The Three Stooges in Popular Culture - Television

Television

• In an episode of Alien Nation, human character Matthew Sikes (Gary Graham) is a fan of the Three Stooges. He invited his alien neighbor Cathy Frankel (Terri Treas) to watch a few shorts with him. Cathy was horrified of the violence and informs that "nyuk, nyuk, nyuk" is considered a dirty word in their language.
• In the cartoon Animaniacs, the Warner brothers and sister (Yakko, Wakko, and Dot) often do the musical "hello-hello-hello" routine when they enter a scene.
• In an episode of Batman: The Animated Series, villain Doctor Milo and two accomplices happen to resemble The Three Stooges.
• In an episode of the 1960s cult cartoon Beany and Cecil, the lead characters set out to capture "The Dreaded Three-Headed Threep", a monster whose three heads resemble the Stooges.
• An episode of MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch featured the Stooges being brought to the present age via a time machine invented by Stone Cold Steve Austin to battle The Three Tenors. The Three Stooges (or, to be more specific, Curly) won.
• In the Cheers episode "What's Up, Doc?", Sam is distressed when a female doctor tells him that all he cares about is sex. Rebecca reminds him of his adoration of the Three Stooges. When Sam realizes he has an interest that has nothing to do with sex, he cheers up.
• In Ed, Edd n Eddy, the characters Eddy, Ed, and Edd seem to hold similar personality traits to Moe, Curly, and Larry.
• In The Fairly OddParents made-for-TV movie Abra Catastrophe, the main character, Timmy Turner, disguises himself in magical Groucho glasses and tells Mr. Crocker that he is one of America's most beloved comedy entertainers to which Crocker mistakes him as "Shemp". Later, when the disguise falls off, Mr. Crocker yells, "Hey! You're not Shemp! Not even Curly Joe!" Also in The episode It's A Wishful Life, Timmy Turner also said Moe's trademark catchphrase "Why I oughtta...." and ends it with "do it right now".
• In the Farscape episode "Out Of Their Minds", the main characters switch bodies, which leads to some "strange behavior" in their respective "unfamiliar" bodies. Witnessing this, John Crichton proclaims: "It's the three freaking Stooges, I'm hitting myself!" In the episode "Self-Inflicted Wounds", John Crichton flies onto a wormhole to shoot pictures, to see what is at the other end. The shoot later shows a scene from Disorder in the Court, proving that it was Earth at the other end of the wormhole.
• The title character in Jabberjaw sounds and acts similat to Curly.
• In The Flintstones, during the episode where Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are contestants in a baby beauty contest, rival campaigners Fred and Barney call on a trio of men to get their votes. The trio engages in some stooge-like slapstick.
• In an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will, Hilary and Carlton are fighting about who should first have access to a car. Hilary suggests that they play rock-paper-scissors. Will replies, "No, let's play the Three Stooges." He then raises his hand, points two fingers and says, "Hey, Moe!"
• In a sketch for the short-lived ABC comedy show Fridays, the Stooges are depicted smoking an "atomic bonger". This sketch aired only once due to objections from Moe's family.
• In the television show Friends in Joey's and Chandler's apartment there are small statues of all Three Stooges.
• In the opening scene of the Full House episode "It's Not My Job", Danny, Jesse and Joey dress up as the Three Stooges and sing "hello" in sequence the way the Stooges did.
• Doctor Zoidberg, from the animated series Futurama, makes Curly's trademark "whooping" sound when "evading enemies" (sometimes after squirting ink), and sometimes makes Shemp's trademark "Heep, heep, heep" sound when frustrated.
• In the Garfield episode "Legend of the Lake" three of the cavecats bear a striking resemblance to the Three Stooges.
• In Disney's Gargoyles episode entitled "Turf", Brooklyn, Broadway and Lexington (commonly known as "the Trio") are fighting over a female gargoyle, Angela. While Lex and Broadway argue, Brooklyn steps between them, pushes them apart and says "Knock it off, muttonheads!"
• In the Hannah Montana episode "Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas", Miley says "I am not about to let Larry, Curly and Moe-bro waltz in and steal him away".
• The Three Stooges appear in Hollywood Steps Out by Tex Avery, hitting and punching each other on the beat of the music.
• In the series Home Improvement, Brad, Randy and Mark all dress up as Moe, at a Halloween party.
• In the animated series Jabberjaw by Hanna-Barbera, the title character has some of Curly's mannerisms, including the "nyuk nyuk nyuk" laugh, and the "woob woob woob" vocalization. He was voiced by Frank Welker, who would later go on to voice Curly in The Robonic Stooges.
• In the Jackie Chan Adventures episode "Sheep In, Sheep Out", when Daolon Wong sends the Shadowkhan after Jackie, Jade, and Uncle, Jade says, "Larry, Moe, and Curly must be on vacation!" Also, in the episode "Rumble in the Big House", Jade points to Finn, Chow, and Ratso and says, "Look! The Three Stooges!", implying that the enforcers remind Jade of The Three Stooges.
• The King of the Hill episode "A-Fire Fighting We Will Go" contains several references to the Stooges.
• In one episode of the animated version of the Little Rascals, the Baby Face gang resembles the Three Stooges.
• In an episode of M*A*S*H, Major Winchester is disgruntled when Colonel Potter orders him to show three South Korean doctors around the compound. During the tour of the O.R., Winchester calls the three Korean doctors Larry, Curly, and Moe. When one of them asks why he calls them that, Winchester answers that in his country, they were highly respected philosophers. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that the Koreans knew of the Three Stooges all along.
• In a sketch for MADtv, the Three Stooges are spoofed as paid assassins along with David Faustino as person they had to kill in a parody of Menace II Society. The sketch featured Orlando Jones as Curly, Debra Wilson as Larry, and Phil LaMarr as Moe.
• In the Monk episode "Mr. Monk and the Very Old Man", the three snakes owned by a murdered security officer were named Curly, Larry and Moe.
• In the Muppet Babies episode, Good, Clean Fun, Fozzie explains how to be prepare for a pie fight. Clips from the Three Stooges episode, Slippery Silks, appear and Fozzie gets into a pie fight with the Three Stooges and asks: "How did those guys get into Nanny's kitchen anyway?"
• In an episode of My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Adam clinks Windsor and Slips' heads together, as Slips says one of Curly's catchphrases, "Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk", and is followed by Windsor saying, "Hey Moe, what'd I do?" referring to Moe and Curly having an argument.
• An episode of Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, titled "Class Clown", features Lumer and his two bully friends auditioning to be the new class clown by performing a Three Stooges fight with each other.
• In the English version of the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, the three characters Shinji Ikari, Toji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida are collectively referred to as 'the three stooges' on several occasions.
• In The New Batman/Superman Adventures cartoon, the Joker has three henchmen named Mo, Lar, and Cur. Mo has the black bowl cut, Lar has the ring of brown hair, and Cur is bald.
• In One Piece Buggy's crew members The Tightrope Walking Funan Bros resemble the stooges.
• In an episode of the cartoon Pinky and the Brain entitled "Pinky & The Brain And... Larry", Pinky and The Brain are inexplicably joined by a third wheel Larry in their plan to get into the White House posing as wallpapers, whose unwelcome addition to the team causes Stooge-style antics to ensue.
• Characters of the Pokémon series have made occasional references to the Stooges (at least in the English dub of the anime). In the episode, "The Flame Pokémon-athon!", Misty and Meowth, and Jessie mention the trio in a heated argument.
• In an episode of Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive, Mack (as the Red Sentinel Ranger) yelled "Three more stooges to go!"
• In the first episode of the second season of The Pretender, Jarod (Michael T. Weiss) pretends to be Dr. Howard, a University anatomy professor, while working with Dr. Fein, the head of the department. One of their students calls to them, "Dr. Howard, Dr. Fein, Dr. Howard!"
• The Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" episode, "The Altruists", is largely a homage to the Stooges, a fact that creator John Kricfalusi confirms on the DVD release of the episode, which was an attempt to recreate the altruistic nature of the Stooges, and takes several comical cues from classic Stooges episodes. Other homages in the episode include a version of "Three Blind Mice" being played prior to the cartoon, as well as borrowed plot elements and gags. Stimpy's voice has always been an impression of Larry Fine's Stooge character, and Ren acts like Moe's.
• In a Halloween episode of Roseanne, Dan dresses up with a mask that has two of the Stooges' heads beside his own.
• In the show Rules of Engagement, The Three Stooges were mentioned by Jeff (Patrick Warburton) on the episode "Mr. Fix It".
• In the May 12, 1984 episode of "Saturday Night Live," a sketch involves the Three Stooges as self-defense instructors. During the sketch, Curly (Joe Piscopo) and Moe (Tim Kazurinsky) ad-lib after Curly's baggy karate pants accidentally fall down.
• The Boo Brothers in "Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers" are obvious parodies of The Three Stooges.
• In many episodes of SCTV, John Candy imitates Curly, often doing a "nyuk nyuk" type of laugh. In the parody of Ben Hur, Candy (in the eponymous role) mimics Curly throughout the entire episode.
• The 1992 Seinfeld episode "The Suicide" features Jerry's reference to the Three Stooges to his very enamored neighbor, Gina. Another Seinfeld episode, "The Trip", has Kramer running into an elderly woman who claims to have played a part as Mr. Sugarman's secretary (Mr. Sugarman himself was said to have been played by Curly) in a Three Stooges short titled "Sappy Pappies". When Kramer replies that he never saw it, the woman tells of three sailors charged with taking care of a baby. The story becomes unbelievable and overly dark for a Three Stooges short, as the ending has the baby dying and the Stooges being sent to death row and executed.
• The television show The Simpsons has made frequent references to the Stooges. A comprehensive list of references can be found here.
• The South Park episode, "Hell on Earth 2006", has a recurring parody of the Stooges, featuring Ted Bundy in the role of Moe, Jeffrey Dahmer in the role of Larry, and John Wayne Gacy as Curly.
• In an episode of the Spider-Man animated series, Spider-Man refers to the Insidious Six as "the six stooges".
• In the opening sequence of the SpongeBob SquarePants television series, SpongeBob uses his nose to play the same end-notes that are used in the opening of the Stooge shorts.
• The Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Carbon Creek" features a group of Vulcans stranded in a small American town in the 1950s. One of the Vulcans is annoyed at being nicknamed "Moe" because of his resemblance to "something called a 'Stooge'". Another Vulcan, who is depicted as being familiar with human pop culture, agrees with the assessment.
• In an episode of The Suite Life on Deck called "seaHarmony", the characters of Mr. Moseby and Miss Tutweiller have an argument about The Three Stooges. When Tutweiller tells Moseby that The Stooges are silly he says "I only have one thing to say to you...Nyuk, Nyuk". Tutweiller follows with "Wise guy, huh?" and attempts to poke him in the eye. The two characters then perform some other Stooges trademark acts.
• In the anime The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, the three Zentradi spies Roli, Konda, and Warera resemble The Three Stooges somewhat in personality and facial appearance, albeit different hairstyles. Their fish out of water adventures as spies aboard the Human SDF-1 Macross spaceship contribute to comic relief moments in the show. Later they defect to the human's side. Warera is heavyset like Curly and subject to the most visually comical moments. When Macross was adapted as the first part of Robotech, the three were renamed the Zentraedi spies Rico, Konda, and Bron. Rico (considered the leader of the trio) has a voice that resembles Moe Howard in his later years. In the Robtech Novel, Zentraedi Rebellion, Lazlo Zand nicknames them the Three Alien Stooges.
• In an episode of the Disney afternoon show TaleSpin when Baloo is briefly hospitalized after one of his misadventures, a scene begins with a long shot of the hospital while the intercom announces, "Paging Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard," in yet another direct tribute.
• In the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode, Donatello says "Nyuk Nyuk" three times.
  • In the third season 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series episode "Blast From the Past", Splinter proves he is the true leader of the Foot Clan by defeating Shredder with the Cur-Li Maneuver, a combination of Stooges slapstick attacks and sound effects. In the first-season episode "New York's Shiniest", Donatello's attempt to reprogram one of the evil robots created by Shredder, by using his video collection, results in the robot uttering "Hey Moe, woo-woo-woo!" at one point, much like Curly.
• An episode of That '70s Show features three of the characters acting out an imaginary Three Stooges short called "Pie Guys"; its thin plot is very similar to one of the live-action wraparounds from The New Three Stooges.
• In a 2002 episode of the sitcom Titus titled "Insanity Genetic: Part 2", an FBI interrogator asks if Christopher Titus has ever physically abused any of his family or friends. His brother Dave immediately begins sobbing as several flashbacks, accompanied by Three Stooges theme music, depict Christopher slapping Dave in the head several times, stomping on his feet and tackling him to the ground during a fight.
• In the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX episode "Champion or Chazz-been", Reggie guesses that Chazz's facedown card involves the Ojamas, and when Chazz asks why, Reggie replies with "You built your entire deck around The Three Stooges!" as one of his ways of making fun of the Ojama cards throughout the duel. Chazz later refers to the Ojamas as the Stooges when they keep bugging him in "I've Seen the Light". Numerous other references to the Ojamas as The Three Stooges are made throughout the second season, sometimes by Chazz himself.
• In Gosei Sentai Dairanger, there are recurring characters called the San Baka Goma, or the Three Gorma Stooges.
• In the 1938 Porky Pig cartoon Wholly Smoke, three cigars resembling the Three Stooges rise out of a cigar box and each one gives him an eyepoke.
• On an episode of the American television series Family Guy, the main character Peter is shown an anti-abortion video, which claims abortion took the life a potential "4th Stooge", who says "It was gonna be hilarious!".