“Pulling a Pauly Shore” is not a reference to pathetic starlets in the 90’s who were willing to do anything to get in the biz…
It is a little known but painfully obvious phenomenon that occurs when a new fresh comedy sensation rides a tidal wave of public approval all the way back to anonymity by wrongfully adhering to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mantra.
The Pauly Shore Grace Period includes the rise to prominence, (usually meteoric) subsequent stay in the spotlight and then the two or three years where the public seems to say “I don’t know why we ever found you remotely amusing”.
Then comes the embarrassing decade where our Pauly does what he can to force himself back into view, admitting addiction, doing a “celebrity” show or cameos in other films where you are the butt of good natured jokes concerning the demise of your career, all much to the disinterest of everybody involved. Where the logical thing to do would be count your money, invest wisely and see out your days banging hot chicks who think they can become famous through you, all the while thanking the devil for allowing you these unearned privileges. So now that I think about it maybe it is a reference to the first sentence.
For those of you crazy teens googling Pauly will show that he appeared in but parts for the first part of his career, including “Kid #3”, however then in 1992 he busted out in “Encino Man”, an amusing comedy that was about a neanderthal man being unfrozen and becoming the cool guy on campus. Pauly was quirky guy who found him and he was actually pretty funny and unique for the time. He had his own sayings and pattern of speech that captured the hearts of a generation (for a few months), I still hear the “bu-uu-ddy” every now and then in public.
I was about 17/18 when it came out and remember in the small town I grew up in EVERYONE between 15 and 25 had seen it over the school holiday break and in fact many of them embraced the phrases, with some patterning their speech from Pauly’s Stoney character. To put this in perspective this is the era of Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction and even T2, movies with massive box office and huge budgets, and more people in my area had seen this straight to video flick starring a few teenage nobodies.
Anyway Hollywood being the most original place on earth, reacted predictably enough by giving Pauly every fish out of water script going around, and over the next few years he was in:
– “Son In Law” – The stoner boyfriend of the daughter of a hardworking farming family.
– “You’re In The Army Now” – Two stoners join the army to make cash and are immediately thrust into action.
– “Jury Duty” – A stoner looks to make money by taking jury duty per diem and prolonging the trial.
– “BioDome” – Two stoners mistakenly get involved in a environmentally concious program trying to impress their girlfriends.
That, my friends, is called range. I put the word stoner in each description where I could have just as easily inserted “loser”, you get the idea. This was the period where video rental was booming, and each of these movies were a success in their own right, even if not critically speaking. They were quick and cheap to make, and were reliant solely on Pauly’s shtick. They also weren’t too vulgar or crude, so younger kids watched them too.
The backlash started (and ended) with BioDome, which speaking frankly su-uu-cked. It had the same formula as the other flicks more or less, but everyone had grown tired of the same stuff over and over and over…
And so, from Encino Man in 92 to BioDome in 96 Pauly tasted the dizzying highs and plummetted to the lowest lows. Now by my maths Pauly was 28 at the time of BioDome and obviously didn’t want to retire or worse fade away from the public conciousness, so he guest starred in a number of TV shows and even had his own (very) short lived sit-com. In the 2000’s he even had his own self deprecating show called “Pauly Shore is Dead”, where he feigned his own death to ensure he went out on a high and was remembered as a comedic genius.
Didn’t work on TV or in real life. RIP Pauly.
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Fast forward to present day and we can see that there are several other textbook examples of “Pulling a Pauly”, they happen each few years with the main difference being the duration of the cycle, rarely does the cycle run more than 6 or so years though. There have also been many examples over the years of actors avoiding the Pauly curse simply by not allowing themselves to be typecast or appearing in too many similar roles, notable survivors include Steve Martin, Bill Murray and most famously Tom Hanks.
Recapping the steps in the phase:
1/ Pauly appears and public suddenly finds him funny.
2/ Pauly appears in several of the same movie and success continues.
3/ Pauly releases another “same” movie but is suddenly no longer funny.
4/ Pauly tries in vain to remain in public view.
5/ Paulie either a) vanishes or b) toils away in obscurity and becomes the butt of jokes.
Recent Pauly nominees.
Honourable Mention
Carrot Top
This would be the “Pulling a Carrot Top” story if he actually made it and anyone thought he was funny. After the instantly forgotten “Chairman of the Board” CT went straight to obscurity, only reappearing as a punchline.
Paulie Factor – Disqualified due to lack of mainstream success.
Would be out of 5 Pauly’s.
Potential Pauly’s
I might be going early with these guys, but if they continue down their current path they all run the risk of attaining Pauly status. None of them are in any danger in the immediate future, but potentially will go Full Pauly in the Two-Thousand-Teens at current rates.
Russell Brand – Really? After one moderately successful movie I’m nominating Brand already. Currently an “It” guy because of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the fact that he is seemingly everywhere lately, Russell is a quoteworthy media darling. I feel that what we have already seen is pretty much his full box of tricks though, and unless he breaks his carefully constructed character soon the public may grow tired. (I personally like Russell Brand but worry about what his future holds.)
What’s this I see? Russell is currently filming a sequel of sorts playing his character from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Not good signs…
Steve Carell – Seems most likely to forge a long career in the spotlight regardless. Steve was in Anchorman and for mine was the most memorable thing in what was an awful movie. No real stinkers on his resume yet but there are many eerie similarities to Jim Carrey, the mugging, the false smarminess and the “I’ve forgotten how to talk properly” stuff. If he keeps on with this and allows himself to be typecast things could go south rapidly.
Jim Carrey – If Jim retired today he could already lay claim to a very successful and reasonably diverse career. He has more than dabbled in non-comedies, “The Majestic“, “Man on the Moon”, “The Truman Show” and especially “Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind“, so we know he is willing to take chances.
Every now and then though Carrey must allow his pets to pick his next films, “Yes Man” was atrocious, “Fun with Dick and Jane” just lazy and “The Number 23” was a misguided vanity project.
Please note: I’m not naming any of these guys as has-beens yet, just hoping that they take some care in choosing their projects and make sure they avoid the Pauly Potholes.
Will Ferrell
“Still think I’m funny?”
Pauly Shore Grace Period
You guessed it, Ferrell started in SNL in the mid 90’s, then had a few roles in some SNL projects including “A Night at the Roxbury” and “The Ladies Man“, and some key bit parts in “Zoolander“, “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and “The Wedding Crashers” where he definitely added to the film.
In recent years though Ferrell has snoozed through a number of roles using a standard M.O.
1/ Will is childish and takes things wayyyy too seriously.
2/ Will strips to his undies or gets naked for no apparent reason.
3/ Will yells at people where it isn’t warranted.
4/ Will spouts (apparently) ad-libbed phrases “A whale’s labia.” Oh ha-ha, that’s hilarious.
See “Blades of Glory“, “Talladega Nights”, “Anchorman”, “Semi-Pro”, “Step Brothers”, “his next 5 movies” etc.
BioDome moment
I would argue somewhere between Talladega and Step Brothers people would have thought “Hang on, this is exactly the same as everything else he’s done recently. But no, not yet, Will is still allegedly one of the funniest guys in Hollywood for some reason. I have a feeling that the levee is overdue to break, and the old Will Ferrell DVD’s will gather dust in much the same way as Damon Wayans old stuff currently does in many cabinets (Damon would be in other lists but I feel I have enough examples).
If Anchorman or Old School are the highlights of his career when all is said and done, I would personally feel that it was a mediocre effort at best.
Will needs to switch it up soon, and no, one effort in “Stranger Than Fiction” doesn’t count, or run the risk of going full Pauly within 2 years.
3 Pauly’s
out of 5.
Adam Sandler
Pauly Shore Grace Period
Yet another SNL vet (I sense a trend here that sounds eerily like American Idol. Get on TV, become instantly famous. Make cash. Disappear) Sandler is another guy with a couple voices who can play two maybe three characters and whose movies are always slightly better than they should be, yet still not that good.
Despite myself I still like Happy Gilmore and Big Daddy, yet loathe The Waterboy, Little Nicky, and over half of the rest of his filmography. Sandler has made a couple of OK non-comedies in Spanglish and Punch-Drunk Love, (Edit: No. He hasn’t.) yet always comes back to the “talking out of the side of his mouth”, and “yelling for no reason” shtick.
BioDome moment
For me it was The Waterboy, for the rest of the world possibly Click. Sandler so far hasn’t had a total and unequivocal failure, mixing awful movies with moderate successes, but I feel the turning point isn’t too far away.
3 Pauly’s
out of 5.
For the record, if I’m voting I go Will Ferrell for full Pauly before Sandler.
Mike Myers
“So I guess I won’t be making “The Love Guru 2” then?
Pauly Shore Grace Period
Again from SNL, at least Myers was amusing at one point, even though the Wayne’s World and Austin Powers movies constantly recycled the same jokes over and over again at least they were pretty good jokes initially. In true Pauly fashion Myers proved he could act with “54” then ignored that and switched on the autopilot with more Austin Powers and voicing Shrek, (the first was good and the second two sucked, more will invariably follow).
BioDome moment
Last year came The Love Guru, which the Hindu religion initially panned without seeing, then realised that no-one was watching it anyway and shut up.Already a laughing stock despite coming out only last year, the Guru effectively ended Myers’ writing/acting career, and the world lost a great foil in Verne Troyer, who will need to save up to buy his baby Jordans in future.
Pauly Factor
4 Pauly’s
out of 5.
And the winning loser is…
Brothers from another decade. One was original, the other… is Rob Schneider.Of the official nominees, let’s go with the easiest to prove. Schneider started out in Saturday Night Live, where he wasn’t funny, some crappy unfunny sit-coms. Then he had some bit parts in various movies where he wasn’t funny, (apparently he and Adam Sandler are best buds)…..
Pauly Shore Grace Period
Then came Deuce Bigalow and he was suddenly and inexplicably famous, I guess disability and rare disease jokes weren’t too old at that stage. Over the next few years we saw (and largely ignored) The Animal, The Hot Chick, Big Stan and The Benchwarmers, if you’ve seen all of those raise your hand, and punch yourself with it.
BioDome moment
Fulfilled his Pauly destiny with a Deuce sequel, which apparently was much the same movie as the first, but instead of acclaim he was met with revulsion and disdain. Schneider handled the situation with class, taking out a full page ad in a newspaper to bag a critic who gave a less than favourable review.
If anyone in the last 15 years was more Pauly than Pauly it is Schneider. He has no talent, isn’t even remotely amusing and yet has the capacity to get films made even though it is already accepted that they will blow goats.
Pauly Factor
5 Solid Gold Pauly’s out of 5.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the 2000 edition of Pauly Shore. May he continue fading at the same rapid rate so that we only have to ignore his pathetic flailing for a couple more years!
OGR
