The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best known for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures that have been regularly airing on television since 1958. Their hallmark was physical farce and slapstick. In films, the stooges were commonly known by their actual first names. There were a total of six stooges over the act's run (with only three active at any given time), but Moe Howard and Larry Fine were the mainstays throughout the ensemble's nearly fifty-year run and the pivotal "third Stooge" was played by (in order of appearance)
Legacy and perspective
Over half a century since their last short film was released, the Three Stooges remain popular with audiences. Their films have never left American television since first appearing in 1958, and they continue to delight old fans while attracting new admirers. They were a hard-working group of comedians who were never the critics' darlings, a durable act who endured several personnel changes in their careers that would have permanently sidelined a less persistent act. The Stooges would not have lasted as long as they did as a unit without Moe Howard's guiding hand.  The Ted Okuda and Edward Watz book The Columbia Comedy Shorts puts the Stooges' legacy in critical perspective:  Many scholarly studies of motion picture comedy have overlooked the Three Stooges entirely - and not without valid reasoning. Aesthetically, the Stooges violated every rule that constitutes "good" comedic style. Their characters lacked the emotional depth of Charlie Chaplin and Harry Langdon; they were never as witty or subtle as Buster Keaton. They were not disciplined enough to sustain lengthy comic sequences; far too often, they were willing to suspend what little narrative structure their pictures possessed in order to insert a number of gratuitous jokes. Nearly every premise they have employed (spoofs of westerns, horror films, costume melodramas) has been done to better effect by other comedians. And yet, in spite of the overwhelming artistic odds against them, they were responsible for some of the finest comedies ever made. Their humor was the most undistilled form of low comedy; they were not great innovators, but as quick laugh practitioners, they place second to none. If public taste is any criterion, the Stooges have been the reigning kings of comedy for over fifty years.  Beginning in the 1980s, the Stooges finally began to receive critical recognition. The release of nearly all their films on DVD by 2010 has allowed critics of Joe Besser and Joe DeRita - often the recipients of significant fan backlash - to appreciate the unique style of comedy that both men brought to the Stooges. In addition, the DVD market has allowed fans to view the entire Stooge film corpus as distinct periods in their long, distinguished career rather than unfairly comparing one Stooge to another (the Curly vs. Shemp debate continues to this day).  The team appeared in 220 films, but it is the durability of the 190 short films the Stooges made at Columbia Pictures that acts as an enduring tribute to the comedy team. American television personality Steve Allen went on record in 1984 saying, "Although they never achieved widespread critical acclaim, they did succeed in accomplishing what they had always intended to do: they made people laugh."

Q: What was the three stooges
A: They were a hard-working group of comedians who were never the critics' darlings, a durable act who endured several personnel changes
What was some of their work?
Beginning in the 1980s, the Stooges finally began to receive critical recognition. The release of nearly all their films on DVD by 2010
Beginning in the 1980s, the Stooges finally began to receive critical recognition. The release of nearly all their films on DVD by 2010