Comedy: 10 minutes with Pauly

Pauly Shore was born to be a comic. He was raised in a comedy club. His father, Sam, was a comic and his mother, Mitzi Shore, is the owner of the Comedy Store in Los Angeles.

Shore's career exploded in the ‘90s with a gig as a VJ on MTV, as well as starring roles in a slew of movies including Encino Man, In the Army Now, Son-in-Law and Bio-Dome.

Although he made millions from those films, he was never taken seriously by Hollywood critics. As the acting roles stopped coming, Shore started working on several independent films including Pauly Shore is Dead, Natural Born Komics, and the upcoming release, Adopted. Shore also helps run the Comedy Store and has been working on his stand-up act, which he brings to the Irvine Improv this week.

I spoke with Shore last Friday. Here's what he had to say:

Do you like coming down to Orange County to perform?
Shore: I like going anywhere to play, as long as there are people in the audience. I'd go to Africa and do a show there. For me it's all about the crowd and their enthusiasm for having me there so it doesn't really matter where I play. It's all about getting out there and marketing yourself and making people laugh.

Who is your favorite comic?
Shore: Sam Kinison and Richard Pryor. If you put them together you get Barack Obama. I like Chris Rock too. I think he's really smart.

What's the last thing that made you laugh really hard?
Shore: Looking in the mirror at my penis. Just kidding. I don't know when I laughed really hard last. I laugh at Dick Cheney. He's hysterically funny to me. He's around more now than he was when he was in charge.

What makes you keep coming back to doing stand-up?
Shore: It saves my life. If I didn't have it, I'd probably kill myself. Seriously, it makes me smile and gives me energy. People ask me about choosing stand-up and I have to say that I didn't choose it, it chose me. I have to get up on stage or else I'm just jonesin. I'm more comfortable on stage than I am just being in a room full of people.

What did you think about the recent unflattering tabloid photos of you on the beach in your bathing suit?
Shore: Those are nice ones. I did see those. With me, most of the time, they don't like to take pictures of me looking good. I saw something in, I guess the Enquirer, that had a picture of me picking my nose. What else are you supposed to do at a stoplight?

For showtimes and tickets, click here.