It seems like almost every time I’ve done something cool, Monty Python has been involved in some way or another. And so, when I found out about Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, I began planning to drive to California. The story of my first trip to L.A. and appearing on stage with the Pythons will help me fill up a future blog or three. What is more relevant here is that I decided to look up the only non-Python-related star I knew. That’s right. Curly Joe.

I can’t remember if I was brazen enough to call him when I knew I’d be out there, or if there was another, more subtle reason for the call and subsequent invitation, but Joe and his wife invited me over to their house one afternoon. It was a nondescript house in a quiet neighborhood (Moorpark sounds right, for some reason). Joe answered the door, though it took him longer than I had expected. I wish I could recall more of the details, although I’m sure many of the stories he told me were the same ones he had told in our radio interview. I can recall that he was very detailed in describing the business relationship he had entered into with Moe when he joined the Stooges. Moe and Larry had died by that time, so he had resigned himself to retirement. His wife, a nurse, joined us for part of the time, and he happily autographed a few photos for me before I had to scamper off for the Hollywood Bowl. I was always a big Stooges fan, and although I had always wanted to be one of the lucky fans who had met Moe or Larry, I was delighted that Curly Joe proved a very nice brush with Stoogedom.