At this year’s Academy Awards, two actors who had been flying under the radar since their original heyday ended up taking home trophies. Brendan Fraser and Ke Huy Quan won for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for their roles in The Whale and Everything Everywhere All at Once, respectively. But, the two have more in common than just winning Oscars in the same year—they also both starred in the 1992 comedy Encino Man. Host Jimmy Kimmel brought that connection up during the ceremony—at the expensive of another co-star, Pauly Shore.
Following a series of flops in the ’90s, Shore’s career became a punchline, and that unfortunate tradition continued when Kimmel joked about him at the awards show. The comedian spoke out in response, reflecting on how he was treated during his run of big-screen comedies, and also revealed that he’s working on his own comeback. Read on to see what he had to say.
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During his monologue at the start of the Oscars, Kimmel made a joke about how unlikely it was that two stars of Encino Man were up for Oscars that night. The 1992 film is about a caveman (Fraser), who is awakened thousands of years later by two high school students (Shore, Sean Astin). Quan plays another student at the school.
“Two actors from Encino Man are nominated for Oscars,” Kimmel said. “What an incredible night this must be for the two of you and what a very difficult night for Pauly Shore. Maybe it’s time to reboot Bio-Dome, why not?”
Shore commented on the jab to Page Six after the Oscars aired. The publication reports that he found the joke no different to how people have treated him over the years.
“We love to hate people when they’re on top,” the 55-year-old said. “People wanted to smash me down and they did. I was always nice to everyone, always cool, I put my heart into my all my films.”
He continued of being a celebrity, “You’re buying and selling a human being. Human beings have feelings, it’s not like selling real estate.”
Elsewhere, Shore didn’t seem to take the joke too seriously. He tweeted the Monday after the Oscars, “I don’t know if you guys saw the @TheAcademy Awards last night, but @jimmykimmel poked fun at me in the monologue. I loved it.”
He added, “But what I REALLY loved is that my old buddies from back in the day, Brendan Fraser and Ke Huy Quan, took home the Oscars! Never quit on your dreams.”
In his Page Six interview, Shore said that he had messaged with Quan a few months ago and had last spoken to Fraser five years ago. He also reiterated that he was thrilled to see them succeed. “It’s a big deal, I’m happy for these guys,” the comedian explained. “We did a movie together years ago and I’m glad that people still talk about it 30 years later. It’s crazy.”
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Shore would like to join his former co-stars in having a career comeback. He has still been acting regularly over the years but not in mainstream roles.
“Everyone wants that call. Everyone wants to work with people that are going to elevate them. I’m an actor at the end of the day. I do standup, and that’s kind of fun, but acting, to me, is who I am,” Shore told Slate in a recent interview. He also said that he was moving from Las Vegas to Hollywood and wants to “put [himself] back out there.”
“I’m at that age now where I think with the right role, with the right director, with the right script, doing something against type would be really exciting,” Shore said.