Two Amusing Shemp Shorts

Shivering Sherlocks:

(Short # 104 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)

Two random facts about me: 

1) My people skills aren't that great, especially off-line. The stupidity of others is why I've wanted to attend the cinema at two different points in the preceding week but through no fault of my own this hasn't happened. Perhaps next week it'll happen... I am not a people person in general—however, I enjoy all my followers on Letterboxd. Not every opinion I agree with but I know the feeling can be mutual with my occasional unpopular opinions.
2) I wanted to see a film yesterday. No, it wasn't Hurry Up Tomorrow. The reception that's received is rather, well, lackluster to be charitable. Despite an intriguing trailer, I was never interested. Truth be told, if I've heard a Weeknd song besides I Can't Feel My Face, I couldn't tell you! “I don't ever listen to modern music.” is perhaps an even more shocking revelation.

The reason I shared all this? Yesterday was a rather crummy day, one best left forgotten. On days like these in 2025, it's been a blessing to view The Three Stooges-apologies for the cliché but sometimes laughter is the best medicine.

In this installment, the trio are accused of robbing an armored car; they didn't help their case by randomly hiding in a garbage can! Why they did this, that is a mystery. A 1940's lie detector is shown-at least presumably this was what one looked like back then. Shemp concocts a random alibi that they work at the Elite Cafe. Thankfully for them, proprietor Christine McIntyre covers for them and they start working at the establishment. This results in new and old gags, including Shemp making chicken soup by pouring hot water through a chicken carcass, and Moe eating clam chowder; it goes awry in a similar fashion to Curly eating oysters in Dutiful but Dumb. In 1954 Larry gets in on the act 

Wouldn't you know who won the pony... the people who are hiding out in the family estate owned by McIntyre are the actual armored car robbers. This includes a subhuman hunchbacked hulking brute named Angel! Yes, a lot happens in Shivering Sherlocks. Funny antics occur in the house to conclude the short.

The most noteworthy aspect to me: this was the last short that Del Lord directed in this universe. He was in that chair for many of the best featuring Curly: Three Little Beers, Hoi Polloi, We Want Our Mummy, A Plumbing We Will Go, No Census, No Feeling, An Ache in Every Stake, They Stooge to Conga, etc. There thankfully are other talented directors who will continue to do a swell job in that chair, who will be mentioned in later installments.

Pardon My Clutch:  

(Short # 105 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)

Another nice benefit of going through these Three Stooges shorts this year: when my schedule is all out of whack as it’s been the past several days, at least something can be posted without skipping a day. I’d like to think that normalcy is already back for me—but the way May has gone, nothing is set in stone.

Shemp’s under the weather in this short. Their pal is an amateur doctor and after the trio bungled the directions on a bottle of pills (they were confused by “skip an hour”) it was discovered that Shemp had a bad tooth-I sympathize as several days ago, a trip was made to the dentist for a procedure. That wasn’t fun; however, my dentist is a French lady w/ an accent, but I doubt the reader cares to hear those details.

After the tooth extraction-no, that wasn’t the procedure that was done to me; I mean Shemp had his bad tooth extracted-it was recommended that the boys go into the woods for vacation. Their pal procured a vehicle—only it was a jalopy from the 1920’s, a real wreck. 

Even before some new laughs were mined from them loading the vehicle, they attempted to pitch a tent… er, I mean practice putting up a tent. It goes as awry as expected. In a surprising change of pace, Moe, Larry, and Shemp all had wives. They were all exasperated by the behavior of their husbands. Yes, the Stooges and their wives all live in the same house yet don't own a car. I guess public transportation was great in that part of So Cal.

As there are new laughs to be had just from them attempting to load the car-which blends well with the modified gags that felt fresh throughout, it was irrelevant that this “journey” they attempted to take never left their street. Mix in a wacky bit part from Emil Sitka and Pardon My Clutch was a pretty good time.