I Can Hardly Wait is the 73rd short subject starring American slapstick comedy team
The Three Stooges, released August 13, 1943. In it, the stooges, who are defense workers, break into someone's house late at night and raid their refrigerator for food. After several cooking antics they finally sit down and eat, and Curly breaks his tooth on a ham bone. Moe suggests they go to sleep, and after several mishaps with a three-tiered bunk bed, Curly dozes off. The rest of the episode takes place in Curly's dream, where Moe and Larry try several tricks to remove Curly's tooth before taking him to the dentist.
Tropes:
- All Just a Dream: But the audience is made aware of this.
- Butt-Monkey: Curly.
- Comically Small Bribe: Moe and Larry offer Curly an egg shell and a bone if he agrees to shut up and let them eat breakfast, as Moe and Larry split up one egg, one big ham steak and 1 thick loaf of bread. Curly at first doesn't fall for it, but Moe manipulates Curly into thinking he's getting the better deal by getting a "whole" bone and a "whole" eggshell while Moe and Larry can only get half an egg and half a ham.
Moe: We get a half a slice of ham and half an egg a piece. You get a
whole bone and a
whole eggshell,
and you're squawkin'! Curly: I'm sorry, Moe. Gee, you fellas are swell to me.
Moe: That's more like it.
- Demoted to Extra: Larry barely has a minimal role in this short compared to Moe and Curly.
- Depraved Dentist: What Curly is afraid the dentist is, especially after hearing that his previous job was a butcher.
- Fat Bastard: During breakfast, Curly keeps trying to wrest the food all for himself.
- Insult Backfire: At the dentists' office, Larry (who's given a supporting role in this short) asks the secretary if she wants to come over to his place tonight.
Larry: Say, sugar, how'd you like to come over to my house tonight and see my coffee?
Secretary: Fresh!
Larry:
Oh, yeah, ground today. - It's All About Me: During breakfast, Moe and Larry take the food for themselves while Curly gets only the bone and eggshells. Curly objects this isn't fair to him, even though he's really fat and needs to diet anyways.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Moe's portrayed showing more sympathy towards Curly when in the latter's dream. On example is where Moe apologizes for when Curly gets hit by the door that Larry opens.
- Literal Ass-Kicking: Larry kicks Curly there after Moe stepped on the latter's foot to get his mind off his tooth ache.
- Murphy's Bed: The Stooges always let Curly take the top bunk, which never ends well.
- Non Fatal Explosion: Moe and Larry try to extract Curly's tooth with a fire cracker, but Curly gets scared and tosses it, and it ends up in the back of Moe's pants. The resulting explosion only scorches his behind.
- Punny Name: The dentist office is run by Dr. Y. Tug and Dr. A. Yank.
- Teeth Flying: Curly mistakenly thinks Moe has knocked all of his teeth out after a harebrained scheme involving tying Curly's tooth to a chandelier and having him jump off a ladder goes awry, filling his mouth with bits of drywall instead when the chandelier was ripped from the ceiling. Curly spits them out and thinks he's "bald-headed in the mouth".
- Moe eventually removes Curly's tooth by punching him after the bunk beds collapse.
- Title Drop: Curly says the title as Moe is opening the fridge, which is fitted with a dial like a safe.
- The Tooth Hurts
- Thought Bubble: A rare live-action one appears when Curly first starts dreaming.
- You Won't Feel a Thing!: Curly needs to have a tooth extracted at the dentist, and Moe tries to convince Curly he won't feel a thing by sitting in the patient chair and explaining what will happen. The dentist comes in from the other room, quickly puts Moe to sleep with anesthesia, and proceeds to pull out Moe's tooth before Curly can tell him that he's supposed to be the patient.
