The e-mail pops up as I'm writing a cover story about Jerry Seinfeld. The e-mail is from Pauly Shore.
I'm on a tight deadline to get the Seinfeld story finished. I took a brief break from writing only a few minutes earlier to set up the Shore interview to preview his six appearances Thursday night through Saturday at the Funny Bone, 6140 Levis Commons Blvd. in Perrysburg, and the actor/stand-up comic is ready for the phone interview now.
I'm not. I politely tell him let's chat the same time the next day.
It's not as if I needed a lot of time to bone up on the history of Shore before we talk. Really, does anyone? Shore, 43, made a name for himself for several years on MTV beginning in 1989, followed by a run of semi-successful low-budget comedies through the mid-'90s and then kind of faded from Hollywood "it" status, as he calls it, to the auteur of several indie comedies, most of which haven't been seen by anyone who's not A.) family B.) friends C.) a huge fan. Shore began his career as a stand-up comic and has leaned heavily on it since his acting career went south. Telling jokes runs in the blood. His father, Sammy Shore, has been at it for decades, and father and son even toured together a few years ago. Shore's mom, Mitzi Shore, is owner of The Comedy Store in Los Angeles.
As I said, stand-up runs in his genes.
Still, Shore didn't call me the next day. I e-mailed him instead. Once we connected on the phone, the interview was quickly under way.
Q: How involved are you in social networking?
A: You want to know the truth or the lie? The lie is better.
Q: How 'bout both?
A: Well, the lie will give you the truth. The lie: "I'm into it. Follow me every day on Twitter." I only honestly use it when I have projects coming out. I'm really not about people knowing where I'm at all the time. It's not my style, you know? I'm a little more private.
Q: For readers who've never seen your stand-up, talk about your act.
A: People have been asking that for so long that it's hard for me to kind of give the analogy of what I do onstage .... Anyone that does know me, they remember me from the movies, so they think that I'm going to come out and do the "Weasel-Buddy" thing the whole time. I asked someone after my show, "Well, now that you've seen me, what kind of style ... would you say [it is]?" And they said, "Stripped-down Paulie," like if I was an onion I would be peeled. It's me, just stripped down.
I get pretty personal. The thing that's interesting as a stand-up is you kind of have to feel the audience and know when it's time to shift a subject because people don't want to hear anything too long. You don't want to talk too much about sex, you don't want to talk too much about politics, you don't want to talk too much about yourself. You kind of want to do just enough and move on. And you have to feel that when you're onstage. I've been doing it for over 20 years now so I think I have a good take on when to shift around. There are also a lot of times when I feel a little bit bored or if I'm doing a joke that I've been doing for a while and I have to go to the audience and shake it up a little and create some improv for five minutes and then go back to my stuff. It's really an energy you have to feel onstage.
Q; Talk about the evolution of your stand-up career.
A: I think when you fail you get better. I wouldn't say I failed in my career but I would say things slowed down. It was good in a way because it gave me a chance to grow up and kind of talk about everything. I wasn't the "it" guy. It's funny, people in our business, my business, your business, the media ... they kind of talk [smack] about people who are doing well: Justin Bieber, the Kardashians, and LeBron James. I've been there because I remember getting all these Razzies and "Pauly Shore is retarded and he's terrible" [comments]. But then when you're down and you're down for a while, people kind of support you again. It's kind of a weird love-hate that this industry and the media have with people in this business.
Q: How much time do you spend writing?
A: It's not like I'm one of those writers who goes to a coffee shop for an hour a day. Usually when I'm on the bike at the gym I have my Blackberry and I write all my stuff there. Then I e-mail it to my assistant and he'll kind of organize it and make it look pretty, and then I start filing it and kind of start putting it together and start doing it. One thing about me is that I've always been really great on, like, setting stuff up and coming from a real place, but then the punch lines are always the hardest part for me. Some people are the opposite. Some people are really great at punch lines, but their act, there's no realness to it. I'm trying to come from a place [and] talk about what's out there.
Pauly Shore will perform one show at 7 Thursday night, two shows at 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday, and three shows at 7, 10, and 11:45 p.m. Saturday at the Funny Bone, 6140 Levis Commons Blvd. in Perrysburg. Tickets are $25. For more information, call 419-931-3474 or visit funnybonefatfishtoledo.com.
Contact Kirk Baird at kbaird@theblade.com or 419-724-6734.
First Published February 17, 2011, 5:13 a.m.
