Pauly Shore started his career in comedy when he was just 17 years old. The son of Comedy Store owner Mitzi Shore, he was exposed to stand-up comics early in life because his mother had people like Richard Belzer and Richard Pryor drop by their house. Shore was mentored by Sam Kinison and opened for him for a while before rising to fame as an MTV VJ in 1989. From there, he would star in a string of comedy films throughout the 1990s, like Encino Man, Jury Duty, and Bio-Dome.
One movie he wished he’d gotten to be in during that time, though, was Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. In an interview with Bert Kreischer a few years ago, Shore revealed that he auditioned for the 1989 comedy. When Bill & Ted Face the Music came out in 2020, The Daily Mail finally released the previously unseen footage of Shore reading for the role of Ted (which ended up going to Keanu Reeves). Alongside him in the clip is Alex Winter, who played Bill in the original movie and its two sequels. You can take a look at the full audition below.
Anyone familiar with Shore’s character from that time period will agree that it almost feels like the role was intended specifically for him. When Shore watched it back himself for the first time, he said, “Oh my God, like, I am Bill and Ted!” He went on to say that you can tell Reeves is acting when he plays Ted, whereas Shore really was that character in real life. According to Shore, his audition got him very close to being cast in the movie, but because Reeves had achieved some success after doing River’s Edge in 1986, Orion Pictures chose to go with him instead.
A few years after Shore lost his spot in the movie, he co-hosted a 1991 MTV special called Bill & Ted’s Bogus Premiere Party to coincide with the release of the film’s sequel, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. In the special, he interviews Reeves and the two briefly joke about how Shore didn’t get Reeve’s role. Check it out below.
The post Pauly Shore Auditioned For This Classic 1989 Comedy appeared first on VICE.
