# Paul Reubens (posthumously) comes out **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** documentary-bio\ **Created:** [January 26, 2025, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419 "2025-01-26T06:50:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/61 "2025-05-29T13:56:24Z")
Best. Death Scene. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/62 "2025-05-29T14:19:06Z")
He was great as a gay drug dealer in the movie Blow. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/63 "2025-05-29T14:23:08Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > He was not without friends and people close to him, but he also seems to have burned some bridges and relationships. Overall, he struck me as a good person, certainly talented, but perhaps difficult to get along with. In that regard: > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Phil Hartman’s take on it. But, well, we’ll say that Phil was going through shit at the time himself. What was Hartman going through that you are referencing? His wife was off and on again having major drug issues. Likely psychiatric ones. He was sometime after that interview murdered by her after which she killed herself. Nothing in that clip seems other than likely accurate. Ruebens and Hartmann did apparently cease to be friends after Hartmann went on to SNL and likely Hartmann did feel that his role in creating the Pee Wee idea and implementation was not adequately credited or recompensed. Hartmann certainly was correct that others ended with Ruebens on bad terms and in court. It is also of some note that the creative team that brought the huge success of movie one did not return with him for movie two. Should Hartmann have lied in that interview and claimed to be best buds? He was one of apparently many who separated on less than great terms from working together. The sense I got from the documentary was that Ruebens was a creative and interesting man who frequently self sabotaged personally and professionally, with some pathological control issues. His hoarding … collecting … fits. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/64 "2025-05-29T21:39:00Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > It does put a weird twist on his arrest, though. Why? He was arrested in a theater showing gay porn films. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/65 "2025-05-29T21:40:58Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Why would we realize this? Are you saying there’s something to gaydar after all? That you can tell just by looking? Interesting. Well, I got a clue when he was arrested in a gay porn theater. No gaydar needed. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/66 "2025-05-29T21:43:11Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > It is also of some note that the creative team that brought the huge success of movie one did not return with him for movie two. That’s probably why the first film is a beloved classic, and the second film is best forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/67 "2025-05-29T21:48:43Z")
FTR, screening in the Sarasota theater was [Nurse Nancy](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138665/) (worksafe IMDB link) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/68 "2025-05-29T22:05:07Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > Well, I got a clue when he was arrested in a gay porn theater. No gaydar needed 1. There’s nothing in the name of the theater (South Trail Cinema, “catering primarily to Sarasota’s elderly audience.”) that marks it as a “gay porn theater”, 2. there is no mention of it being a gay porn theater in any contemporary or (that I could find) modern news story, and 3. the films being shown sound like typical “straight” porn (b/g and g/g). Other than that, yeah, it’s obvious. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/69 "2025-05-30T22:01:49Z")
Had the biggest crush on E.G. Daily until I saw she had been married to Rick Salomon. Really? That’s her type? Still cute as a button, but lost a little respect. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/70 "2025-05-30T22:09:30Z")
> [@caligulathegod](#): > > Had the biggest crush on E.G. Daily Back in the 80s I did too. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/71 "2025-05-31T14:06:52Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Back in the 80s I did too. I remember her from “The Righteous Apples”. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/72 "2025-05-31T14:18:33Z")
It was a really interesting (if long) documentary, but the film maker was extremely deferential to Ruebens. You had to read between the lines to realize just how much more he valued his career than he did his colleagues, collaborators, friends, and lovers. I was surprised at the time about how few people came to his defense in the aftermath of what was obviously a bullshit arrest. It’s now pretty obvious that most of those who turned their backs on him thought he was an asshole unworthy of their sympathy. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/73 "2025-05-31T17:28:19Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > It’s now pretty obvious that most of those who turned their backs on him thought he was an asshole unworthy of their sympathy. FWIW, he had a great friendship with Conan O’Brien. Every year he would text him on his birthday to let him know he remembered, and would usually try to have some kind of joke and/or kind thing to say. I don’t think he was just an asshole to everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/74 "2025-05-31T17:37:51Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > FWIW, he had a great friendship with Conan O’Brien. But there was obviously career value to that relationship. What if the Letterman folks told Reubens he couldn’t appear on any other late night shows? I have little doubt he would have chosen the higher rated show, friendship be damned. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/75 "2025-05-31T17:38:09Z")
Conan was just one of the people on his b-day message list. The scene in the doc shows him sending out messages to 11 people just in that one day. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/76 "2025-05-31T17:43:31Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > the films being shown sound like typical “straight” porn (b/g and g/g). Right. I was always under the impression that it was a straight porn theater. Which isn’t to say that there was never anything that would attract gay men to a b/g film, even if it wasn’t mean for them, if the man were attractive enough with enough focus on him. It’s just that going to this theatre didn’t imply that he was gay. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/77 "2025-05-31T21:25:20Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I don’t think he was just an asshole to everyone. Of course not. But what comes through loudly unsaid is that the @Llama_Llogophile pegged it perhaps understated early on: > [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > He was not without friends and people close to him, but he also seems to have burned some bridges and relationships. Overall, he struck me as a good person, certainly talented, but perhaps difficult to get along with. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/78 "2025-05-31T21:29:57Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > But what comes through loudly unsaid is that the @Llama_Llogophile pegged it perhaps understated early on: Yeah, I get that. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/79 "2025-05-31T23:50:22Z")
He collected pictures of naked young men. An allegation was that some of the pictures were of children, which he denied. His description was that it was just a collection of pictures of naked young men that were popular with gay men in the 1950s. I think that even in the doco, they dance around the word ‘gay’. There is a problem that in the 70’s and 80’s, gay politics emphasized that the only true form of gayness was anti-church, anti-family, anti-society unrestricted anonymous sex. I know people who still don’t like to be associated with those ideas. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2025, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419/80 "2025-06-04T14:27:36Z")
Reubens was a complicated person. Sometimes he was nice in the interview and orhers suspicious and nasty. That’s odd because it was his project. Reubens even says he suggested topics to ask about. Overalĺ it’s a good profile of Reubens. He was nothing like his Pee Wee character. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-reubens-posthumously-comes-out/1013419.md?page=5)