Fake Shemp is a term that refers to the final four Moe-Larry-Shemp Columbia short subjects made by the Three Stooges, completed after Shemp Howard's death. Fake Shemps are usually actors filling in for missing or absent actors who have left the shoot, been injured, died or whose roles were never cast in the first place. The phrase was popularized by the Evil Dead filmmakers who were only able to finish filming with the prodigious use of Fake Shemps.