We lost Paul and Pee-Wee. They might as well have been different people up until now.
I listen to Conan O’Brien’s podcast, and remember when Paul Reubens was a guest. He pointed out that Paul always remembered Conan’s birthday, and sent him a funny meme every year on his birthday. Every single year. And he did that for everyone he knew. Imagine someone of Paul’s fame taking the time to keep track of everyone’s birthdays to let them know he remembered and help them feel special.
I remember one Conan podcast where it was being recorded on his birthday, and he interrupted it with laughter because he’d just received a text from Paul.
If only that were true.
There’s some good research in this article. Playhouse often went over budget and Paul paid. He was a perfectionist.
There was a whole series of shootings in movie theaters from what I recall. It’s a really bad joke on many levels.
“ I assume [Marge] inspired Hong Chau’s Marge in Poker Face…”
I assume she also inspired Cherry Jones’ character in the Black Mirror episode “Nosedive.”
Skipping to post, before going to back to read the new posts.
I keep hearing ‘Pee-wee Herman’ being described as a ‘man-child’. To me, that means a grown man who behaves like a child. In my mind, Pee-wee was an actual child (being portrayed by an adult actor).
Incidentally, Natasha Lyonne, who played Charlie Cale in Poker Face, was in six episodes of Pee-wee’s Playhouse as a little girl named Opal.
The problem is that, for those of us born in the late 40s, what he was imitating was the great Pinky Lee (1907–1993). See https://youtu.be/p2lhEIXedg0 for an example. This show was on five days a week.
Which one?
The Pee-wee Herman of Pee-wee’s Playhouse might have been. He had a clubhouse where he hung out with his friends then left on a scooter at the end of the day. That could very well have been a child. Though the mutual attraction with Miss Yvonne would make that a bit creepy.
The Pee-wee Herman in the movies was clearly an adult. In Big Adventure, a bike shop employee has a crush on him, he has adventures in a biker bar, is later arrested but agrees to sell his rights to a movie studio and the charges are dropped. In Big Top, he has a fiancee and owns a farm. I haven’t seen the third film, but apparently he starts it off as a fry cook at a diner.
Maybe it was the same character who had just gotten older in the movies.
I don’t have to see it, Dottie. I lived it!
Because of the movie, I always stopped at the EAT cafe there when I’d drive by. But I never ever had the guts to say “large Marge sent me.” I never could even guess how they’d react.
I had heard the name Pinky Lee but didn’t know anything about him. That show was insane and it’s obvious that Pee Wee was heavily inspired by Pinky. Thanks for sharing that.
I heard the name when I was a kid, but his show ended before I existed.
Rumors that he had died of a heart attack, prompted by the incident, persisted for decades.
And this is all I ‘knew’ about him. That he had a kids’ show before I was born, and that he’d died on-camera. Also, 
Hi-ho, hi-hee, my name is Pinky…ARGGGHHHHH! It wasn’t until much later that I learned that he didn’t die on-camera, and that ‘The Peanut Gallery’ came from his show, and not that other one that ended before I was born (Howdy Doody).
Good point. There may have been more in front of peewee. 
I saw that clip. That dude was AMAZING.
As a native Texan, the best part of the movie and still quoted today: “The stars at night are big and bright!” I won’t type the rest since you just heard it in your head.
I wonder how often the docents at the Alamo are asked to see the basement.
According to an Instagram post from the Alamo’s official IG page which I saw earlier today, and which is a tribute to Reubens, the answer is “every day.”
According to my Amazon purchase history, I have these DVDs:
- The Pee-wee Herman Show - Live At The Roxy Theatre
- Pee-wee’s Playhouse, Seasons 1 & 2
- Pee-wee’s Playhouse, Seasons 3 - 5
- Pee Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special
I don’t have Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure or Big Top Pee-wee. 
So I thought I’d pick up the former. Guess what? ‘Currently unavailable.’ I’ll have to wait a while…
Or Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday, his third movie.