Pauly Shore Sued for Assault and Battery After Incident at His Comedy Club

Pauly Shore and The Comedy Store are back in the news as the comedian and his club get sued for assault and battery by fellow comedian Eliot Preschutti. Earlier this year, The Wrap reported a lawsuit was filed by Sean Kehoe and his daughter Kirra Lyn Potts, who accused Shore of assault and battery after an incident at The Comedy Store, which is owned by Shore’s family, in November of 2022. Preschutti’s lawsuit comes from an incident that allegedly took place in December of 2023. 

According to the latest update from The Warp, Preschutti claims Shore’s bouncers beat him up while he was visiting the club on December 15th. The filing says that the incident occurred after Preschutti left the West Hollywood location of The Comedy Store without paying his tab. The server and bouncers alerted him to the fact that they still had his debit card, and Preschutti returned to settle his tab. The comedian says he paid the bill and told the server to add a tip before a bouncer accused him of trying to strike the server, which led to him being grabbed and thrown out on the sidewalk. The suit claims he was then kicked and hit “for an appreciable period of time.”

The suit also claims that the bouncer shouted, “This is for Pauly,” during the beating and that the assault was so bad, it led to Preschutti soiling himself. The bouncers then called L.A. County Sheriffs, who detained Preschutti until 8 AM the next morning. Preschutti later went to Cedars Sinai Hospital due to “severe” physical damages. Preschutti is now suing for assault, battery, negligence, premises liability, negligent hiring, aiding and abetting tort, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It is unclear how much he is seeking in punitive damages and coverage of legal fees.

Pauly Shore Addresses Playing Richard Simmons:

The charges of assault against The Comedy Store aren’t the only recent controversies surrounding Shore. After news broke that Shore would be playing Richard Simmons in an upcoming biopic, a role he’s wanted to play for years, the exercise icon made a rare public statement disowning the film and noting that it didn’t have his permission or blessing.

“My come from has always been love,” Shore told Variety about the film. “It’s never been vindictive. I’m not Borat. I’m not ‘let’s make fun of someone.’ It’s the opposite. At this point, it’s an unauthorized biopic and they’re made every day. Yes, I want him to put his pixie dust on this and say, ‘Go for it, Pauly.’ It’s Richard being Richard. It’s sensitive. We don’t want to bug him. We want him to be left alone and we don’t want to bug him. We want to pay homage to him and kiss his feet and say he’s done beautiful stuff. Who’s going to play Richard Simmons? Leonardo DiCaprio is not going to play Richard Simmons. I look like him.”

Stay tuned for more updates about the lawsuit against Pauly Short and The Comedy Store.

(Cover Photo by John Salangsang/Variety via Getty Images)