A wildly goofy, deliberately obnoxious standup comedian, Shore shot to fame on MTV, and later moved his established "weasel" persona into features. The son of comic Sammy Shore, who opened for Elvis Presley in Las Vegas in the 1960s and 70s, and Mitzi Shore, the powerful and influential owner of L.A.'s The Comedy Store, Shore grew up surrounded by comics. At 19, he began trying to tickle funny bones himself, both at his mother's and other clubs. Shore also guested on TV in "21 Jump Street" and had small feature roles in "For Keeps" and "18 Again!" (both 1988). His trademarked kinky curly hair and his emerging man-child image, horny and eager to talk crudely about sex, yet also geeky and airheaded, attracted attention. It especially appealed to teens, who identified with an underachieving nerd yet imitated and admired an already congealed style they also saw as cool.