Pee Wee

"I've always felt like a kid, and I still feel like a kid, and I've never had any problem tapping into my childhood, and my kid side."

"I'm just trying to illustrate that it's okay to be different... I'm trying to tell kids to have a good time and to encourage them to be creative and to question things"

Paul Reubens

"I know you are, but what am I" Pee Wee Herman

One of the best documentaries that I have seen in a long time was on HBO called Pee Wee as Himself. It featured Paul Reubens in the days before his untimely death of cancer in 2023. Reubens was a unique and talented comedian. He gave us three movies, a Broadway show, and a bizarre children's show, all under the pseudonym of his character, Pee Wee Herman.

I highly recommend this documentary. It humanizes the man behind the goofy persona. Many people know about Reuben's brush with the law for indecent exposure in a movie theater, or accusations of possessions of child pornography, both of which he denied. Those scandals practically destroyed his career, but he managed to bravely come back and make tv and movie appearances up until his death.

What I liked most about Reubens and Pee Wee was his bravery, creativity, and silliness that defied a world that takes itself much too seriously. His colorful Pee Wee's Playhouse was an amazing collection of puppets and stories, all meant to teach and entertain. Reubens was gay, though to protect his image he hid that fact and avoided intimate relationships that would out him.

Here are a few interesting things I learned from the documentary:

1- Paul Reubens got his start with the Groundlings, an improv group. He invented the Pee Wee character there and named it after a harmonica.

2- While at the Groundlings he created a full show, The Pee Wee Herman Show, that combined adult double-entendres with silly banter. A pre-SNL Phil Hartman played in his show and it eventually made it to Broadway.

3- Before he became famous, Reubens had a love affair with another man, but after that broke up he hid his sexuality from everyone except those closest to him.

4- Pee Wee Herman appeared multiple times on The Dating Game, and Reubens appeared as other characters many times on The Gong Show before he became famous. He tried out the character in public as he was perfecting it.

5- Pee Wee's Big Adventure came out in 1985 and was a surprise box-office hit. It made Pee Wee a national hit and its iconic scenes have lived on in popular culture ever since. There were two more Pee Wee movies but neither did nearly as well.

6- Pee Wee's Playhouse debuted in 1986 and ran until 1990. It featured a wacky assortment of puppets, animation, and people who fit into Pee Wee's considerable imagination. It was cancelled in 1991 when Reubens was charged with indecent exposure in a movie theater.

7- Pee Wee made a surprise appearance at the 1991 MTV awards, making light of his earlier arrest.

8- The Pee Wee character was mostly retired after that as Reubens made many more appearances as himself in other productions, including animated shows. In 2016, after increasing demand, he made one last Pee Wee movie- Pee Wee's Big Holiday.

Pee Wee had a robust social media presence and his messages were always funny, kind, and inspiring. He never did talk publicly about his cancer until this documentary. After all of the hurt that most certainly was hurled at him, he never lost his spark. He will be missed, but luckily there are treasures out there of his recorded performances.