I Can Hardly Wait

"I Can Hardly Wait" is one of the best Three Stooges short subjects ever. Lots and lots of laughs and slapstick comedy in this one. Moe, Larry, and Curly are perfect here, making me laugh out loud like they did in many of their other films. Oh no, the stooges sleeping in another triple bunk bed? I think anybody who has ever watched The Three Stooges automatically knows what's going to happen when a triple bunk bed is featured. I don't even have to say it. I'm sure everybody knows the final result. Hilarious.

Moe was in a particularly ornery mood as seen in the Three Stooges' previous film, August 1943's "I Can Hardly Wait." Writer Clyde Bruckman dipped into his treasure chest of Laurel and Hardy classics and found 1928's 'Leave 'Em Laughing,' which he changed to open with the three arguing during dinner time. Curly feels he's getting slighted by handed just egg shells and the bone in a slice of ham rather than hardboiled eggs and the ham meat. Biting into the bone cracks one of Curly's molars, sending him to the dentist. A mix-up at the dentist has Moe's tooth pulled out instead of Curly's. The film's title derives from Curly's repeated lamentations about his sore tooth during the night as Moe and Larry, in a triple-stacked bunk bed, try to get some sleep.

References on WW2 permeate throughout "I Can Hardly Wait," with the three as employees of the Heed Lock Airplane Corporation, a play on one of the United States' largest defense contractors, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. Also, in a Curly dream sequence, Moe tells the dentist, Dr. A. Yank (Bud Jamison), after a sleepless night listening to Curly's painful complaints about his tooth, "Listen, doc, we're defense workers. If you wanna cut down on absenteeism, yank this guy's tooth! He won't let us sleep, he's sabotaging the war effort!" This short film uses one of the most minimalist sets in the Stooges' portfolio, with just a kitchen, a bedroom, and a dentist office. This harkens back to the comedy team's live vaudeville days where the three performed on the stage with just simple props and furniture.

Another insipid Bruckman script. There is a dream sequence in this , Bruckman could ruin a ...dream. Again most of the funny bits are what Bruckman stole, this time from Laurel and Hardy and from two different films. Curly's kerchief is EXACTLY the same as Stan's in Leave um Laughing, right down to the twisting. Other gags from that film and "Pardon Us."

Why is there a dream? Nothing happens in the dream that couldn't happen without it. The dream adds nothing. Bruckman does not understand the Stooge Universe, he thinks there has to be be a reason for what they do. He also just throws in bits of orphan dialog, having nothing to do with anything, just to have someone say something. Out of no where Larry says," Hold MY head up."

Brucky writes some general situations and expects the Stooges to make them funny. They do pretty well, but it's all disjointed. The whole dinner episode is just a joke, then another one, then another one. But they don't lead to the next one. Moe blatantly puts his hand on a slice of bread.Curly spreads mustard on Moe's hand. ( "Pardon me I thout you was a slice of ham. I never saw a slice of ham with fingers." What kind of joke writing is that? If he never saw a ham with fingers, why did he think it was ham?) Curly washes a piece of ham. A spiral cut loaf of bread leads to a yodel fest? You don't need a story writer for any of that.

Somehow the Stooges keep this from being totally unwatchable, but Bruckman's presence even screwed up the title. Originally called "Nothing But the Tooth," which is in line with other punning titles, somehow it got changed to "I Can Hardly Wait" because it's a line he wrote for Curly. It's such a great line he has Curly repeat it 3 or 4 times early in the flick.

This is without a doubt the funniest of the Curly shorts and probably my all-time favorite 3 Stooges short. The one liners that Moe throws off in this one are classic! The first time I saw this one it left me laughing my head off. Some of the abuse that Larry and Curly take in this one leaves the viewer wondering if they did not receive some real injuries. Stooge trivia books, though, said Moe perfected his hand slap on his fellow Stooges. There is one funny moment where you can tell a fall was taken by Curly Howard's stunt double (as was the case in many other features). If you have not seen this one look for it on cable or buy it on video. I guarantee you'll watch it time and time again as I have over the years.

"I Can Hardly Wait" is by far one of the best three stooges films there are. I've watched this episode so many times I've got it memorized. It is funny with the Triple Bunk Beds and the beginning is great to. If your a three stooges fan, then you need to see this if you haven't already.