[onehipdad]

"even violently quarreling people frequently unify against a perceived common enemy who appears uninterested in any of them."

Exactly - look how many times Curly caught it when he was just standing there while Larry and Moe argued...

[AGAviator]

Or a far less funny example, when police get called to break up a family fight.

[driftless]

Curly caught a lot , but so did Larry. Larry Fine's children stated that the left side of their father's face was leathery due to all the slapping he took from Moe. I used to think the violence was fake.