Jimmy Kimmel, overall, was a lackluster host for the Oscars. Granted, he was probably what ABC wanted him to be, but the rest of us could’ve picked better. However, I, at least, felt he landed a few jokes. His monologue started off pretty well, until he went for The Slap, which he should’ve left alone. One bit I found funny was Kimmel’s minute on Encino Man. In his opening, Kimmel pointed out that Ke Huy Quan and Brendan Fraser, both nominees that night, were in Encino Man, a silly 1992 comedy about a prehistoric man being thawed into modern times. The filmed starred Brendan as Link, Sean Astin as Dave and Pauly Shore as Stoney. As the name implies, Pauly’s character was almost as much a caricature as Brendan’s. The movie is fun, but ridiculous and it is astonishing that it produced to Oscar winners. In Kimmel’s bit, he acknowledged that Encino Man had two nominees in the audience, but added that it must be, “a difficult night it must be for Pauly Shore.” Since it was the Oscars, Pauly heard the joke and was hurt by it. He added that Kimmel’s jabs are no different from anyone else’s, though.
Pauly Shore is ready for his own comeback following his “Encino Man” co-stars Brendan Fraser and Ke Huy Quan’s Oscar triumphs.
The ’90s comedy star watched Sunday as Fraser, 54, won Best Actor and Quan, 51, won Best Supporting Actor.
But then host Jimmy Kimmel joked: “Two actors from ‘Encino Man’ are nominated for Oscars. What an incredible night this must be for the two of you and what a difficult night it must be for Pauly Shore.”
Shore said the pot-shot was really no different than how people treated him in the past.
“We love to hate people when they’re on top. People wanted to smash me down and they did,” Shore, 55, told Page Six. “I was always nice to everyone, always cool, I put my heart into my all my films.
“You’re buying and selling a human being,” he added of being a celebrity. “Human beings have feelings, it’s not like selling real estate.”
Shore said he’s thrilled for his old co-stars.
“It’s a big deal, I’m happy for these guys,” he said. “We did a movie together years ago and I’m glad that people still talk about it 30 years later. It’s crazy.”
But now he’s ready for his own return to the cultural conversation.
“I do truly miss acting and I miss being on set … hopefully it happens … it’s about just dreaming and hoping.”
I’m sorry that Pauly was hurt by the joke. I mean, even Sean Astin went on to do an Academy Award winning film. I concede that the joke held without the Pauly Shore addition, so Kimmel could have left it off. Seeing it from Pauly’s perspective, it was an unnecessary punch. And it’s nice that he’s happy for his co-stars and cheered their success.
I’m slightly hesitant to jump on Pauly’s pity train, though. He might think he was, “was always nice to everyone, always cool”, but his hindsight might be slightly skewed. Pauly is, of course, the son of The Comedy Store’s Mitzi Shore. Mitzi was a comedy legend. She made or broke careers, and we are talking Robin Williams, Richard Pryor and Jim Carrey-careers. Pauly left high school at 17 to be a stand-up comedian and he still thinks he made it in this business on his own because he landed a job at MTV. When he was ‘at the top,’ as he refenced in his statement, there were plenty of stories of how he treated fans, up-and-coming comedians and even established comedians when they were at The Comedy Store. I enjoyed some of his films. I wouldn’t mind seeing Pauly back on screen as well. But I also hope he’s become this version of himself he thinks he is.
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