Pauly Shore: Mad as hell, or faking it – again?

Actor-comedian Pauly Shore , pictured in Las Vegas in 2007, apparently went ballistic on the set of his new movie. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Pauly Shore is turning into the Comedian Who Cried Wolf. The stand-up comic, who enjoyed brief movie-star status in the 1990s thanks to no-brow hits like Encino Man, apparently lost his cool and did a Christian Bale on the set of his latest flick. In a leaked clip, posted on website TMZ, Shore, who plays a gay broadcaster in a comedy called Brand Dead, is seen freaking out on camera after being distracted by people talking nearby.

Now, I say “apparently” because, as TMZ points out, Shore is not above pulling pathetic copycat stunts in a bid to prop up his sagging career. Back in 2006, just a month after Michael Richards’ sad meltdown at Hollywood’s Laugh Factory, a clip surfaced on the internet of Shore being socked in the jaw by an irate cowboy at a comedy show in Texas. It turned out, though, that the attack was staged. We might've guessed. At that point, Shore had already made Pauly Shore is Dead, a mockumentary in which the comedian fakes his own death for attention.

If his movie-set blowup is bogus, Shore could certainly use a director. His hissy fit is nowhere near as scary/ugly as Bale’s rage-athon, let alone director David O. Russell’s now-infamous slanging match with Lily Tomlin on the set of I (Heart) Huckabees. A bewigged Shore launches into a petulant little tirade, dutifully punctuated with a myriad of F-bombs, before finally walking off to get some air. It’s hardly worth a second glance, let alone a funny remix.

If you’re looking for attention, Pauly, you’ve got to try way harder than that. But if, by chance, your tantrum is real, then we don’t blame you. Shooting a B-list comedy with a title like Brand Dead has got to make a guy angry and depressed.

--Martin Morrow