‘The First Time’ With Pauly Shore

Comedian Pauly Shore recounts his first-ever stand-up show, the creation of his character “the Weasel” and more in the latest installment of Rolling Stone’s The First Time.

Shore’s next project, Guest House, hits on-demand services Friday, September 4th. In the film, Shore plays a squatter who refuses to move out of a guest house where he’d been living after his friend, the previous owner, moves out, and a newly engaged couple moves in. Mayhem and comedy, of course, ensue. Shore says he was initially slated for a small part as a police officer in the flick but says it was director Sam Macaroni who wanted him as the lead.

“He had seen me on Joe Rogan’s podcast and he was like, ‘Why isn’t Pauly Shore starring in movies?’” Shore recalls. “Like, ‘This guy should be starring in movies — he shouldn’t be a small role in my movie.’”

Elsewhere in the interview, Shore recounts his first-ever stand-up set — he even remembers the exact date, September 28th, 1986 — at a dinner club his dad took him to. Shore says he killed that first night, and jokes, “It was all the times after that that I did really poorly.”

Shore also spoke about coming up with the idea for his movie, Pauly Shore Is Dead, while lying in the bathtub, and his early days at MTV. Shore described the origins of his character “the Weasel,” which grew out of a surfer dude voice he slipped into as he introduced a music video while making the first episode of his show Totally Pauly. Shore also shared his memories of hosting MTV’s annual spring break bacchanals.

“This was when MTV was very big down in spring break and Daytona,” Shore remembers. “And it was just mayhem because it was live and there were millions of people watching, and there were millions of people doing beer bongs in front of me, and getting crazy.”