Highlights
- Pauly Shore, once known as “The Weasel,” experienced a rise to fame in the ’90s but quickly became the most hated Hollywood personality.
- While Shore briefly regained attention with a mockumentary in 2003, his reputation continued to decline due to his mistreatment of an intern.
- Despite past failures and setbacks, Shore remains hopeful for a Hollywood comeback and is eager to return to acting, waiting for that one opportunity.
Pauly Shore was the ultimate ’90s MTV dude – a silly, surf slang-speaking Southern Californian stoner A.K.A. “The Weasel.” It’s no wonder Whitney Houston dissed the program back then. But just as Shore was transitioning from veejaying to film acting, he quickly became the most hated Hollywood personality of that time, for the same reason he rose to stardom (kinda like Chevy Chase in the ’80s).
In 2003, Shore made fun of the tragedy by producing a low-budget flick called Pauly Shore Is Dead. It brought him back on the map, but only for a brief period. A decade later, he was exposed for maltreating an intern, a month before Vulture released an article titled, “The Rise and Fall of Pauly Shore.”
Fast-forward to 2023, Shore – who plans to portray Richard Simmons in an unauthorized biopic – said he was ready for a Hollywood comeback. But that hasn’t seemed to pick up since he first announced it in 2020.
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Pauly Shore Was Awarded Worst New Star Of The Decade In The ’90s
Shore worked as an MTV VJ from 1989 to 1994. Around 1992, he forayed into acting, starring in Encino Man alongside Brendan Fraser. The film was a hit, but Shore’s performance earned him the Golden Raspberry Award A.K.A. Razzie for Worst New Star of the Year.
The actor played more parts despite his poor acting skills. Unfortunately (or maybe fittingly), they were all flops: Son in Law (1993), In the Army Now (1994), Jury Duty (1994), and Bio-Dome (1996), for which he won Worst Actor of the Year.
The late film critic, Roger Ebert wrote that “Shore bypasses all categories to achieve a kind of transcendent fingernails-on-the-blackboard effect.”
In 1997, the failed actor scored his TV show, Pauly, which was canceled after just five episodes. In 2000, Shore was nominated for Worst Actor of the Century, which Sylvester Stallone won over other nominees including Kevin Costner and William Shatner. In 2013, the year Shore began to fade into the “where are they now?” status, he said his acting crash made him discover his directing chops.
“It was one of those situations where I fell off the bike and realized I was either going to become Corey Haim and drug out and burn out or take may career into my own hands and figure (stuff) out,” he told Des Moines Register at that time.
“It started over 10 years ago now and with the Internet boom it’s really paid off,” Shore continued. “Everything kind of lined up. I guess in life everything happens for a reason. The fact that my movies dried up was a good thing, because it put me in a situation where I had to learn to direct.”
In 2003, Pauly Shore directed his mockumentary,
Pauly Shore Is Dead
, which only made $11,000 at the box office.
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Pauly Shore’s Intern Got Slapped In The Face While Working For Him
In August 2013, Jonathan Daniel Brown wrote, “I Interned for Pauly Shore (and It Really Sucked)” for Vice. There, he said Shore’s friend slapped him in the face and just laughed at him after. The latter had supposedly arranged for his then-intern to appear in a show by comic, Don Barris. But when Brown got there, Barris informed him that Shore “was mistaken about [him] getting any stage time.”
Still, he was invited to “hang out in the Green Room” with Barris and other comedians. That’s where things got out of hand. “I’m not really sure why, but Don kept getting into a boxing stance and smacking me in the shoulder, yelling ‘Fight me! Fight me!’ Every time I would back away, he would smack me again,” Brown recalled.
He continued: “Eventually he slapped me in the face while his friends pointed and laughed. It was one of the most humiliating things I have ever experienced, and I totally cried in my bed that night.”
The following day, Brown “decided not to show up, ignoring Pauly’s voicemail.” Shore didn’t call him back after that. Even before that, the Encino Man star forced the aspiring comedian to do things like order him a beer despite Brown just being 19 at that time. In July 2013, Vulture published “The Rise and Fall of Pauly Shore,” which outlined the ups and (mostly) downs of his career, including how his fans “outgrew” him. Here’s a brief timeline:
|
1989-1994 |
Shore’s MTV show Totally Pauly “captured the attention of kids growing up” in the ’90s with his “The Weasel” persona |
|
1992 |
Shore was “poised to be the big breakout comedy star of the 1990s” |
|
1998 |
Shore turned 30 and his “audiences were less inclined to pay money to watch an irresponsible stoner who spoke in quasi surfer lingo do stupid things” |
|
2003 |
Shore’s Pauly Shore Is Dead “did little to rehabilitate” his reputation |
|
2012 |
Shore “drops much of his “Weasel” act in favor of a Bro-centric look at the political world” for the Showtime special, Pauly-tics |
|
2013 |
Vulture said “it’s admirable that Shore continues to explore and experiment as a comedian… even when he doesn’t quite hit the mark” |
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Pauly Shore Has Recently Been “Dreaming And Hoping” To Return To Hollywood
In 2020, Shore made yet another failed comeback in the film, Guest House, which was rated 4.4/10 on IMDb. He was 52 years old. Speaking to People back then, he said he moved to Las Vegas full-time to “start over” after living in Los Angeles for 50 years. “I just had so much history there,” he said of his relocation.
“I feel like myself again for the first time in many years. I wanted to start over,” he added. “I want to be the guy America fell in love with years ago, the loose and crazy guy. I want to be happy Pauly again.” He tried to do that by launching his podcast, The Pauly Shore Podcast Show. Looking back at how he handled his descent from fame, Shore reflected:
“Unfortunately, I took it very personally. It was something I was used to—for 10 years my life was movies, touring, specials albums. And then it just wasn’t there anymore.”
He concluded that “instead of being hurt, [he] should have been patting [himself] on the back and going, ‘Wow you had an awesome run. Now let’s take some time off.’” He said his “journey made [him] realize, ‘You need to look at what you have…not what you don’t have.’”
But In March 2023, Jimmy Kimmel made a triggering joke about Shore’s career again: “Two actors from Encino Man are nominated for Oscars. What an incredible night this must be for the two of you, and what a difficult night it must be for Pauly Shore.” But Shore, now 56, had a classy response.
“We love to hate people when they’re on top,” he told Page Six at that time. “People wanted to smash me down and they did. I was always nice to everyone, always cool, I put my heart into all my films.” He also said he wanted to return to acting. “I do truly miss acting and I miss being on set … hopefully it happens. … [I]t’s about just dreaming and hoping,” he stated.
“People are always like, ‘We want you back!’” he continued. “The directors and producers are the ones with the vision. Someone out there will say, ‘You know what, we’re going to do something you wouldn’t expect — we’ll put Pauly in this role that no one would expect.’ That’s where my heart is.”
Shore declared that he’s “not going to stop” believing he’s “going to get that call, and get that opportunity” for a major comeback like his Encino Man co-stars, Brendan Fraser and Ke Huy Quan.
Source: NewsFinale
