Pauly Shore is Minding the Store

Pauly Shore is trying to exhume his career from its early grave with his new TBS show, Minding the Store...and he's giving the laughs a money-back guarantee.

The 37-year-old actor dominated the world of early-1990s stoner comedy but has since been victim to the slump so common to those who ride to fame on a handful of catch phrases and an obnoxiously extreme personality. Rather than grasping at sure-to-snap straws (a very belated Encino Man II?), Shore is using his faded fame as fodder for his second coming. He recently directed and starred in the independent film Pauly Shore Is Dead, in which he faked his own death to revive his celebrity. He also appeared as himself in an episode of HBO's Entourage.

The next step in Shore's career resuscitation is a blend of reality and lightly scripted skits that seem to be a perfect metaphor for his present situation. Minding the Store follows Shore as he attempts to breathe new life into The Comedy Store, the legendary Los Angeles stand-up club run by his mother, Mitzi. His efforts are complicated by resistance from family, interference from coworkers, and his search for an "appropriate" girlfriend.

The Comedy Store was once a hotbed of upcoming talent, featuring performances by then-rising stars like Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, and Richard Pryor. The past several years have not been kind to the Store, however, and if it is to stay in business, it needs some help from Pauly Shore and TBS viewers.

The success of the Store, the show, and Shore's career are so important to the curly-haired comic that he is promising viewers a $1 check if they make it through the first episode without a single laugh. Of course, the unsatisfied must first fill out a form outlining their discontent and then mail it to TBS with a self-addressed stamped envelope (bringing the net gain to 26 cents). Only the first 250,000 requests will be answered with checks.

Minding the Store premieres on July 17 at 10:00pm EDT/PDT, 9:00pm CDT.