Pauly Shore Recalls Robin Williams' Early Stand-Up Days at The Comedy Store: He Was 'Just Another Level' (Exclusive)

The actor, who grew up at the famed Comedy Store owned by his mother Mitzi, remembers Robin Williams's early days of stand-up in the '70s

Actor Pauly Shore was just a young kid when he first saw Robin Williams performing stand-up at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles, which was owned by Shore's mother Mitzi.

"The guy was special," Shore, 56, recalls. "His improv skills mixed in with the standup was just another level. He would literally go on stage and just grab someone's drink and then just do 10 minutes on it. When Robin was going off, everyone gathered in the back to watch," he says.

Williams, who died ten years ago today at age 63, was a regular at The Comedy Store, along with comics like Richard Pryor, David Letterman and Sam Kinison. Shore grew up in the house behind the club and often interacted with the comics when they'd come over to his house after their sets to hang out with his mom.

Related: Pauly Shore Is Back! And He's Finally Found the Peace He's Been Searching For

"My mom's office for The Comedy Store was at the house, and Robin used to come over to pick up his $25 check or whatever it was," he says. "I remember he was in the middle of filming Mork & Mindy and he'd be in his outfit still, and then we would mess around. He was just always the same guy on stage, off-stage. Just very playful and cool."

Shore says Williams had a special bond with his mom Mitzi, who was famous for being the only female comedy club owner in the country. She was notoriously tough to get a laugh out of, but she also was known for treating the comics like they were her kids.

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"She was like a den mother to these comics," he says of Mitzi, who was once married to comedian Sammy Shore and died in 2018.

Related: Pauly Shore Reflects on The Comedy Store Documentary: 'It's a Reminder of My Mom'

"She would take them in," he continued. "Most of them were jobless, semi-homeless, and didn't have any money, and if my mom saw that, she'd always make sure they had a place to stay."

Shore, who is currently touring his one-man show Stick with the Dancing, adds, "Robin wasn't anything like that — he had his own thing already, coming in from San Francisco. This was the late '70s when she was sort of developing him, and his fame skyrocketed soon after. You knew what was going to happen to him when you saw him. You could tell he was destined to do movies."

Related: Sam Neill Calls Robin Williams 'Funniest' Yet 'Saddest Person I Ever Met': 'We Had Great Chats'

Shore says that one thing he remembers best about Williams was that he always had a big heart.

"After he was famous he'd always come up to me and give me a hug, ask how my mom and brothers were doing," he says.

"He still fits into everybody's hearts," Shore adds. "That's why it wasn't a normal situation when he died. It was so emotional. He connected with so many people. Look at films like Good Morning, Vietnam, or all his films, he always put his heart into it. That came through with who he was as a person as well."

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