Just got done listening to this. The interviews with Moe and Larry equal, maybe, one-third of the program, the rest consists of Stern Show comedy bits and archived, Stern-led group discussions about the Stooges. Editorially speaking, a little bit of Billy West as Larry Fine is kinda funny. Alot of Billy West as Larry Fine is just grating.
Nothing new to report, really, from the interview material-- Moe takes a jab at Jerry Lewis, discusses the origins of the Stooges and the ensuing violence issue from the television years.. Did the Stooges ever get hurt? Oh, yes! Larry got a pen in his head, Curly got stitches. What inspired the Moe haircut?..
Larry hints that he's writing a book, offers his abbreviated version of Stooge origins, and recounts some well-worn anecdotes.. alot of familiar ground is covered.
The interviews, themselves, were not presented in their entirety, however. Though they were nicely peppered/illustrated with audio clips from the shorts, the frequent interruptions kind of make one feel like, "Okay. enough of that, get back to the tape!".
The Moe clips were in much better shape than the Larry ones, and it was explained that they really only had one chance to capture the Larry audio as the tape was, literally, decaying as it played out in the machine! The resulting audio from all the interviews ranges from quite clear to heavily drenched in tinny/swirly-sounding noise reduction.
The special had a nice flow to it, though. Well planned. Not like those days when Howard takes interviews (or meltdowns: remember the Pat Cooper explosion?!) and analyzes them to death.
And, finally, Bergeron pimps his book.
All-in-all, worthy for the fans, but.. be prepared to hit the fast-forward button. Alot.
