Howard Stern says he has a solution for the brewing feud between Richard Simmons and Pauly Shore regarding the unauthorized movie in development in which the “Encino Man” star will play the “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” fitness guru.
Stern says Simmons should turn the tables and make a movie of his own.
Stern, speaking Monday on his SiriusXM radio show, came up with the idea as he discussed a short film starring Shore that premiered over the weekend at Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. In it, Shore stars as — who guessed it? — Richard Simmons.
“I’m going to tell him — I hope Richard’s listening to this,” Stern said. “Or someone can get him a tape of the show. Because I’m going to tell him what he should do.
“Richard Simmons should make a movie where he plays Pauly Shore and see if Pauly likes it,” Stern said, drawing trademark laughter from co-host Robin Quivers. “What do you think of that?”
During the segment, Stern cut to a teaser trailer of Shore’s short film, “The Court Jester.” The trailer portrays a dramatic, serious film, seemingly lacking in the laughs and physical comedy that Shore became famous for in movies such as “Encino Man” (1992), “Son in Law” (1993) and “Bio-Dome” (1996).
“Pauly says he wants the film to be more dramatic than funny,” Stern said. “But I don’t know about that,” later adding he “never saw any evidence of ‘that guy’ and that Simmons was “always over the top.”
Stern then went into a story he recalled from the 1980s or ’90s of a dinner party at his house that Simmons attended.
“There’s no such thing as Richard Simmons being low-key off-camera,” Stern said.
Stern recalled that upon Simmons’ arrival, the “Sweatin” star gripped his housekeeper with such a forceful hug that she “flipped out.”
Simmons then turned to Stern and nearly broke his ribs with another outlandish hug.
But theSimmons coup de grâce came poolside as he was handed cucumber hors d’oeuvres Stern said he made himself.
“I served him one and he took it and threw it in the pool,” Stern said. “And then he started tossing cucumbers into the pool.”
Stern joked that’s what drove the shock jock to be a recluse “because it was a disaster.”
“No, he’s a great guy,” Stern added. “He’s a real caring human being and I think that’s why he eventually just disappeared, because he really got affected by the people he helped, and I really think it became too much of a burden.”
Last week, hours after it was announced that Shore would play Simmons in the upcoming biopic, Simmons revealed he had not given his blessing for the film.
“Hi Everybody! You may have heard they may be doing a movie about me with Pauly Shore. I have never given my permission for this movie. So don’t believe everything you read,” Simmons wrote on Facebook.
In recent years, Simmons has stepped away from public life, something he noted in his Facebook post.
“I no longer have a manager, and I no longer have a publicist. I just try to live a quiet life and be peaceful. Thank you for all your love and support,” he wrote.
Over the weekend, Shore appeared at Sundance in support of “The Court Jester.” The short on Simmons was unrelated to the biopic.
“I’m really excited about sharing Richard Simmons’s life with the world. We all need this biopic now more than ever,” Shore said in a statement on Wednesday morning when the feature project was announced. “Simmons represented mental health, getting people in shape and being his authentic silly self! Whenever he was on TV you could never take your eyes off of him and he brought such a joy to his appearances that represented nothing but a good time.”
Watch video of the Howard Stern segment at the top of this post.
Jeremy Fuster contributed to this report.
