“Pauly Shore is no longer the wee-sel bud-dy!”

By Jason Tanamor

“It’s something that my buds used to call me when I was younger and it just stuck,” Pauly Shore said, about his famous “weasel” moniker. That was then.

Now, Shore looks at himself a little differently. “Back then I was younger, naive and really outrageous,” Shore said. “Now, I’m a 39-year-old Jew with a bad back and I’m still outrageous prior to midnight.”



He added, “But after that I like to watch Anderson 360 on CNN. It’s true!”

However, the Hollywood born and raised comedian, who grew up around super famous comedians due to the fact his family owns the legendary Comedy Store, is thankful for his “weasel” persona. After all, it helped MTV introduce him to the world, which later proved to be a hit at the box office. “I will always be grateful to MTV for catapulting my career,” Shore said. “I don’t necessarily believe my career would be ‘bigger’ now if I went another route.”

From MTV, Shore hit the big screen, landing roles in “Encino Man,” “The Son-In-Law,” “Bio Dome,” and “In the Army Now,” in which he cut off his trademark hairdo viewers became accustomed to on his MTV show, “Totally Pauly.”



But after dips in box office numbers, Shore found himself doing stand-up comedy, where his career began. “Show business is a tough business and it has its ups and downs,” Shore said. “It runs on passion and that’s why I am still doing it.”

And even though his career has seen some downs, with Shore even mocking his career in his self-produced and self-written movie, “Pauly Shore is Dead,” in which he plays himself, Shore insists that the only way to approach a project is putting in the effort. “The choices I made early on in my career were made from me wanting to work. I never went into a project wondering if it was going to be successful,” said Shore. “Like in sports, there are several people involved. So I just did the best job I could, given the situation that was given to me.”

Now, Shore, aside from doing random TV appearances and movies, is working the mike full time and running his family’s comedy club, which was highlighted on the TBS series, “Minding the Store.” The show focused on Shore’s attempt to resurrect the club to its high point back in the ‘70's. “It’s actually doing really well since the show aired in August,” Shore said. “The show was awesome exposure for me and the club. I will always be minding the store. It’s a family business.”

From hanging out in a comedy club to doing a show on MTV and from appearing in hit movies to hanging out in a comedy club again, it seems that Shore’s life has come full circle. But, according to Shore, he doesn’t see it that way. “First of all, my life hasn’t come full circle. There’s still a lot of things I’m trying to figure out. I don’t think we ever stop learning. I’m just learning now how to direct, produce and do behind the scenes stuff,” said Shore. “I haven’t even found the girl of my dreams yet.”



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Jason Tanamor is the Editor of Zoiks! Online. He is also the author of the novels, "Hello Lesbian!" and "Anonymous."