Comedy television owes a huge debt to The Three Stooges.

Believe it or not, the show originated as a stage act. Moe and Shemp Howard originally joined “Ted Healy & His Stooges” in 1922. Larry Fine came on board in 1927, but things really started picking up when Shemp left the act in 1934 and was replaced by his brother Curly. The Three Stooges made 97 short subject films (“shorts”) over the next 24 years. When Columbia dropped the Stooges in 1958, they found new popularity as the shorts turned up on television. It wasn’t until Larry had a stroke in 1970 that the live shows, television appearances, and feature films came to a halt.

Crazy, huh?