Pauly Shore Live!
He’s such a nice guy!
That’s the thought that kept running through my head as Pauly Shore worked the FunnyBone audience Saturday, Oct. 11 with his raunchy, sometimes funny, but ultimately uneven stand-up act.
Normally, I get really annoyed when comedians laugh at their own jokes, but Pauly’s nervous laughter was infectious and it made me root for him.
Unfortunately, with Pauly’s act, there really wasn’t any shape. His material seemed to go off in several directions at once — like he’d thrown everything he had at the audience and while some of it stuck, much of it fell flat.
If there’s one thing I’ve noticed with stand-up comedians, it’s that they usually have a hook, something that links one gag or story to the next (“Speaking of blah, blah, blah … there was this other blah, blah, blah”).
I never really got a sense of where Pauly was going with each new beat and while I’m sure he’s performed this routine hundreds of times, I suspect he probably doesn’t really know where it’s going either.
To be sure, the man is not a natural stand-up comedian.
In fact, he seemed at times a little uncomfortable, apologizing to an audience member, here and there, for making a crude joke at their expensive, as well as fidgeting on a stool nearly the entire time — a detail that an audience member commented on after the show.
I did particularly enjoy his self-deprecating jokes about how he’s sort of a has-been in Hollywood, that his onscreen “Wiez” persona was so strong, that no one can see him as anything else. He joked that he could never be cast in a movie like, say, Braveheart, because even with all of the horses and battle paint and swords and blood, people would take one look at him on the screen and say, “What’s Pauly Shore doing in this movie?!”
See, that’s funny!
Say what you will about his movies, but the guy has a lot of Hollywood insider stuff that he could and should be exploiting in his material. With that being said, it’s really kind of unfortunate that so much of his other material relied on easy, crude innuendo and sexual/gender politics which, these days, has such a well worn, seen-it/done-it quality, no matter who’s performing. Then again, there are a lot of other comedians who can do that kind of material in their sleep … and still do it better.
On our way out of the club, my partner in crime, Tina, said Pauly seemed like he’d be a lot of fun to hang out with on a Friday night, have some laughs with — like a bud-dy. At the same time, though, if he weren’t Pauly Shore, she probably wouldn’t go out of her way to see him live. She added that, except for one or two moments, there wasn’t anything in his routine that really stuck out for her.
And I can’t say I disagree with her.
As much as I enjoyed Pauly Shore, the man … as much as I wanted to root for him, I think he still has a long way to go before he gets roasted at The Friar’s Club.
I’d say he shouldn’t quit his day job but, well — *crickets*
Hey, is this thing on?
That’s the thought that kept running through my head as Pauly Shore worked the FunnyBone audience Saturday, Oct. 11 with his raunchy, sometimes funny, but ultimately uneven stand-up act.
Normally, I get really annoyed when comedians laugh at their own jokes, but Pauly’s nervous laughter was infectious and it made me root for him.
Unfortunately, with Pauly’s act, there really wasn’t any shape. His material seemed to go off in several directions at once — like he’d thrown everything he had at the audience and while some of it stuck, much of it fell flat.
If there’s one thing I’ve noticed with stand-up comedians, it’s that they usually have a hook, something that links one gag or story to the next (“Speaking of blah, blah, blah … there was this other blah, blah, blah”).
I never really got a sense of where Pauly was going with each new beat and while I’m sure he’s performed this routine hundreds of times, I suspect he probably doesn’t really know where it’s going either.
To be sure, the man is not a natural stand-up comedian.
In fact, he seemed at times a little uncomfortable, apologizing to an audience member, here and there, for making a crude joke at their expensive, as well as fidgeting on a stool nearly the entire time — a detail that an audience member commented on after the show.
I did particularly enjoy his self-deprecating jokes about how he’s sort of a has-been in Hollywood, that his onscreen “Wiez” persona was so strong, that no one can see him as anything else. He joked that he could never be cast in a movie like, say, Braveheart, because even with all of the horses and battle paint and swords and blood, people would take one look at him on the screen and say, “What’s Pauly Shore doing in this movie?!”
See, that’s funny!
Say what you will about his movies, but the guy has a lot of Hollywood insider stuff that he could and should be exploiting in his material. With that being said, it’s really kind of unfortunate that so much of his other material relied on easy, crude innuendo and sexual/gender politics which, these days, has such a well worn, seen-it/done-it quality, no matter who’s performing. Then again, there are a lot of other comedians who can do that kind of material in their sleep … and still do it better.
On our way out of the club, my partner in crime, Tina, said Pauly seemed like he’d be a lot of fun to hang out with on a Friday night, have some laughs with — like a bud-dy. At the same time, though, if he weren’t Pauly Shore, she probably wouldn’t go out of her way to see him live. She added that, except for one or two moments, there wasn’t anything in his routine that really stuck out for her.
And I can’t say I disagree with her.
As much as I enjoyed Pauly Shore, the man … as much as I wanted to root for him, I think he still has a long way to go before he gets roasted at The Friar’s Club.
I’d say he shouldn’t quit his day job but, well — *crickets*
Hey, is this thing on?
— Hal G. Senal
posted by Sarah Wengert at
12:11 PM
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