It was standing room only at Book Soup on the Sunset Strip on the afternoon of Saturday, the last day of November 2024, for “The Shempranos.” Named as a wink at “Glicked,” the other pop culture phenomenon of the holiday weekend, authors Burt Kearns and Ray Richmond packed them in for an action-packed discussion on the connections between their new high profile books, SHEMP! The Biography of The Three Stooges’ Shemp Howard, the Face of Film Comedy, and The Sopranos: The Complete Visual History.
Officially titled “When Tony Met Shemp: The Influence of The Three Stooges Slapstick Violence on The Sopranos,” the event was moderated by author, comedy archivist, show business historian and Hollywood publicist Jeff Abraham (who, with Kearns, wrote The Show Won't Go On: The Most Shocking, Bizarre, and Historic Deaths of Performers Onstage). Abraham’s sharp, well-researched questions and observations kept the discussion moving, and elicited from the authors surprising stories and information.
Richmond looks sharp Kearns wields a Sharpie
The panel of course revealed specific Three Stooges and Shemp Howard solo scenes, shorts and films that have been documented as inspiration for the comedy that often preceded or was included in the violence of The Sopranos. Richmond also revealed the dark inspirations of Sopranos creator David Chase, production problems caused by star James Gandolfini, the comic aesthetic of the series’ violence, and his theory of what happened after the screen cut to black in the series finale. Kearns spoke of the many gangster roles Shemp Howard played in his solo career, the exquisite timing and choreography of the Three Stooges’ violent comedy, and the culpability of his brother Moe in Shemp’s early death.
Abraham led a lively Q&A that followed.
“When Tony Met Shemp: The Influence of Three Stooges Slapstick Violence on The Sopranos” was part of the iconic bookstore’s celebration of Indies First, the campaign supporting independent bookstores on Small Business Saturday. Signed copies of SHEMP! and The Sopranos: The Complete Visual History are available in person and online at Book Soup.
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| Murderers Row of Writers: Jim Colucci, Ray Richmond, Burt Kearns, Frank DeCaro, Herbie J Pilato |
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