How can we forget Pauly Shore's goofball appearances in '90s comedy flicks like Encino Man, Son-In-Law, and Bio-Dome, among others? Well, we can't -- that's the problem. Desperate for attention, the left-in-the-dust star released his own funded DVD, Pauly Shore Is Dead, in 2003. And if you thought that was scary, you ain't seen nothing yet. Shore has two new movies, Opposite Day and Adopted, slated for release and he's currently on tour for his stand-up comedy act. After a disappearance from the spotlight, it seems he's back in action ... or, at least trying.
Pauly Shore will visit Lake Norman Comedy Zone in Galway Hooker Pub for a performance on Monday, Feb. 22. Creative Loafing spoke with Shore about his stand-up comedy and the up and down spirals of his career.
Creative Loafing: Tell me a little bit about your current stand-up act. What's it rated?
Pauly Shore: Yeah, I’d say PG-13 to R. I think with stand-up I’m stripped down. I have such a huge persona with my old movies that people sometimes wonder what I do. But, to be quite honest I’ve been doing stand-up way before my movies. I grew up at The Comedy Store on Sunset and I’ve been around stand-up my whole life. I started when I was 17 years old. It’s kind of like what I do. The movies actually came secondary.
How do you describe your act to people who only know you through the movies you’ve appeared in like Son-In-Law, Encino Man, and Bio-Dome?
I definitely address the films because you don’t want to bite the hand that feeds you. You want to give the people what they want, but you also don’t want to do just that. You want to leave them thinking, ‘Oh, shit. He does that too. I had no idea.’ I’m 42 years old now, so I talk about what it’s like being 42 and being single still, having a niece and nephew and just everyday things that kind of everyone relates to. So, when you leave the show you’re like ‘That’s who Pauly is, as opposed to what I thought he was.’
I see you’re still doing funny roles. In fact, you’ve got two major roles in the films, Opposite Day and Adopted, both of which are slated for release. Can you tell me a little bit about these?
Well, Opposite Day is a kid’s film. Its rated G and basically the kids become the parents and the parents become the kids, like a Freaky Friday thing. Then, Adopted is a mockumentary film that I did in Africa. I go there to adopt an African child, which is actually kind of funny because if you watch the news, everything is about people adopting children.
How did you come up for the idea for Adopted?
It was spontaneous. I got booked to do shows in South Africa and while I was down there I came up with this concept for a film. Then, we hired a production company in South Africa to shoot it since I had been directing and producing and had been down that road before. So, we slapped it together. When people watch it I think they’re going to be pleasantly surprised. It’s just really authentic.
Does it ever bother you that some people only know you for your early '90s works?
No, not at all. It’s better to have someone know me for something than have them not know me for anything. The films were good films. They hold up, they constantly play and they’re a reason why I still have an audience to be quite honest.
Were you ever disappointed that you weren’t in more serious roles, because most of your stuff has been comedy oriented?
Yeah, definitely. And you can’t tell me one person in the entertainment business that is extremely happy. Everyone wants to do other things and I’d love to get that call from a big director saying ‘Hey, we’ve got you a weeks worth of work where you’re playing dadadadada,’ that’d be awesome. You’d love Paramount Pictures to call and say they’d like you to do a romantic comedy with dadadadada,’ but in life it’s just not that way. In life you have to create your own stuff. That’s the way it is with everything, especially with the way the world is now. You can’t wait for the phone to ring, you’ve got to go out and get it. Pauly Shore is Dead in 2003, to me that was the second half of my career.
Do you feel like the DVD helped relaunch your career?
Yeah, definitely. It put me in a place of like ‘Oh shit, no one’s going to help me out. I’ve got to do this shit on my own.’ It was like the first time where I got like spit out on the street, and my version of spit out on the street, which is not that, bad of a version. I was so frustrated and fucking pissed off and all these things because I love working. The movies, they did well, but they also didn’t do well. So, I would go to the set everyday for every one of my films and I didn’t think of the repercussions of ‘Oh this isn’t going to do well. Maybe I shouldn’t do this.’ I just like to work. I like to show up. I like to read my lines. I like to work with the actors. I like to fuck around and have a good time. And, sometimes you can’t do that, you have to do both. But, it made me who I am today and I had five big films that came out in the '90s and now in the millenium, I’ve done three really cool things independently and I’ve got more stuff I’m working on.