When Ramsey Campbell first encountered the Three Stooges, he was only a bemused spectator. Now he’s an admirer, and this personal appreciation celebrates the reasons. Few Hollywood comedy teams have endured like the Stooges, either in length of career or in continuing to entertain. One secret of their longevity was how their line-up often changed. Moe and Larry were the constant personnel, supported over the decades by Shemp and Curly and a trinity of Joes, one of them uncredited.
In Six Stooges and Counting Campbell argues that the impermanence of identity is a frequent theme of their films, one aspect of the anarchy they incarnate. Once he believed there was little to their comedy but knockabout, and in this book he demonstrates how wrong he was. You’ll learn of their influence on Kubrick and Tarantino, and may it be present in Fassbinder’s films and Hong Kong action movies as well? You’ll find them playing Shakespeare and Greek tragedy, and figuring in Beckett and Bram Stoker. To quote Bridget Fonda: “I think that anybody who doesn’t like the Three Stooges just never really watched.” Ramsey Campbell looked at them afresh and hopes this book will make the reader do that too.
Dark bleatings, my inquisitive tribe. I’ve got a little non-fiction treat for you today! Before I went into this book, I basically knew nothing about The Three Stooges. I’d heard of them, of course, and had just a very basic idea of what they were, but honestly I couldn’t have answered a single question about them. Now, after this book, I’m an educated woman on the go.
It takes a very special writer to introduce someone to a subject and then keep them engaged and interested from the first page to the last. Reading this felt like being in a cafe talking with an excited friend. Initially, if I’m being honest, I had no interest in the Stooges – I only picked this up because it’s written by Ramsey Campbell, and you all know how much I adore him. What kept me hooked in the first twenty pages or so was Ramsey’s sheer enthusiasm for what he was talking about – the tone is just lovely. Before long, I was actually invested in the Stooges!
Ramsey charts their career, who they actually were, their work, other popular culture works that reference them, and this is broken down decade by decade, right from their inception. It was so interesting to me to learn how the team and act was put together (I always assumed there were actually just the 3 of them, as it says on the tin). It was even more interesting to see how the act developed over time.
There’s a lot of poster artwork to enjoy, a lovely little treat for the eyes. I particularly enjoyed realising just how big their impact on the wider arts was. Since reading this, I’ve done a bit of googling, and unearthed a whole bunch of references, winks to, and homages in other films that I’ve already watched, but I had no idea. I wasn’t in the know before so half the time a reference to a visual Stooges gag just looked to me like a fresh original gag, if that makes sense. This book has really given me a new appreciation of Sirs Stooge and their wider impact – they’re kind of like the comedy version of The Beatles, in that regard.
We get a bit of a delve into their gags, the construction of their jokes, and Ramsey’s thoughts on them, of course. And another detail I love is all the script examples! I studied scriptwriting and am a bit of a collector of film and television scripts. I’m a script nerd. If possible, I like to get my hands on copies of scripts as they were during production, rather than the fresh ones published after a film’s release (because if you get the version actually used, you can see where actors made different choices with lines, etc). This was just a lovely extra touch here, for me.
It takes a real talent to inspire in a reader interest in a topic they not only had no prior knowledge of, but also no real desire to read about in the first place. And then, on top of that, to keep them so invested that they really care. Ramsey succeeded in spades here, and I really enjoyed my reading/learning experience.
I’d recommend this to… huh… well, everyone, I guess! People who already have an interest in the Stooges, certainly, and also people who don’t! It would absolutely make an excellent reference guide to anyone studying the subject. If you’d like to get a copy or check out the author, I’ve popped some links below for you:
Bleeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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