A stooge is a person under the control of someone else, presumably a smarter person. Quick, name The Three Stooges! Larry, Moe, Curly and Shemp. Yes that’s four. The unfamiliar Stooge was called Shemp, his real name is Sam Horwitz/Howard. Shemp left the troop fairly early on and was replaced by Curly. Shemp is the IRC handle of the Killer’s stooge in Null Pointer. Think anyone will get it? Neither do I. Guess I’ll have to spell it out in the text somewhere. ;)
Near as I can tell, the Stooges got their name from a vaudville act and not because anyone was controlling them.