Besser had his moments in the Stooge comedies:
"If that means what I think it does... I'm guilty!"
"Good for you! Good for you! That's bad for me. Wow!"
"What mamas!"
And some of his stock stuff like breaking the fourth wall with that "I hate him" bit. On his own he was just great, and I even got a kick out of Besser and Hawthorne as another of the Columbia unlikely pairings (Shemp and El Brendel? Really?!).
Thing is, Besser never worked up an act with Moe and Larry. He wasn't with them long enough to find his own place in the group and, worse yet, the writing for the shorts during his time was more miss than hit. All of them weren't bad but all of the ones that dealt with horses sure weren't of the same caliber as, say, An Ache in Every Stake. But then, they couldn't be. Because of their "tenure" at Columbia, the Stooges' careers were doomed to suffer this low point as a result of their continued existence.
The act went on, seemingly, in spite of what could be seen as increasingly insurmountable odds. Deaths of the Howard brothers, Dwindling budgets, absent production values, careless directing and a sense of urgency from the studio (and a certain Jules White) to churn out a fast product for as less and less money simply did not make for an inspired, free-spirited comedic atmosphere.
