwells8503]

All these years I never liked Joe Besser because I was under the impression he never joined in on the Stooge slapstick. But you proved he did. He’s still not my favorite stooge, but now I respect his work more. Joe DeRita was once interviewed, and he said that slapstick wasn’t his style, and he despised it. He only became a stooge for the money. Therefore, I have more respect for Joe Besser than for Joe DeRita.

[@joewelnack3283]

The only reason Joe Besser joined the Stooges is that he was under contract to Columbia Pictures. Everyone in show business like plumbing or being a pimp does it for the money. Joe DeRita was smart enough to join the act for the money; the funds he made in burlesque were chump change compared to what he made with the Stooges. Some say Joe DeRita was hard to work with, he didn't hate the stooges but he didn't find the later bits funny as PTA groups etc. objected to the rough stuff (like the eye poking).

[@TheNotbadphonedaddy]

@@joewelnack3283 - They do it for the money certainly, but not only for the money. Hell talking about Moe Howard specifically that guy LOVED to entertain people & make them smile. Don't categorize him as a "for the money" kinda guy, his love & passion was untouchable.

[@kevinmiller1763]

@@TheNotbadphonedaddy That's why the Stooges were in business-to make people laugh.

[@tonymaurice4157]

Joe was the worst!

[@VisualparanormalChannel]

Joe’s character wasn’t a sissy character it was essentially the same character he did as the “kid” stinky on the Abbott and Costello show. He wasn’t a good fit for the stooges but in his own right he was a very funny man.

[@dupont416]

He had two very tough acts to follow. Considering Curly and Shemp were brothers and all three worked with Larry for years, they had enormous chemistry. It took a few episodes, but Besser was starting to jell pretty nicely. "A Merry Mixup," "Quiz Whizz" and "OIl's Well That Ends Well" are particuarly good. People will hate me for this, but Besser had probably had a better performance than Curly in "Pies and Guys," the remake of "Half-Wits Holiday." Curly's was in deteriorating health, and it showed in that picture, in which Curly had a debilitating stroke toward the end of filming. Besser showed more energy, and that's certainly not Curly's fault. Besser was only with the act two years. Had his situation allowed him to continue, he may have had a much better legacy with the act. Nobody could envy him having to follow Curly and Shemp.

[@keithfulkerson]

Oil's Well That Ends Well is one of my favorites. There's so many hilarious moments in that one.

[@melissacooper4282]

Rusty Romeos was my favorite! Mainly because Joe gave the gold digger her punishment while in the short with Shemp she simply got away with it!

[@patrickqualtiere3134]

I agree!, She really needed a good sound otk spanking !. 👋❤️👍

[@davidtackett6451]

I forgotten some of the shorts with him were actually funny .

[@WinkDaMan07]

David Tackett Yeah my favorite Joe short is Fifi Blows Her Top

[@brianbommarito3376]

Joe Besser had some magnificent shoes to try and fill. Curly and Shemp Howard were in a league all their own. Any comedian, no matter how talented, would not be able to fully satisfy. If I had been Moe, I would’ve called it quits after Shemp died. And I love Joe and Curly Joe! They did some great work as well. But it’s just not the same. If Stan Laurel had tried to go on after Oliver Hardy died, it just wouldn’t have been the same. It might have been good, but it wouldn’t be comedy perfection.

[@kevinmiller6380]

Brian Bommarito-That's like George Burns. After Gracie quit performing in 1958 because of her health, he continued on without her. In 1961, he starred in a short-lived sitcom, Wendy And Me with Connie Stevens. I imagine George played Me. 😆😆😆😆😆😆

[@kali3665]

He still did the wimpy "Don't DOOO that!" too much, but he eventually accepted the punches as part of being a Stooge. Still, he never was a favorite of mine, not even back in his A&C days as Stinky.

[@suryadas6987]

Or the, "Cut it out! That huurrrrt!" Drove me nuts...😝

[@melissacooper4282]

Or how about that he sounds whiny in his tone of voice? That annoys me to no end!

[@suryadas6987]

@@melissacooper4282 I'm feeling your pain on that one! 😵😖

[@Mibbitmaker]

Joe's whiny bits were part of his act way before he joined the Stooges, of course.

[@TheDylandProductions]

@@Mibbitmaker I like Joe's winy shtick. Always found it funny. Then again, I grew up with his voice as Babu on the Jeannie Hanna Barbera cartoons! Too bad many of his Stooge shorts are inferior due to lower budgets and too much recycled footage. I doubt even Curly or Shemp could have saved them by that point!

[@Doobie1975]

I personally thought most of the Joe Besser shorts were a huge breath of fresh air to the fake Shemp films along with the rehashed films they were churning out with stock footage during the later Shemp years, I don't think Besser deserves all the hatred he gets.

[@joewelnack3283]

Take a look at Joe Besser in the A&C T.V. shows.

[@CatsClaw44]

You're the only person who feels that way.

[@Doobie1975]

@@CatsClaw44 At least with the Besser shorts you didn't have to deal with lots of stock footage like you did with many of the later Shemp shorts.

[@johndupont2920]

Some of his Stooges shorts, most notably “Oil’s Well That Ends Well,” we’re quite good.

[@Miakel]

Yes, exactly, the last year of Shemp shorts were very poorly written and 80% reused footage and story. And I am not even referring to the fake shemp shorts.

[@notme191]

I actually really like curly Joe.

[@terryhammond1253]

I love Joe Besser. The problem was that his style of comedy was different than the stooges...plus the scripts and Gags after Shemp were weak. The director should have worked with them more.

[@craigjorgensen4637]

Sorry, but the Stooges were never the same after Shemp died. Not even close. They did the best they could to keep the act going. Have to give them credit for that.

[@jeffsmock8567]

no They were never the same after curly, Shemp did lots of good stuff, Joe besser was a better stooge than jooe derita

[@hbrika]

The women are terrifying and hilarious in the Stooges lmao

[@libertyforever4270]

Joe Besser gave it as well as he took it. He obviously concluded that it was better to take it than to be unemployed.

[@porflepopnecker4376]

And he kept Moe and Larry employed, too! :)

[@libertyforever4270]

@@porflepopnecker4376 , Indeed. A comedic three way. :)

[@kevinmiller1985]

@@porflepopnecker4376 From w hat I've heard Joe was wary about what happened to Cu rly because of all the head b ops he took. That's why he had it written into his contra ct that he not be hit, althoug h this was later lifted.

[@Cinemagoer_64]

Larry didn’t like him because he wouldn’t take blows but most of all because besser would not take a pie in the face. They should have a duo with Moe and Larry only.

[@kevinmiller1985]

@@Cinemagoer_64 From what I've heard comedy always comes in threes. That's why Moe & Larry were never a duo; it wouldn't have been the same had it been just Howard & Fine.

[@andrewstovall2853]

The problem wasn't that Joe didn't do slapstick it was that it's notably tamer and he would wine like a B#ch afterwards

[@michaeltaylor1603]

I liked Joe Besser. He was in the Joey Bishop show & Abbott & Costello show, Jack Benny. I loved his mannerisms. Often times he'd say "Owwww! Not so Harrrrd! He told Jack Benny "You're such a STINGY!" His line delivery + reaction to "slap gags" made a funny combination.

[@michaelsandford1015]

Joe was just joe, and not curly or shemp

[@chuckcookus]

Joe Besser is light years ahead of Joe DeRita. His Stinky from Abbot and Costello is sublime.

[@ectoplasmicentity]

I love Joe. Don't know why he gets a bad rap.

[@beck-tn9gl]

He was great in Muscle up a little Closer

[@fransiscoscaramanga674]

i love Joe Besser, enjoyed his work as stinky with abbott and costello......

[@beck-tn9gl]

I liked him in "Muscle up a little Closer" My favorite episode with him.

[@WilliamDearthwd]

Yeah, they had to limit it with him. He couldn't handle it as well as the previous ones.

[@brianbommarito3376]

1:16 This one’s extreme even for Stooge comedy. And they could get away with more than most. I’m not sure they got away with this one.

[@bobbybickert]

Before I clicked on the link, I thought it was going to be the clip from "Muscle Up A Little Closer" of Joe getting a blowtorch to the butt. I thought that was going overboard.

[@Bigbadwhitecracker]

I love Joe.

[@FabledHeroes3351]

He wasn’t to bad I give him 6.5 out of 10

[@AlexBrovo]

Nothing wrong with Joe and I grew to appreciate him more in my older years

[@tak-475]

2:45 Funny seeing Joe eat it from a dame. Lol 😆

[@jessicathethreestoogesfan2635]

Okay, sure. I admitted. I was going crazy about that.

[@beaumichael6359]

I thought joe besser was an excellent stooge. He was hilarious!

[@GameparkGames]

I know this is about Joe but I didn't know they did a remake show of the last episode Curly was in, that one must have been hard on Moe. I feel bad for him for losing 2 brothers in 3 years and having to deal with the fake Shemp and not really taking proper time to mourn the loss. I also respect the fact he wanted to keep the 3 stooges going because he and Larry liked making people laugh. I wish they didn't pass on the way they did, they deserve to have had even longer lives to enjoy themselves a bit more.

[@boomka]

I never watch the joe episodes, so I had no idea that footage from old episodes were incorporated into the story remakes

[@beaumichael6359]

So joe didn't take any punishment eh? Horsefeathers!

[@codytaylor9259]

0:09-0:14-0:19-0:23-0:26-0:29-0:33-0:37-0:40-0:44-0:48-0:56-0:59-1:02-1:04-1:07-1:13-1:16-1:19-1:22-1:26-1:28-1:30-1:34-1:40-1:46-1:49-1:54-1:58-2:01-2:09-2:13-2:16-2:18-2:21-2:25-2:28-2:32-2:45-2:56-3:00-3:02-3:05-3:13

[@Doobie1975]

didn't Moe hit both Joe and Larry at the end of "Space Ship Sappy"? I seem to remember a scene where Moe smacked Larry and Joe at the Liars award convention

[@lb2.0.45]

I don't think Joe Besser was bad he's funny in his own right but I just don't think he fit well in the stooges like he wasn't bad but he wasn't good either just in between. But I do respect him for being his own character and not trying to emulate Curly or Shemp same goes for Joe DeRita I didn't mind his work at all he was his own character as well. So it is what it is!

[@ROMANEMPIRE69]

Welp thanks for the video. I never seen any of these only the one with the plant pot falling on his head and the way the Larry and Moe hit him in the scene before that happened looked so lame and gentle. Maybe at first he refused the hits. But thanks to this video I see Joe did later fit in.

[@NuisanceMan]

He still wouldn't let them cut OFF his head, though.

[@avalond1193]

It's not that he didn't get hit he just didn't like to be hit as he said in an interview and had Larry take most of the bumps

[@ManAndAHalf]

I saw that interview. Joe said Larry was a good guy for doing that for him.

[@asr53]

Joe was great as Stinky on the Abbott & Costello TV show early 50's. Of course Curly was the best but some people don't know that the original Stooges were Moe, Larry & Shemp. Curly replaced Shemp who went on to have his own series of shorts. After Shemp died, Joe was in the shorts that had the least amount of support from Columbia with good scripts, production, etc. As others have noted, Shemp, Joe and Curly-Joe did not try to imitate Curly as they realized no one could.

[@kachoo2135]

He was considerably younger than the other boys and Moe did not want to antagonize Joe

[@marvinwhittaker1760]

"Not So Hard"!!!!

[@tedgonzalez985]

I don't care if the slapstick wasn't as "intense" as Curly's and Shemp's, I love seeing Joe do his own thing as the third stooge. The whole point of his character was that he was a sissy, and yet he still got slapped around just the same. I laugh either way when he shows up. His reactions are hilarious. Maybe not as funny as Curly or Shemp, but if it makes me laugh, I'm good with it.

[@DisonanciaCache79]

I think Joe Besser (and Curly-Joe DeRita) is on-par with Zeppo Marx. They aren't so funny but they aren't so bad either.

[@denniscoffey1247]

How about the episode when Joe eats the cigars!

[@jehobden]

I think that was "Quiz Whizz". The man feeding him cigars gets clunked over the head w/ a tray, and even better his lady friend gets a huge cake in the face (to which she said she'd added rat poison.

[@denniscoffey1247]

@@jehobden

[@boristheamerican2938]

Yes he did, he was already under contract with Columbia shorts department and had a no hitting clause in his contract. Dont know if he insisted the clause be honored or Columbia did just to avoid any legal trouble though.

[@jeremydabal9000]

Well there was one episode, that he got slapstick it's called quiz whizz

[@azmike3572]

I read that it was in his contract not to get the physical abuse the other two would receive.

[@WalterJoergLangbein]

The more I watch, the more I like Joe Besser. Besser is German, meaning „better“.

[@jakehubbert1258]

Joe is funny 😆

[@jimsauer2453]

Joe couldn’t hold a match to Shemp and Curly.

[@citizenken7069]

From what I understand, the agreement was they couldn't hit Joe unless he agreed to be hit. In fairness to Joe, the Stooges' brand of slapstick could be quite dangerous. Moe, Larry, Curly, and Shemp all sustained injuries in their films.

[@fliegeroh]

Joe Besser's "schtick" was being "the big sissy." It was probably funnier back then.

[@scott6428]

1:11 was pretty funny

[@jakehubbert1258]

Yes it is

[@stevefaure415]

Besser was kind of a flamer, sort of a proto-Paul Lynne. Better than I recalled.

[@porflepopnecker4376]

I think he had a great comic persona. :)

[@KiddBloo86]

I thought so too; not that he wasn't funny, just didn't mesh in right for the Stooges

[@benburkemper351]

joe was ok but he was no shamp or Curly

[@suitman]

Is it me or was he probably the inspiration for snagglepuss?

[@cigoLxeL]

Okay, fair point, but he didn't get the crap knocked out of him _nearly_ enough to make his "whining sissy-boy" shtick bearable. Even Moe couldn't stand him in real life, and that guy was so easy to get along with that he invited trespassing fans in for dinner.

[@justinturley7071]

Joe said that they had a lot of fun shooting all 16 shorts. He said Moe and Larry were the nicest people he ever met, and he said that his time with the Stooges was the greatest role he ever played. Hell in 1958 Moe and Larry were going to tour with him, but Joe turned it down because his wife was sick.

[@justinturley7071]

Joe was even real close friends with Shemp, he expressed his condolences to Moe in the aftermath of Shemp's death.

[@walterschivo9123]

0:22, was that Moe Howard playing the sister that turned into the horse in Joe's dream?

[@benadam7753]

Yes. that was Moe in drag!

[@melissacooper4282]

I also realized in that scene Moe's stand in was also Shemp's stand in.

[@ExtremeBeatlesArchive]

Well, you certainly put that myth to bed.

[@snowysilverclaw5482]

they did Joe Besser wrong in the Stooges movie all those years ago and portrayed him like he hated the slapstick, it was new to him but he indeed got comfortable with it later on and joined in, even loving working with them, but Joe Derita literally said he only joined the act for the money and hated slapstick comedy yet got an ehh portaryal in the film. The Joe Besser era is looked down on way too hard and honestly it doesnt deserve it because Larry n Moe were in their late 50's, of course theyd have trouble keeping the same energy they had, and someone like Joe was what they needed, lighter energy in the slapstick and more vocal comedy works well for their older years.

[@luncas8549]

0:46

[@TheNecessaryEvil]

I think he just didn’t like being slapped.

[@phillipanderson7398]

Joe in my estimation was the third best " third Stooge". Curly first, Shemp second and Joe third- I will always put Joe above Joe DeRita, CJDR was terrible. Each successive third Stooge was worse than the previous one. ps, Joe got beaten by Moe and Larry much more than Joe DeRita ever did.

[@kennyraicherter1264]

All the stooges were great.do stop your complaing.they still made you laugh

[@dagnabbit6187]

I thought Joe Bessel did pretty good. Not as good as what came before him but he was serviceable.

[@smileyzproduction4202]

I’m doing a six stooges rank

[@chareeselaws6415]

1:40 1:40 2:46 2:47

[@GenGamesUniverse]

You knew that when Fine and Howard hired Besser after the deaths of Curley Howard and Shemp Howard, it was going downhill for the stooges.

[@InvestedGman]

Yeah no offense but they should've stopped after shemp died.

[@InvestedGman]

Because the shorts Sucks

[@boristheamerican2938]

@@InvestedGman Apparanlty you dont know the story behind this. They had a contract with Columbia that had a couple of more years to go. They considered going on as 2 but Columbia said no. They wanted to get Joe DeRita in but he was under contract with someone else. After faking a year of shorts without Shemp using stock footage, Columbia sort of forced them to take Besser. Then in 1958, Columbia disbanded their shorts department releasing them from the contract and us from enduring any more Joe shorts. After this Larry and Moe bought out the contract of DeRita and he joined the act as the 3rd stooge as Curly Joe for the movies they made afterwards.

[@vicious-pi3rd]

Moe, did get carried away with the hitting. To a point it was not funny anymore. It be like wtf cut it out already! ! Also, Curly sounds got annoying eventually. The yuck yuck .ohh and the bark.. Favorite stooge Shemp Larry Joe

[@tak-475]

I still dislike him as a stooge 🙄.... not so much because he wasn't too much on the receiving end of some slap stick, but because of his whiny character. It was very annoying. After Shemp passed away, things just weren't the same again.

[@jnorthrop70]

Joe Besser had a great career before the Stooges. I liked what he brought to the Stooges. Joe DeRita...I was never a fan.

[@andrewwhite9702]

AT 0:54 AND 2:00 WHAT ARE THOSE FROM

[@bobbybickert]

The first clip is from "A Merry Mix Up". The second clip is from "Fifi Blows Her Top".

[@agentxchannel6640]

fans hate 'em because we was the fruitiest stooge - exactly why discrimating fans LOVE him. now, curley-joe? t e r r i b l e

[@finckel2682]

By no means Joe Besser was a bad Stooge. Nor was Joe DeRita. They just weren't as good as Shemp and Curly, but they could still grab a few laughs at times.

[@kimberlyhenderson7604]

Moe was nothing but a bully.

Not so haaaaaard!

[@ricarleite]

Casting Besser or DeRita was a mistake. They should have found a younger comedian that would bring the slapstick to himself and add energy to the whole show. Like Curly in the 1930s. Someone unknown.

[@BigWillyStyl3]

1.Curly 2.Moe 3.Larry 4.Shemp 5.Joe

[@AceripXF]

joe wasnt as funny

[@pablocoisloco4584]

Well...he was not as funny as Curly Howard, nor Curly De Rita but he was still funny.

[@kamala2111]

Sorry never cared for him he had in contract not too be slapped in face by Moe very often

[@porflepopnecker4376]

I think he was an ideal choice for replacement Stooge. Whatever qualms he had about being slapped soon faded away, as seen several times in the video.

[@alexandersteiner213]

Didn't care for Joe Besser. I didn't like Joe DeRita either though.

[@davidstewart3923]

moe was a murder he casued curly,shemp and larry death and yes even joe moe didnt care about his friends or family he cared about himself and the three stooges thats all he cared about.

[@kmartradio]

Moe wasn't mean like that in real life.

[@Grizzlied555]

Shemp died of a heart attack. Moe did not cause that. Joe Besser died of heart failure, and Moe did not cause that. Curly, and Larry's death had other contributing factors. Besides, they were unanware of it.