Toaph's Pee Wee Page |
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As an overgrown child myself, it's not surprising that I absolutely adore Pee Wee Herman. Paul Reubens created a character so entertaining and thoroughly convincing that the line between performer and performance was completely blurred. Reubens even did interviews in character, addressed as "Pee Wee Herman."
The character worked so well and on so many levels that Reubens quickly expanded it beyond the clueless stand-up comic. Eventually Reubens and his fellow Groundlings, including the likes of Phil Hartman and Edie McClurg, created an entire production around the Pee Wee character. It was a spoof of a children's TV show, but made for adults. It was ingenious. And it was gut-busting, fall-on-the-floor, piss-yourself funny. The group played regular performances at the Roxy theater, one of which was taped for broadcast on HBO. It's still available as a video rental. Pee Wee's star was rising. He made multiple TV appearances on Letterman, and even one on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. I caught a couple of his Letterman appearances, and was always captivated by his performances.
While his second movie wasn't terribly well received, his TV show was as popular as ever. And that Fall he got his own Christmas Special on CBS. It was, in my opinion, the best Christmas Special ever made. It was witty and edgy without being irreverant, and like the rest of his work it appealed to children and adults alike. I still pull it out and watch it ever holiday season. ![]() Unbeknownst to me at the time, there was a whole line of Pee Wee Herman toys. I can't imagine how this could have gotten past me, but I was utterly oblivious to it. Had I know I would have been out there spending every paycheck until I'd collected everything there was to buy. Far off in the future when I finally made this revelation I would spend untold hours and dollars on eBay trying to recreate a collection I could have gotten in real time. I used the Playhouse Playset for my stop-frame animation short Pee Wee's Sodomy House "Pee Wee's Playhouse" remained in production for a few more years, and it always maintained it's high level of wit and entertainment value. I watched it each and every Saturday morning. Without exaggeration, in all those years, there were only a handful of Saturday mornings where I wasn't in front of a TV set watching. No matter where I was, no matter how late I'd stayed up the night before, no matter how hung over I was, every Saturday morning at 10AM I tuned in. Eventually I learned that no more new episodes would be produced. I thought that was a shame, but I actually took it pretty well. I knew he couldn't keep it up for ever, and the shows were as entertaining the 100th time as they were the 1st. I looked foreward to a lifetime of Pee Wee's Playhouse reruns. That was until... ![]() One morning I had no food in the kitchen and went to McDonalds for breakfast. That didn't happen very often. While I was there I leafed through a USA Today. That, too, was a rare occurence. But on the one day that I just happened to pick up the paper, I saw the story that Paul Reubens had been busted in a Florida porn theater. My heart sank. I wasn't disappointed in Paul Reubens. He was a human being, after all. But I knew it would be the end of the Pee Wee Herman character. Sure enough, CBS announced that they would pull the re-runs from their lineup. That was devastating to me. Fortunately I had taped a great many of the episodes, but that still wasn't the same as watching it in real time on broadcast TV. There have been theories surrounding this disturbing turn of events. Some say that Reubens had grown weary of playing Pee Wee, and was tired of the character eclipsing his own identity. Most people still didn't know the name "Paul Reubens." It is difficult to believe that he would have intentionally set out to have this happen, but it can't be denied that it was one way to kill the character once and for all. Personally I think that he got lost in his own anonymity. Looking at the mug shots it's clear that he could walk down any street in America and not have one single soul recognize him as Pee Wee Herman. I believe that he got over-confident in his invisibility, which is what led him into that porn theater in the first place. Whether or not he was actually guilty of exposing himself is something on which I will not speculate. But I will only say that the crime in question had to be the most non sequitir form of exposure there is. Exposing one's self in a public place is one thing. But who the hell cares if someone whips it out in a darkened porn theater while there's a 50 foot boner being projected up on the screen anyway.
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Way back in 1988 a friend gave me the address for Pee Wee's "Fun" Club. I immediately sent in for my membership. Below are all the documents I ever received![]() Acrobat Reader documents: GIF Files Text | |
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