Ok, not really. Sorry to send you further catapulting down a spiral of despair. In light of the Pope's recent passing, the last thing the citizens of planet Earth need is the death of another timeless spirtual icon.

As far as I know, Mr. Shore is alive and well. Pauly Shore is Dead is actually the title of a straight-to-video, semi-autobiographical film produced by the man himself. Supposedly, the star of Encino Man called in every favor he could think of as shot it over the course of three years. PSD contains a few dozen cameos ranging from the heights of Ben Stiller and Sean Penn all the way down to Rico Suave and Kato Kaelin.

PSD, as should probably be expected since it was written, produced and directed by a man who used to make a living screaming "AWYAYAYAHO! I'M THE WEEEE-SAAAAAL" on MTV, is beyond self-indulgent. The film opens with a recount of the night Shore's career took a bullet to the skull. In 1997 his sitcom "Pauly" was cancelled after a single episode on Fox. In PSD skewed version of reality, Shore goes bankrupt shortly thereafter. Carrot Top, playing himself, moves into Shore's palatial digs, forcing him to take a job parking cars at a comedy club. After hitting rock bottom and moving back home, Sam Kinison appears in a dream and tells him to commit suicide.

Instead of taking the late-great comics advice, Shore decides to fake his own death and starts running around Hollywood disguised behind a fake beard and sunglasses. He holes up in a ratty motel as the world mourns his passing in a montage of cameos by Britney Spears, Eminem, Chris Rock and about 3,000 other celebrities that must have been blackmailed into appearing in the movie. Eventually, he's arrested and winds up in prison with Todd Bridges.

No, I'm not making this up. Still don't believe me? Here's a link.

As Shore has admitted, the film was a wishful effort to jump-start his career. Instead, no one but me and about thirty other people have seen it. PSD and some of the cameos are pretty tough to watch but the film isn't outright terrible. Shore deserves credit for assembling an all-star cast and, at the very least, this is probably the wittiest thing he's ever done. But, given the fact that the crown jewel in his filmography is Encino Man, that isn't saying much.

Pauly Shore is Dead was released on DVD in January and it's available on Netflix if you're curious.