Pauly Shore Speaks About His Surreal Experiences Growing Up In The Comedy Store

It’s been a long time since Pauly Shore rocked a long curly mop of hair and purple spandex, but "The Weasel" lives on. He disappeared from the spotlight in the past ten years, and he’s on the heels of a comeback, but few know the full picture of where his schtick comes from. Behind his surfer-stoner persona is a well-versed, lifelong fly on the wall of comedy greatness, with a childhood that most can’t wrap their minds around. Shore pushed aside his character to explain the complicated past that shaped his identity.

Complicated Past

"You ever see that YouTube video where the baby crawls across the highway, and, for some miraculous reason, doesn't get run over? That's like me and my life, you know?" Pauly Shore told the Chicago Tribune in 2011. The comedic character from films like Encino Man and Bio-Dome never fully turns off his trademark persona, but he doesn't sugarcoat his past.

Family Business

People might wonder how a guy ends up maintaining a surfer-slang, party-boy character for 30 years running. Well, few have experienced what Shore has throughout his life. He was born in Hollywood with a stand-up comedian father and a mother who became comedy royalty, and Pauly and his siblings were along for the ride.

The Comedy Store

Sammy and Mitzi Shore opened the Hollywood institution The Comedy Store when Pauly was just four years old, providing him a front-row seat to comedy's greatest legends. Whatever your opinion of Shore’s own comedic stylings, there’s no doubt that he honed his skills by taking notes from the best. Even better, he got his hands dirty.

First Job

Shore described the strange things he witnessed comics do to the New York Times: “He’d pour milk on his head, rub a grapefruit on his elbow, and smear chocolate pudding on his chest. My little jaw dropped. After a performance, he’d go out to the parking lot to clean up. My first job at the Comedy Store was hosing down Lenny Schultz.” For the Shores, comedy was inescapable and all encompassing.