It started when I was very young. Six or seven.  My mother remarried a man named Mike.  He had VHS tapes upon VHS tapes of The Three Stooges.  My brother Jacob and I watched them over and over again.  We literally had most of the episodes memorized.  I have been a Stooge fan now for more than twenty years.  As an adult I just recently rekindled my love affair with the Stooges.  Spike TV plays two episodes every Saturday and Sunday morning.  With help from my TIVO, I have endless hours on slap shtick comedy once again.  While they are at times dated, being made in the 30's and 40's, part of their charm is the fact they are set in the depression.  There is always that underlying fact that everyone is out of work, everyone is hungry, and everyone is poor.  The Stooges create a brilliant comedic struggle between finding work and finding food.  All while getting into hilarious jams and scenarios. 

Overwhelmingly my favorite Stooge is Curly Howard.  I consider him to be one of the funniest men of this century.  His timing is impeccable and the situations he created and then carried through the show were amazing.  He really does carry the team.  Although Curly is my favorite, I would have to say I am most like Moe.  Bossy, abusive, abrasive, ass hole that he is.  If you found Josh around age twelve, you would have found a young Moe.  Smacking the crap out of my little brothers, devising brilliant plots and schemes.  My brother Jacob was always the comic relief, so it would be safe to say he was the Curly.  Then you have Larry.  Larry was the quiet Stooge.  He was the straight man while the other two abused each other.  My other brother Justin would have fit that roll perfectly. 

Overall my passion for Stooge comedy is just as strong today as it was when I was ten years old.  I can't think of any other black and white programs that have so much relevance to me.  Or entertains me half as much.  I have made it a goal to expose today's youth to the eye-poking genius that is the Three Stooges.  Recently I have begun transferring the episodes from my TIVO box onto VHS tapes.  Just yesterday, my little four year old buddy, Michael McLaughlin Jr, discovered the power of the Stooges.  He watched four episodes with me and we laughed and giggled the whole time.  When asked who his favorite Stooge was, he replied, "Moe!"