Oct 26 2008
Stooges Three and the Women Who Hate Them
Last night, Mr. Hall got home from work quite late. We didn’t have time for a full movie, so we just popped in a couple Halloween-related Three Stooges episodes. 
Well, to be truthful, a couple of them were only faintly Halloween-related, because apparently the person putting together this collection (called Spook Louder) didn’t actually watch the shorts; I surmise this because they included the short titled “Fright Night”, which is actually about boxing. Granted, the title is a little misleading, but really.
I feel a little guilty talking about Stooges episodes on here since I generally think of them as television rather than film — however, it must be said, they were film (albeit short film) before they were television, so it does count.
I’m just going to assume that you know who the Stooges are and start my rant:
Why don’t women like the Three Stooges?? Growing up, I had no idea about this, but apparently, as a general rule, women don’t enjoy watching the Stooges.
What the hell? I mean, seriously, women!! I have never understood how anyone could dislike the Stooges, much less an entire gender. I would make some suggestions, but I can’t even fathom it. What is there not to like about dumb guys hitting each other? Not only that, but you have to appreciate them as performers: their comic timing (in the majority of episodes; let’s not count the ones after Curly had his stroke, or after Shemp died) is utterly perfect, their improvisation hilarious, and the character balance a delight to behold. I just don’t understand how women don’t like them. If you’re a woman, would you explain this for me?
The Film Crew (spawn of MST3K) actually mentioned the woman-Stooge-hatred phenomenon in a sketch on a set of colorized Stooge shorts that they hosted: The Three Stooges In Color. (As a side note, they didn’t actually do a commentary on the shorts - they just did bumpers between the episodes [which was probably extremely confusing for the people who had only heard of The Stooges and not MST3k]. I was in transports of ecstasy over this cross-over of my favorite television show and one of my favorite comedy teams…. Almost as much as when Rifftrax featured Weird Al as a guest riffer… but I digress). They didn’t offer an explanation for the phenomenon — how could they?? — merely exploited it to comic ends, but there you have it. It exists, and it goes on being inexplicable.
Honestly, I just don’t understand women sometimes. — Mrs. Hall
