Pauly Shore was born into a comedy family. The son of Mitzi Shore, who founded the legendary Los Angeles club The Comedy Store, and comedian Stan Shore, Pauly spent his formative years around a lot of different comics. After graduating from Beverly Hills High School in 1986, Shore landed a series of bit parts in films such as 18 Again! and guest spots on television shows including Married With Children, 21 Jump Street, and St. Elsewhere.
Pauly became an MTV phenomenon when he landed his own show on the network in 1989. Totally Pauly, hosted by Shore with sidekick Jeff Leiber ran on the network until 1994. Pauly was sort of like the network's eternal fifteen-year-old. Clad in colorful bandanas, looking like a poster boy for stoner culture, Pauly was famous for hosting MTV's annual spring break parties. Having coined the phrase "weeeeee..zell!," Shore road his wave of to a couple of sucessful comedy albums and a series of hit movies during the nineties.
But Alas, Pauly Shore is that tiring sort of entertainer whose overused juvenile humor quickly wears thin. Shore's success quickly began to fade as soon as Totally Pauly went off the air. Ever tenacious, Pauly continues to look for a vehicle that will put him back on the map. His latest attempt, Natural Born Komics, was written, directed, and produced by Shore himself. Since Natural Born Komics originally aired on Showtime, I'm a tad confused as to why the DVD release is now being referred to as a "sketch comedy movie." At just about forty-eight minutes, Natural Born Komics hardly qualifies as a movie in my book; splitting hairs maybe, but I was already getting off on the wrong foot with this one.
The first segment of the "movie" sets the tone for the entire project. We find Pauly on a mission to find a woman for himself. He tries to accomplish this by telling people he is famous (they don't seem to know who he is), and tries to get them to have sex with him. When his friend comes by and announces he's getting married, Shore blames his buddy for his failure with the ladies. All of this isn't the least bit funny, but Pauly soldiers on. Pauly gives us a spoof of Cheaters, playing a fast food restaurant employee who finds out his wife is cheating with a little person. Even less funnier than the first segment, it's becoming increasingly clear that watching Natural Born Komics is a waste of forty-eight minutes in my life I'm never going to get back.
Article comments