Encino Man

Background:

“The MTV thing is the thing that I will always tip my hat to because that was like my acting class and how I got comfortable in front of a camera and how I kind of created my own thing.” Pauly Shore

First coming to prominence as the star of the MTV show “Totally Pauly” (1990-1995), stand up comedian, actor and film director Pauly Shore achieved stardom with the critically panned, but widely popular, motion picture “Encino Man” (1992), where he picked up his first Razzie Award for his performance. He gained two more Razzie Awards for his work in the films “Jury Duty” (1995) and “Bio-Dome” (1996) and in 2000, was awarded the Worst New Star of the Decade Award and a nomination for Worst Actor of the Century. He commented, “They thought my movies were bad. Why are they paying this moron to do this?”

“It's called 'Pauly Shore is Dead.' I wrote it and directed it. I've been working on it for about four years.

Starting out doing standup at age 19 in the Los Angeles club The Comedy Store, which was owned and operated by his mother Mitzi Shore, Pauly branched out to directing in 2003 with “Pauly Shore Is Dead” (2003), which won a Slamdunk Film Festival Award. He also helmed “Natural Born Komics” (2007) and “Adopted” (2009) and has released a few comedy albums, including “The Future of America” (1991) and “Scraps from the Future” (1992).

In the early 1990s, Shore was romantically linked to porn star Shannon “Savannah” Wilsey. She injured her face in a car accident in 1994 and committed suicide several hours later by shooting herself in the head.

Shore is a vegetarian. He is good friends with Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes. Though his mother, he developed a good friendship with Richard Pryor, who influenced him in comedy.

The Weasel

Childhood and Family:

“The Comedy Store attracts all types of people. Growing up, I was able to meet them all.” Pauly Shore

Born Paul Montgomery Shore on February 1, 1968, in Hollywood, California, Pauly Shore comes from a family of comics. His father, Sammy Shore, is an actor and comedian and served as an opener for Elvis Presley in Las Vegas during the 1960s and 1970s, while his mother, Mitzi Shore, is the founder of and runs The Comedy Store, a legendary comedy club located in L.A. Pauly has a brother named Peter Store (older) and a sister named Sandy Store.

Growing up in Beverly Hills, Pauly attended the famed Beverly Hills High School and graduated in 1986. At age 14, Pauly worked after school as a short order cook at the Westwood Comedy Store. He moved out on his own by age 19. Pauly is Jewish.

Pauly Store is known by the nickname The Weasel. He stated, “I am a guy that people relate to and that's the weasel character.”

Totally Pauly

Career:

Pauly Shore began his comedy career at age 19 when he performed standup comedy at his mother's club. Also that year, he had his first taste in front of the television camera when he landed a small role in an episode of the series “21 Jump Street” called “Two for the Road” (1987). The following year, he made his feature debut playing Retro on “For Keeps,” which was directed by John G. Avildsen and starred Molly Ringwald and Randall Batinkoff. It was followed by roles in the comedy “18 Again” (1988, starred George Burns and Charlie Schlatter), Hugh Hudson's “Lost Angels” (1989, starred Donald Sutherland) and Richard Friedman's horror movie “Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge” (1989). He also had a small role in the CBS special “What's Alan Watching” (1989) and guest starred in “St. Elsewhere” (1988) and “Married with Children” (1989). He made his TV movie acting debut in the NBC comedy “Dream Date” (1989).

It was also in 1989 that Shore's partnership with MTV began. As a MTV host with Jeff Leiber, a gig he would keep until 1994, the Hollywood native received his first break when he was given his own show, “Totally Pauly,” in 1990. The comedy was well received by audiences and would run on MTV until 1995. He also signed a three picture deal with Hollywood Pictures in 1991.

After a supporting role in the independent film “Wedding Band” (1990), Shore scored his breakout film role with the Les Mayfield directed comedy “Encino Man,” his first film for Hollywood Pictures. Released on May 22, 1992, the film did poorly with the critics but was a success at the box office. It grossed nearly $41 million against its budget of $7.5 million. Playing Stanley “Stoney” Brown, he received a Razzie for Worst New Star. Costars of the film included Sean Astin and Brendan Fraser. Later that same year, he had an unaccredited role on the comedy “Class Act.”

The next year, Shore was cast as a student named Crawl in Hollywood Picture's comedy “Son in Law” (1993), opposite Carla Gugino. The role brought the actor a MTV Movie nomination in the category of Best Comedic Performance. “Son in Low” garnered over $36 million at the U.S. box office. The same year, he also starred in the HBO comedy special “Pauly Does Dallas” (1993), which included a taping of a standup comedy performance in Texas.

Shore next starred in the comedy “In the Army Now” (1994), opposite Andy Dick, David Alan Grier, Esai Morales and Lori Petty. With an original budget of approximately $6 million, the film grossed almost $29 million at the U.S. box office. The comic enjoyed another commercial victory with the Disney animated film “A Goofy Movie” (1995), where he provided the voice of Robert 'Bobby' Zimmeruski. Shore then starred as Tommy Collins in the critically panned comedy “Jury Duty” (1995), which was co-produced by TriStar Pictures and Shore's company Weasel Production. He took home his second Razzie Award, this time for Worst Actor, for his performance. The cast of the film also included Tia Carrere, Stanley Tucci, Brian Doyle-Murray, Shelley Winters and Abe Vigoda.

In 1996, Shore starred with Stephen Baldwin in the comedy “Bio-Dome,” which marked the directorial debut of Jason Bloom. Distributed theatrically by MGM, the film was a financial success. However, it was a failure with the critics. As Bud Macintosh, Shore won a 1997 Razzie for Worst Actor. The same year, he made a guest appearance in an episode of “Beverly Hills, 2010” called “You Say It's Your Birthday: Part 2,” followed by another guest spot in “Mr. Rhodes” in 1997. Shore then headlined his own sitcom when he was cast as Pauly Sherman on Fox's “Pauly” (1997). Premiering on March 3, 1997, the show was axed after five episodes.

Shore remained on television throughout the late 1990s with guest spots on “V.I.P.” (1998), “Fantasy Island” (1999), “King of the Hill” (1999, as the voice of Deejay) and “Nash Bridges” (1999). He also lent his voice to “Casper: A Spirited Beginning” (1997, as Snivel) and “Casper Meets Wendy” (1998, as The Oracle) and played Lenny Bruce in the biopic “Hefner: Unauthorized” (1999, USA Network), which starred Randall Batinkoff as Hugh Hefner.

Entering the new millennium, Shore reprised his voice role of Bobby Zimmeruski on the direct to video animated sequel “An Extremely Goofy Movie” (2000), played an unaccredited part in the film “Red Letters” (2000) for director and co-writer Bradley Battersby, costarred as Wesley in the Showtime film “The Princess & the Barrio Boy” (2000), opposite Marisol Nichols, Nicholas Gonzalez and Edward James Olmos, and voiced himself in an episode of the Fox animated series “Feturama.” Also in 2000, Shore was handed a Razzie for Worst New Star of the Decade for his work in such films as “Encino Man,” “Jury Duty” and “Bio-Dome.” He also earned a nomination for Worst Actor of the Century. In 2001, Shore returned to film by appearing in DJ Pooh's comedy “The Wash.”

In 2003, Shore made his feature directorial debut with “Pauly Shore Is Dead,” which he also co-wrote, produced and starred in. About faking his own death in order to improve his fading career, the film won an Audience Choice for Feature Film at the 2003 Slamdunk Film Festival. Shore then voiced Justin in an episode of the animated series “Father of the Pride” (2004), appeared in three episodes of the HBO series “Entourage” (2005-2007) and was cast in the TBS show “Minding the Store” (2005). In 2007, he returned to the director's chair to direct himself in his second film, “Natural Born Komics,” which was released on video. He also directed, wrote, produced and starred in “Adopted” (2009). 2009 found roles in Chris Milk's short “Last Day Dream” (as a firefighter), the video sequel “Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts” (as the voice of Cat), “Why Men Go Gay in L.A.,” and “Opposite Day” (with Billy Unger and Ariel Winter).

Shore will play Rod Hardbone in “Slam I Am,” which stars Patrick Cavanaugh as Slam. The comedy is set to have a limited release on October 1, 2010.

On the recording front, Shore has released the comedy albums “The Future of America” (1991), “Scraps from the Future” (1992, received a Best Sellers Award nomination from the National Association of Record Merchandisers) and “Pink Diggly Diggly” (1994), which was taped live at The Comedy Store.

Awards:

• Slamdunk Film Festival: Audience Choice, Feature Film, “Pauly Shore Is Dead,” 2003

• Razzie: Worst New Star of the Decade, “Bio-Dome” (1996), “Encino Man” (1992), “Jury Duty” (1995) and others, 2000

• Razzie: Worst Actor, “Bio-Dome,” 1997

• Razzie: Worst Actor, “Jury Duty,” 1996

• Razzie: Worst New Star, “Encino Man,” 1993