Pee Wee Herman, the fictional alter-ego of Paul Reubens, has been largely absent from the public eye since Reubens 1991 arrest for indecent exposure. The Pee Wee character, however, has remained pop culture icon, with reruns of his signature television show Pee Wee's Playhouse being picked for syndication by Fox Family and Cartoon Network at different times. Now, it seems that Pee Wee Herman is finally ready for a comeback, with a new film set to go into production courtesy of comedy juggernaut Judd Apatow.
Pee Wee's 80's Heyday
Developed as a stage act, Pee Wee Herman was first catapulted into the spotlight in a 1981 HBO special. As the stage act grew more popular, the character moved into other mediums. In 1985, Pee Wee's Big Adventure was released, though the adult innuendos were toned down in comparison to his stage act. This, however, led to a greater appeal with children, and in 1986 Pee Wee's Playhouse began airing as a children's program on CBS. The show won 22 Emmy awards for it's work, and another film, Big Top Pee Wee was released in 1988.
Unfortunately, as the 80's ended so did Pee Wee's show. In 1991, Reubens was arrested in Sarasota, Florida for publicly masturbating in an adult theater. Charged with indecent exposure, the arrest was covered extensively by the media, and ridicule and backlash of the Pee Wee character took hold. While friends and fans protested the coverage, blaming the media for blowing things out of proportion, the character had been tarnished. The show was canceled, and stores like Toys R Us began removing Pee Wee products from their shelves. While Reubens continued to do work in the 90's (landing roles in films such as Mystery Men), he decided it would be best to distance himself from the character and began pursuing new directions for his career.
Rebirth of Pee Wee Herman
Perhaps as a result of the recent nostalgic fascination with everything 80s (the Transformers and A-Team reboots as the most obvious examples), Reubens has begun to bring Pee Wee Herman back into the spotlight. In 2009, Reubens resurrected the persona and began popping up on late night programs like Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. The revival show has already opened in LA, and is set to begin a run on Broadway in November of 2010.
But more interesting is the talk of a new Pee Wee movie underway, being produced by Judd Apatow, who has put together an impressive track record over the past decade (which include The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up). After viewing Reubens revived show in LA, Apatow approached him about making a new movie, a prospect Reubens had been working on himself with two scripts supposedly written already.
While Reubens scripts focus more on the Playhouse aspect of the character, it seems (for now, at least) that Apatow is more inclined to keep in step with Pee Wee's Big Adventure. That is, a more realistic world where Pee Wee embarks on a cross-country adventure. While that may sound like the premise to Big Adventure verbatim, both parties admit that it is at such an early stage that anything could be possible.
Will Second Time Be a Charm?
The question now is what kind of movie will Apatow and Reubens deliver, and will it be embraced by the public? There certainly seems to be enough of a demand for Pee Wee to warrant a stage show revival. And enough time has passed where his criminal charges hopefully will no longer loom quite as large over the character. But most people know Pee Wee from his children's show and movies, not the more adult themed stage show, and with Apatow's name now attached to the project, it would be fair to speculate that the movie could end up being more adult theme than most people (who think of the TV show and movies before they think of the stage show) would expect. It will interesting to see how this reinvention takes shape, and whether or not Pee Wee Herman can once again rise in the ranks of pop culture.
Timothy Gaydos - I attended Ohio University for four years, studying Video Production and Film, earning a BA in Science and Communications from the Scripps ...
