Whatever Happened to Pauly Shore

Over the weekend my wife and I watched "Encino Man". It was my weekend to pick the movie and I am still on my kick of movies that I loved as a kid. I have kind of run the gamut on sports movies from back then. We have either watched them all, or my wife has seen some that I used to adore. So "Encino Man" was more along the lines of something I cherished.

This movie does not hold up in my opinion. For an 85 minute long movie it feels long. It is too scattered. They couldn't fit every idea they may have initially wanted in the end. Brendan Frasier was good, so were some of the smaller role cast members, but all in all, "Encino Man" is not as great as it was in my child's brain.

The big reason I loved this movie, why it held so much weight for me, was Pauly Shore. When I was 10 and 11 years old there was no one funnier than Shore. I watched pretty much all of his movies. Obviously I loved "Encino Man". But I also watched "Son in Law" on almost a daily basis for a couple months. I saw "BioDome" in theaters. I may be one of the few people who actually enjoys, or enjoyed, I haven't seen it in ages, "In the Army Now". I even watched "Jury Duty" the week it came out on video at Blockbuster. I went through it all with him. He was my guy. As I got older I moved on to, what I consider, funnier, smarter comedians and actors, but Shore has always held a place for me. I simply like the dude as an actor.

After this recent "Encino Man" viewing I got to thinking, where and what has Shore been up to lately. The last time I made it a point to listen to him talk was when he was on "WTF with Marc Maron". I've always been an in and out listener to "WTF", but when Maron has someone on that I want to listen to, I make sure to download the episode. This was an eye opening interview. Shore really let it all out. He told his story. I grew to like him even more after this podcast appearance. I kind of understood why he did what he did when he did it. It all made sense to me. Then on some rewatch stuff I noticed he was in an episode of "Workaholics". He played this tortured, captured version of himself. The guys get him out and party with him, but his appearance on the show was purely fan service, and I have to imagine the "Workaholics" guys love him. This made me want to see more, or hear more from him. I have yet to see "Pauly Shore is Dead", but it is on my list. I hear it is a good movie, and Shore is more than game at poking fun of himself. He's in an Adam Sandler movie I want to see called "Sandy Wexler". I understand that movie is on Netflix forever, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. And I guess he does a good amount of voice work in animated series. So the guy stays working.

Everyone needs to remember that there was a time, mostly the early to mid 90's, where Shore was one of the biggest comedy stars in the world. He was everywhere and he was funny. He found a niche and ran with it. I would walk around my house as a kid, and I still do it now, and tell people to "not weaze the juice". I'd also call myself the "Weasel". I'd say "heeeyyyy budddyyyyy" so much that I am certain it annoyed people. This was all because of my fandom of Shore. He was my guy until I discovered "SNL". And I have found myself wondering why he was such a hit with me when I was a young kid since Friday. I think it is his brand of comedy. He appeals to kids. He says weird stuff that sounds funny and 10 and 11 year olds love it. I fully believe my son, who is 11, would think Shore is hilarious. And this is not a knock. I think if a comedian or a comedy actor can find something that works, they should run with it. Shore's comedy just happens to be juvenile, and that is totally fine.

Since watching "Encino Man" I feel like I want to go back and watch some of the movies I mentioned above. I don't think they will hold up, "Encino Man" was very bad, but who knows. Maybe it will make me relive some of my childhood memories when I watched these movies over and over again. But I do want to say, I am, and always will be, a Pauly Shore fan. He still makes me laugh. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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