Pauly Shore reviving standup career; heading to Eastern Iowa this weekend

Pauly Shore is no longer dead. He's actually feeling a bit like George Clooney these days.

Not in the swoon-inducing mega-movie star way.

In the “Up in the Air” way.

Shore is a self-made businessman. The comedian who blazed a movie trail in a lovable surfer-dude slacker sort of way with “Encino Man,” “The Son-in-Law” and “Bio-Dome” in the '90s, watched his career fizzle, then picked himself back up by satirizing his demise in the 2003 mockumentary “Pauly Shore is Dead.”

He's back on footing weaving TV and film projects around his standup comedy roots. An aggressive summer and fall tour schedule will bring him to Dubuque and Cedar Rapids in early August and Iowa City in November.

“My body is used to being on the road,” Shore, 42, says by phone from his office on the top floor of The Comedy Store in Los Angeles.

His father, comedian Sammy Shore, founded the venerable venue in 1972. His mother, Mitzi Shore, began running the operation in 1973, won the business in her divorce settlement and is still there. Shore grew up surrounded by a who's who of comedy greats who honed their skills on the Sunset Strip stage, including David Letterman, Jay Leno and Richard Pryor.

Standup comedy is in his blood and is a force that will not be denied.

“I feel like George Clooney in (the movie) ‘Up in the Air' - I'm always traveling,” he says. “My family is the baggage handlers, Cinnabon and the guys at the metal detectors. They say, ‘Hey Pauly - where you going this week?'

“I'm in the entertainment business. The job that I chose is a traveling job. I peddle my goods like in the olden days. I go town to town telling jokes,” he says. “I'm very lucky I can make a living off this also.”

Flowing in and around the gigs are various film and television projects, including his new mockumentary, “Adopted,” a sendup of celebrities adopting children from Third World countries, and “The Shores,” a reality show being developed for MTV.

“It's about a family America doesn't know that I have,” he says. “I don't want to talk about it more - I want to kind of tease it up. Then I have more tours in the fall, more videos with funnier guys and I'll work on some other stuff. My schedule's pretty filled up from now to New Year's Eve in Miami.”

Family has been one of his career trade-offs.

“I really don't have a personal life,” he says. “My business life is my personal life. In this business, you have to sacrifice a personal life for this. I'm not saying people aren't successful at (having both). For some reason, I can't seem to figure it out.”

After a brief pause, he screams: “B*****s are needy!” Calming down, he adds: “You gotta find a girl that understands what she's signing up for. I'm going to be gone a lot and I'm going to be selfish. What girl wants to get into that s***?

His career path has been one of great highs and lows.

After a bright start on MTV and his early pop-culture movies, his career stalled. Down in the dumps, he decided to take a stab at directing.

Whereas he had taken some acting and improv classes to help during his auditioning days, he says directing “just kind of came to me.”

“I was actually pretty good at (directing),” he says. “It takes that first one to realize this.”

That first one was “Pauly Shore is Dead.” It remains his proudest achievement.

“It came out at a point personally in my life where I was down and alone. The phone wasn't ringing,” he says. “I just kind of picked myself up and made humor out of a subject that wasn't funny.”

That can-do attitude has served him well.

“I'm not the type of person that waits for the phone to ring. Whatever business you're in, if the phone rings, it's the cherry on the cake, and the cake is something you have to create. You have to be a hustler. Jay-Z said it the best.”

Shore's standup style also has evolved.

“Inherently as humans, we mature or don't mature. I've matured,” he says. “My standup is less persona and more relatable material, as opposed to my persona in the old days, with me jumping around and acting crazy. Which I still do,” he says - just not as often.

These days, his act is more about connecting with his audience and having a good time.

“I talk about myself, I talk about politics and relationships. It's just a microphone and me - it's not like puppets and props. There's no sleight-of-hand. What you see is what you get, which I think is pretty cool.”

FAST TAKE

• What: Pauly Shore stand-up comedy
• Dubuque: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010, Diamond Jo Casino's Mississippi Moon Bar, 301 Bell St., (563) 690-2100; tickets $25 and $30 at http://dubuquetickets.diamondjo.com
• Cedar Rapids: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 5, 2010, Penguins Comedy Club at the Clarion Hotel, 525 33rd Ave. SW, (319) 362-8133; tickets $22 through etix link at www.penguinscomedyclub.com/cr_upcomingacts.htm
• Iowa City: 8 p.m. Nov. 14, Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St.; tickets $25 general admission, $20 students at Englert Box Office, (319) 688-2653, Ext. 1, or www.redtrucktickets.com; information at www.englert.org
• Artist information: www.paulyshore.com

Looking for a laugh? Check out these promo videos Pauly Shore filmed for his upcoming Iowa shows:

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