The Pee-wee Herman Show at The Groundlings Theatre soon had LA hipsters lining up around the block for a midnight show that mixed puppets and parody with archival educational films – the precise fuel mixture that powered Reubens' later CBS Saturday morning show, Pee-wee's Playhouse. The character was very obviously and intentionally what folks used to call a sissy – but how could a sissy own the stage like he did? Bask in the spotlight like he did? How could a sissy so confidently and explicitly dictate the terms for his audience on how to experience him? There was something fearless in Pee-wee, something unapologetic and brash that took you a second to process. Created in 1977, while Reubens was a member of the Los Angeles sketch troupe The Groundlings, Pee-wee was part prop comic, part brat and part trickster spirit. He was an actor – but for a long time, he tried to convince the public that Pee-wee was a real person, not a character.įolks didn't know what to make of Reubens' petulant man-child at first. Reubens died Sunday of cancer at the age of 70. Of course, when it came to Pee-wee himself, with his tight gray suit, red bow tie, crew cut, rouged cheekbones and ruby-red lips, "What am I?" was the real question – it was the one he posed merely by existing. "Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer!" It was one of the character's go-to bits. Pee-wee Herman, the comic creation of actor/writer Paul Reubens, would often toss taunts of the schoolyard into his casual conversation.
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