Jimmy Kimmel, overall, was a lackluster host for the Oscars. Granted, he was probably what ABC wanted him to be, but the rest of us could’ve picked better. However, I, at least, felt he landed a few jokes. His monologue started off pretty well, until he went for The Slap, which he should’ve left alone. One bit I found funny was Kimmel’s minute on Encino Man. In his opening, Kimmel pointed out that Ke Huy Quan and Brendan Fraser, both nominees that night, were in Encino Man, a silly 1992 comedy about a prehistoric man being thawed into modern times. The filmed starred Brendan as Link, Sean Astin as Dave and Pauly Shore as Stoney. As the name implies, Pauly’s character was almost as much a caricature as Brendan’s. The movie is fun, but ridiculous and it is astonishing that it produced to Oscar winners. In Kimmel’s bit, he acknowledged that Encino Man had two nominees in the audience, but added that it must be, “a difficult night it must be for Pauly Shore.” Since it was the Oscars, Pauly heard the joke and was hurt by it. He added that Kimmel’s jabs are no different from anyone else’s, though.
Pauly Shore is ready for his own comeback following his “Encino Man” co-stars Brendan Fraser and Ke Huy Quan’s Oscar triumphs.
The ’90s comedy star watched Sunday as Fraser, 54, won Best Actor and Quan, 51, won Best Supporting Actor.
But then host Jimmy Kimmel joked: “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.”
Shore said the pot-shot was really no different than how people treated him in the past.
“We love to hate people when they’re on top. People wanted to smash me down and they did,” Shore, 55, told Page Six. “I was always nice to everyone, always cool, I put my heart into my all my films.
“You’re buying and selling a human being,” he added of being a celebrity. “Human beings have feelings, it’s not like selling real estate.”
Shore said he’s thrilled for his old co-stars.
“It’s a big deal, I’m happy for these guys,” he said. “We did a movie together years ago and I’m glad that people still talk about it 30 years later. It’s crazy.”
But now he’s ready for his own return to the cultural conversation.
“I do truly miss acting and I miss being on set … hopefully it happens … it’s about just dreaming and hoping.”
I’m sorry that Pauly was hurt by the joke. I mean, even Sean Astin went on to do an Academy Award winning film. I concede that the joke held without the Pauly Shore addition, so Kimmel could have left it off. Seeing it from Pauly’s perspective, it was an unnecessary punch. And it’s nice that he’s happy for his co-stars and cheered their success.
I’m slightly hesitant to jump on Pauly’s pity train, though. He might think he was, “was always nice to everyone, always cool”, but his hindsight might be slightly skewed. Pauly is, of course, the son of The Comedy Store’s Mitzi Shore. Mitzi was a comedy legend. She made or broke careers, and we are talking Robin Williams, Richard Pryor and Jim Carrey-careers. Pauly left high school at 17 to be a stand-up comedian and he still thinks he made it in this business on his own because he landed a job at MTV. When he was ‘at the top,’ as he refenced in his statement, there were plenty of stories of how he treated fans, up-and-coming comedians and even established comedians when they were at The Comedy Store. I enjoyed some of his films. I wouldn’t mind seeing Pauly back on screen as well. But I also hope he’s become this version of himself he thinks he is.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Wheeze the juice.
I need to find out how/where I can watch Encino Man. As a teen I loved that movie.
I vaguely remember the rumors of Pauly’s bad manners/how he treated people. As one who’s not connected to the industry or, really, places Hollywood “stars” go I chalked them up to just that – rumors. Hopefully he is, as you said, the person he thinks he is. If that’s the case, I wish him a fun comeback.
I never heard any rumors (probably because I was a kid when he was popular), but every role he played, he had the exact same goofy affect in his speech. I don’t see how he would be taken seriously in anything. Even Bobcat Goldthwait gave it a rest at some point (and went on to do other great things in his career).
Pauly can try to rewrite history all he wants, but the fact is, if his mom wasn’t the literal owner of The Comedy Store, no one would have ever put up with his nasty mid-fame antics.
Winner winner chicken dinner.
Edit to add something I heard my oldest son say about me to someone at a party he was attending. His wife took the video. They were talking about mothers and he drunkenly explained he had the best mother in the world and that in his 31 years, he’d never ever heard me badmouth ANYONE ever. Until trump lmao! I’m so proud.
An amazing legacy! Lol
Can’t people take simple jokes anymore? If he wanted headlines from his perspective about the joke, he should have brushed it off in a funny way especially as someone who comes from a comedy background.
Anyway, I’m more bothered by those Voodoo dolls in the pic- is that supposed to be Steven Spielberg, Quinten Tarantino & ?? Katy Perry?
He should have said nothing. He sounds like a crybaby, I don’t think this is the way to put it out there that he’d love to act again.
This what Pauly Shore tweeted about the joke:
“I don’t know if you guys saw the @TheAcademy Awards last night, but @jimmykimmel poked fun at me in the monologue. I loved it.
But what I REALLY loved is that my old buddies from back in the day, Brendan Fraser and Ke Huy Quan, took home the Oscars!
Never quit on your dreams.”
Mcali, Well said! 👍
That sounds like he took it okay. Plus,he got people talking about him. Win/win
It was such a TAME joke about another comedian. Pauly Shore gets it.
I’m
Not sure the stoner Schtick would work in his 50s…it’s not like he played a variety of characters.
Super random, when I was in college, a girl in one of my classes dated him. She used to brag about it all the time and everyone thought it was gross and not something uou should brag about. He was 10 years older than us and would pick her up in private jets. He was just as awful as his characters but thought he was an a list actor which made it even worse. He very obviously didn’t get the joke.
Did not know that about his mother. LOL. Checked Wikipedia because I thought there was a film of his I liked, but nope. So many of his credits are as himself in Playboy videos. Never saw Encino Man. I was all about the neo-noir back in the day.
A friend of mine met him in Vegas when we were in college. This was like 15 years ago. He was texting her a bunch but she wasn’t into it because we were all in our early 20s and it’s Polly Shore… he was a has-been way back then so nobody was too impressed with their flirtation, including her. I’ll be surprised if he makes some kind of legit comeback but I never thought Brenden Frasure would win an Oscar so, maybe.
Brendan has done some high quality work like Crash, The Passion of Darkly Noon and School Ties. Then he got swept up into the blockbuster goofy franchises. He is a great actor and got sidelined for years due to an injury and speaking up about being groped.
I’m so happy he is getting a comeback now.
I’m being TOTALLY dense, but was Pauly Shore not nice like he remembers? I think that’s what this sentence is implying? “When he was ‘at the top,’ as he refenced in his statement, there were plenty of stories of how he treated fans, up-and-coming comedians and even established comedians when they were at The Comedy Store.”
I just liked how he congratulated brendan and ke! Very sweet 😘
He has a strong resemblance to Richard Simmons. Maybe that could be his comeback film, a biopic, “Sweatin to the Oldies: The Untold Story.”
He was in Vancouver for something about 12 years ago and he went to an appointment. My friend was the physician for that appointment and my friend said he was the rudest, most arrogant person that he’d ever met. He would never accept him back to his office.
That being said, his tweet was decent.
I honestly took that joke as one comedian roasting another comedian.
I agree with you @Chaine – he DOES look like Richard Simmons.
I think they should ask Randy Rainbow to host the Oscars next year. The man is amazing, sings like an angel and he is hysterical.
I think his tweet was good, but complaining about it afterwards…eh. I never thought of him really as an actor, more like someone who got famous (through connections) and got cast in a few movies, but who knows.
I don’t like Kimmel generally, but that was fairly tame in terms of jokes.
I read an interview with him ahead of the Oscars (maybe on AV Club?) and he just sounded so bitter and sad.
He showed up to my friend’s yoga class once a few years back wearing a shirt that said “I’m Pauly Shore” and hit on the teacher. So that’s where he’s at these days.