05 Nov 2025

Ace Goes to Hollywood: Episode 12

by Jack Pendarvis

Screenshot via Tiktok

Ace Goes to Hollywood is the continuing transcript of a ride from Oxford, Mississippi, to Memphis, Tennessee, during which Jack Pendarvis interviewed Ace Atkins about his work on the Pauly Shore film Jury Duty.

Episode 12: Box Office Poison

ACE: I’m driving, or I would look up on IMDb some of the names. I probably could come up with more stories.

JACK: No, that’s okay.

ACE: Because it’s funny, I knew everybody on the set. So I could tell you who everybody was.

JACK: You know what I think is nice? Not looking at our phones.

ACE: The other moment that I had that I’m very proud of, and I tried to avert what I think became a disaster, and I did my best on this… was, uh, one of the executive producers, I won’t say who it is, but if you look it up… came up to me, and he was interested to talk to me, because part of making a Pauly Shore movie was to tap into the teenager/high school/college audience. What are they thinking? What are they into? Is Pauly still relevant?

JACK: [Laughter.]

ACE: This kind of stuff. And he said, “I got an idea I want to run by you. Just think about this.” This absolutely happened. He said, “Ace, tell me what you think of this. Carrot Top movie.” And I said, “I’m not really sure about that.” He said, “No, I already got it. I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to get Carrot Top in a movie and the opening scene is he’s working at Wendy’s, and we braid his hair to look like Wendy from the sign.” He said, “I think it’s going to be great.” I said, “I think it sounds terrible.” I said, “I’m sorry.” And I think maybe that’s why I didn’t get along in Hollywood. Because in Hollywood, you never say no. You never say that’s a bad idea. Everything is positivity, everything is great.

@carrottoplive
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♬ original sound - Carrot Top