By far, the comedy trio of the Three Stooges was perhaps the finest vaudevillian product ever to be seen (we're referring to the stuff during the late Ted Healy years w/ Shemp, the original years with Curly at Columbia, and afterwards at Columbia with Shemp).

There was nobody that did slapstick better, and they made it an art. I give props to Abbott and Costello, and Laurel and Hardy, but they, imho, cannot even begin to compare with the Three Stooges, especially considering their longevity and appeal that continues to reign even into 2004, more than half a century later.