The night of Dec. 10 has come and gone and all of the original, innovative comedy in Pauly Shore’s stand up comedy went with it.
As a millennial baby who grew up watching his films, I am sad to see it go while simultaneously glad that it is over. His performance felt like the longest 45 minutes of my life.
Meandering onto the stage, clearly under the influence of something, Shore at least made an entrance.
Initially, I thought that the show was going to be a riot. Within the first five minutes, Shore lightly poked fun at himself, touched on some throwback ’90s Weasel humor and heckled a couple audience members. He genuinely seemed funny with all of his slurring and stumbling.
Then minute six hit.
Every other word out of his mouth was “bro,” “dude” or some expletive. He then banked on the aforementioned ’90s Weasel humor while rambling on about how he is no longer famous and the downfalls of being a once-iconic star.
Then came the penis and fart jokes.
A few sporadic and slightly racist punch lines followed, causing a myriad of audience responses, including some people actually leaving because of his crassness.
Nine sad and slightly irritating minutes passed and he actually began to make some slightly humorous, not to mention racist, jokes. These were immediately followed by Shore asking the audience if he was funny, if they liked him or if they remembered this movie or that movie. His obvious need for validation was tough to watch.
El Rey audience members were collectively over it before the midpoint. Some left muttering things like, “this isn’t even funny,” or “it’s just sad.” Others took to their cell phones, yawning, clearly bored by the star of the event.
Mere chuckles escaped in the last 20 minutes (at the comedian rather than his jokes), coupled by drunken shouts by a few hecklers in the audience.
Overall the event showcased the obvious and expected decline of the washed-up ’90s icon. The only jokes that landed were those encompassing the fleeting honesty of Paul Shore rather than Pauly “The Weasel, Bro” Shore.
Chelsea Gallegos can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_news on Twitter.
