Shore enough: Comedian Pauly Shore banking on a comeback

Kirk Baird

Friday, May 24, 2002 | 9:53 a.m.

Pauly Shore doesn't know the meaning of quit.

Otherwise the actor-comedian would have called it a career shortly after his "I am the Weasel" shtick went the way of the Lambada.

In fact, Shore, who began his stand-up career at age 17, is plotting a comedy comeback, which audiences can experience when he performs today through Sunday at New York-New York's Cabaret Theatre.

However, the Weasel the nickname of his surfer-dude character retired long ago.

"I'm a badger instead of a weasel. That's, like, my new rodent," Shore said during a recent phone interview from a hotel room in Cleveland. "I'm going to come out onstage (screaming) ... 'I'm a badger!' "

The comedian then launched into the most irritating sound since Yoko Ono discovered the microphone an ear-piercing "Whhhhaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Thankfully, he dropped the act as quickly as it started. This is a new, more mature Shore onstage.

"It's not coming up with another image, it's basically just me being me now, as opposed to what everyone remembers from 10 years ago," the 34-year-old Shore said.

"If you look at anyone's career that is over-the-top or outrageous, it doesn't last I don't care who you are. Times change, people change, looks change, trends change and you've got to change."

The son of comic Sammy Shore and legendary Los Angeles Comedy Store owner Mitzi Shore, the younger Shore learned from the example of others what it takes to survive in the comedy business as he forged a career of his own.

Despite his formative years as a standup, Shore's career was truly launched in 1990, when MTV's "Totally Pauly" premiered. The show ran for four seasons and provided Shore with enough exposure to embark on a film career that included a host of such mid-'90s comedies as "Encino Man," "Son-in-Law," "Jury Duty" and "Bio-Dome."

Shore's comedic angle was a hyper reinvention of Sean Penn's Spicoli from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," only without Spicoli's drugged-out confusion. Shore's look, rather than the Ocean Pacific shorts and Vans shoes of Spicoli, consisted of short-shorts, boots and scarves.

"Like Jim Morrison meets Steven Tyler, rummaging through my mom's closet," is how Shore described his appearance. "That was my thing."

But it worked. His persona was an immediate hit. And unlike other character-comics, such as Australia's Yahoo Serious (remember him?), the Weasel had staying power.

"It's amazing to me that I made it this far being that way," he said. "But at that time, that persona was totally new and different, so it worked. But it would be kind of pathetic if I was still like that.

"A lot of comics continue to do the exact same thing that they were doing a while ago, which might feed their audience, but what does it do for their insides?"

Working the comedy-club circuit, Shore and a writing partner have put together about an hour's worth of topical humor, including riffs on the Catholic priest scandal, Arabs and terrorism, and celebrity boxing.

So far, Shore said, the audience response has been positive.

"People seem to be into it," he said. "The best part of stand-up is that it reidentifies yourself and who you are."

The comedian is also working at rehabbing his image through a semi-autobiographical dark comedy, "You'll Never Wiez in This Town Again."

The movie, which he wrote, directed and starred in, is the fictional story of a has-been comic forced to move back in with his mother. Since Hollywood has turned its back on him, the down-and-out comedian tries to commit suicide. The attempt fails, however, and his "death" revives his popularity.

"The thing that's cool about my new movie is that it's personal but yet it's not too personal," Shore said. "It makes you think but it also entertains you. To me the best comedy is the exaggeration of the truth. This movie is not dead-on, but it's partly true. That's where I came up with the idea."

And similar to the character Shore plays in the film, there was no Hollywood interest in either him or his movie. So, the comedian had to make his dream project a reality himself, by financing "You'll Never Wiez" on his own.

After completing the film last year, Shore took "You'll Never Wiez" on the road, screening it for fans before and after his comedy shows. He left comment cards on the tables to learn what the audience did and did not like about the movie, and made changes accordingly.

"You'll Never Wiez" received enough positive buzz that a small independent studio recently picked it up for distribution.

Shore said the film will be distributed to theaters in increments this fall, with word of mouth and the Internet as the major forms of advertising. (It is the same marketing plan "The Blair Witch Project" employed with great success.)

Ultimately, the project, which Shore termed a "showcase," is really a prodigal son's attempt at reconciliation with Hollywood.

Just as in the Bible's New Testament parable, where the son learns a lesson in humility before he returns home, Shore also has learned much in his absence from the limelight.

"I just realized that the bottom line is, it's a business and that's it," he said. "So that's how I'm going to treat it now, too.

"I had a great run doing one thing for a while. And now this new movie and this new direction I feel -- knock on wood -- will take me in a whole new direction. I took a situation that wasn't great and did a positive. I think that is what life is about: getting out of situations that you put yourself in."