Pauly Shore's Richard Simmons Short Film Debuts at Sundance

Pauly Shore‘s Richard Simmons short dropped last night … and Simmons stans will recognize the moment it’s based on — plus get an idea of what the feature film’s gonna be like.

PS premiered “The Court Jester” at Sundance, and he went full Simmons for the role — he looks a ton like him with the hair, tank top and thigh-high shorts … and on top of that, Shore picked a viral moment from Richard’s life.

The short — not the full-scale biopic he’s making — opens with a production assistant backstage of a show hosted by a woman who looks and sounds like Ellen DeGeneres … when Richard is called onto the stage.

Pauly’s Richard comes out with a ton of energy, running around in front of the audience, sweat dripping down his forehead … a clear reenactment of Richard’s appearance on “Ellen” more than a decade ago.

Check it out … Richard jumps around so fast cameras can barely keep up, pushes the same DVD and even pretends to be a workout machine Ellen can use — art imitating life taken to the extreme!!!

Pauly’s also showing off his acting chops in the more low-key moments too — having a heart-to-heart with the PA from the beginning of the short while chowing down on a sprinkle donut.

Shore’s clearly trying to be pretty respectful of Richard … backing him with an angelic light while he drops knowledge on the young “Ellen” crew member — though at this point, Richard’s probably not coming around to Pauly’s upcoming biopic

As we reported … Richard — who doesn’t speak publicly much anymore — came out and blasted Pauly’s movie … basically saying he didn’t give his permission or blessing to Shore’s project.

When we talked to Pauly about it … he said he’s holding out hope Richard comes around, but he’s going forward with the project whether he gets the fitness guru’s thumbs up or not.