Something to laugh about: Pauly Shore performs at The Venue

By making jokes about his past career and poking fun at small-town life in Cape Girardeau, comedian Pauly Shore kept the crowd of 300 people laughing Sunday night at The Venue.

"I was born and raised in Los Angeles, but I'm thinking of moving to a small town like Cape Girardeau," Shore said after taking the stage wearing a red plaid flannel shirt and blue jeans. "If I move here, I'm going to run for mayor. If Arnold Schwarzenegger can be governor of California, I can be mayor of Cape Girardeau."

Shore, who got his start on MTV, joked about the network as well as movies he starred in during the 1990s including "Son-in-Law," "Encino Man" and "Bio Dome."

"I still make movies," he said. "But they don't come out in theaters anymore. They go straight to Walmart."

Shore used his recent mockumentary "Adopted," which documents his fake attempt to adopt a child from South Africa, as an example of this.

Many Shore fans said they watched his movies before coming out to The Venue to see him perform.

"We watched 'Son-in-Law' to get into The Weasel mode," said Kim Adams. Shore perfected his persona of The Weasel during his days on MTV.

While many Shore fans at Sunday's show remember him from their younger days, there were a few teenage fans there as well.

"He is my most favoritist actor that I have ever seen," said Andrew Adams, age 17, who came from Anna, Ill., with his mom Susan to see the show. "He's like my idol."

Some audience members said they hope Cape Girardeau will host more events like Shore's performance here in the future.

"I think people need to support [entertainers] who come to Cape," Whitney Reed said. "It will help to get more people to come here in the future."

There aren't many opportunities in Cape Girardeau to see comedy acts, said Jeanne Churchill.

"This is something different," said Churchill, who also recently attended several comedy night performances at The Pink Galleon.

Dr. Michael Jessup, owner of The Venue, said he plans to host a quarterly comedy or theatrical shows in the future.

mmiller@semissourian.com

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