The Three Stooges boast a legacy as one of the most influential comedy acts ever, but the changes to their lineup breed some confusion. It’s hard to overstate the importance of the Three Stooges to American comedy. Over the years, the trio put out hundreds of comedy shorts in which they occupy a variety of jobs, before causing the situation to descend into chaos with their trademark slapstick violence. The group’s legacy is decades worth of some of the best comedy movies, short films, TV appearances, and even a controversial remake from the Farrelly brothers.

The funniest Three Stooges shorts mostly featured the main lineup that comes from the trio’s years of peak popularity from 1934 to 1946. This period, in which the lineup consisted of Moe, Curly, and Larry, came to be known as the Curly years, in order to differentiate it from the years in which Curly was replaced with his brother Shemp, who was in turn replaced with comedian Joe Besser. The behind-the-scenes story of the Three Stooges’ constant cast turnover is a tragic one, counterpointing the lighthearted life the Stooges played out on screen.

While the classic Three Stooges lineup is composed of Moe, Curly, and Larry, the Stooges had a different makeup for the majority of their pre-fame career. The Stooges first formed in 1922, when brothers Moe and Shemp Howard, a comedy double act, were recruited alongside another comedian, Larry Fine, to be the sidekicks of a rising vaudeville star named Ted Healy. Their act, “Ted Healy and His Stooges”, saw Healy perform as the comedic straight-man to the antics of Moe, Shemp, and Larry. Ted Healy was a massively successful entertainer, but his legacy in cultural history is that of the Three Stooges’ terrible boss.

Not only was Healy exploitative and jealous of the Three Stooges, who were quickly beginning to upstage him, but he was also a heavy drinker prone to bouts of extreme violence. In 1932, Shemp Howard, increasingly frightened of Healy’s outbursts, decided to quit the group and forge a solo career. He soon found success as a film comedy actor, working with New York’s Vitaphone studio. He proposed to fill the gap in the Stooges’ lineup with his and Moe’s other brother, Jerry “Curly” Howard. Despite Moe’s claim that Curly had “no talent whatsoever” (via Empire), Curly was allowed to join the trio. Shortly after, the Stooges split from Healy for good.