Paul Garner

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Paul "Mousie" Garner (born July 31, 1909 in Washington, D.C.; died August 8, 2004 in Glendale, California) earned his nickname by acting like a simpering jokester with a penchant for shyness.

He was one of the last actors still doing schtick from vaudeville, and has been referred to as "The Grand Old Man Of Vaudeville".

Garner was one of about a dozen comedians who worked as part of Ted Healy's stooge act between 1922 and 1936. Although he was never a member of the act at the same time as Larry, Moe, Curly or Shemp, he did cross paths with the Three Stooges on several occasions and would later join the New Three Stooges in the 1970s (with Curly Joe DeRita). He also worked with Spike Jones and His City Slickers. He was cast in the 1994 film Radioland Murders as a homage to his work in vaudeville. His autobiography, entitled Mousie Garner: Autobiography of a Vaudeville Stooge, was published in 1999.

In the current age, Mousie played a Stooge in David Lee Roth’s Just a Gigolo music video. Right before his death, he acted as Uncle Smackers, a character in The Onion Movie, a feature film produced by Jerry Zucker, renowned for the Airplane! and Naked Gun series. The film is slated for release by Fox Pictures in 2006.