They have two huge advantages that have added to their longevity. First of all their type of physical humor translates to any language. My grandmother spoke very poor English but she understood “Those crazy men” just fine.
The other is the length of their films are not only perfect for TV with plenty of room for the modern commercial, but are perfect for another reason.
I remember from Tip O’Neil’s autobiography that the best speech is about 9-15 min because that is how long you can hold attention, I think one of the reasons why the Stooges are stronger than the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy (and don’t get me wrong they are all classic) is the fact that they primarily made shorts that can be watched on TV in 15-20 minutes, in a fast world that is a huge advantage.
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