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

Mar. 15, 2025

Robin Williams as Mork in Mork & Mindy, 1978.Photo:Jim Britt/Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty

Jim Britt/Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty

“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.

“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 filmingMork & Mindyand 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.”

Robin Williams performs at the Comedy Store 15 years reunion in 1988.Courtesy Everett

Courtesy Everett

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.

“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 showStick 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.”

Pauly Shore in 2024.Amy Sussman/Getty

Amy Sussman/Getty

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 likeGood 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.”

source: people.com