Punch Drunks is a 1934 short subject starring The Three Stooges. It is their second short.
Struggling boxing manager Moe is having lunch with several fighters when he notices that their shy waiter (Curly) goes insane whenever he hears the song "Pop Goes the Weasel". Moe also takes notice of a fiddler (Larry) who happens to be playing the potent tune at the restaurant. Seeing dollar signs in the uncontrollable waiter, Moe quickly recruits the two unsuspecting cohorts and preps them for the boxing world. Curly's boxing handle becomes "K.O. Stradivarius", and with Larry in tow—playing "Pop Goes the Weasel" at every boxing match, Curly becomes the number one contender for the heavyweight championship. But, of course, things begin to go awry after Larry breaks his violin.
This short has the distinction of being the only Three Stooges short thus far selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Tropes:
- Agony of the Feet: As Curly picks up a car stuck in the mud due to his newfound super strength, Larry stops playing and he drops it on Moe's foot.
- Berserk Button: Whenever Curly hears "Pop Goes the Weasel", he loses all control of himself.
- The Boxing Episode: As the plot summary explains, the short showcases Curly's meteoric rise in the boxing rankings thanks to his berserk fury.
- Car Meets House: Larry crashes a bandwagon playing "Pop Goes the Weasel" through the wall of the arena to help Curly win.
- Clothing Reflects Personality: Curly arrives at the restaurant with a top hat and cane, in what appears to be a tux, and the manager greets him by calling him Beau Brummel. Curly respectfully greets him in turn, then takes off his jacket, unbuttons his vest, and unrolls his apron from his pants which shows not only does he work there, but he immediately reveals he was eating lunch somewhere else, so he's late for work, too.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Curly is... Curly, but whenever he hears "Pop Goes the Weasel" he becomes an incredibly strong berserker.
- Dope Slap: It's not a Stooge short without it of course. But Curly is also slapped by his boss at the beginning, and Moe's disillusioned fighters.
- Everyone Meets Everyone: One of the only shorts where the Stooges haven't met each other before at the beginning.
- No-Sell: Curly's opponent in the championship match doesn't flinch when Curly punches him without his Berserk Button activated.
- On the other hand, Curly takes all the hits given to him by his boss and his customers without breaking his stride. Probably a sign of how often it occurs.
- The Remake: About a year before rejoining the Stooges, Shemp Howard would star in a remake of this short (A Hit With a Miss). Shemp played the Curly role, while Robert Williams and Charles Rogers respectively assumed the Moe and Larry roles. As with most remakes produced by Columbia's shorts department, this one used tons of stock footage from its source.
- The Stooges themselves later reworked the premise into their 1963 feature The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze.
- Running Gag: As a meta-example, this is the first appearance of the "burned toast and a rotten egg" joke.
- Shoot the Messenger: Curly's rage powers are activated for the first time when he comes up to inform his table that they can't have any hamburgers because the meat is too fresh, and everyone at the table starts beating him up.
- Spinning Newspaper: During a montage showing Curly's success in the boxing ring.
- Stock Footage: Larry running down the street is shown more than once.
