I'd say yes, but...
You have to deal with the fact that the Joe DeRita on film probably wasn't the one that Moe and Larry knew from burlesque. I'm pretty sure that he was probably a pretty funny comedian live--as evidenced by their TV appearances (c'mon, don't tell me you didn't laugh when Moe slapped his wig off in the hospital sketch and he had to ad-lib a bit to cover Moe and Larry's laughing).
I never liked the fact that he had to be Curly-Joe. You can't have lightning strike three times. Shemp was "his own man" when he replaced Curly, and like him or not, Joe Besser really couldn't be anything other than his solo character when he replaced Shemp.
So, long post slightly longer, yes, DeRita was a hell of a lot funnier in his younger, solo years before he joined the Stooges, but we also have to remember that the Stooges themselves were funnier before their conversion into the child-friendly performers that we see in the 60's films. Let's face it, once you start censoring a performer/TV show, it usually stops being funny. (See "new" versions of Tom & Jerry, Looney Tunes, etc.)