Pee-wee Goes to Sturgis
Pee-wee Herman embarks on a new big adventure at 70th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. Along the way, he gets a tattoo, meets some new biker friends and hitches a ride with a Renegade.
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Posted by gjblass at 11:24 AM 0 comments
Labels: Motorcycle, Pee-Wee Herman, Tattoo
For my money, 1985’s “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” remains one of the funniest, most endearing depictions of childhood silliness ever captured on camera. Now, the man with the high-pitched laugh and bowtie is finally back – and dishing exclusive details on his recently-completed screenplay for “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse: The Movie.”


“Boy, I sure hope [it gets made]. Yeah, we’re going to [do it],” explained an energetic (is there any other kind?) Pee-Wee Herman when I interviewed him in character on Monday. “I’m going to make a movie based on my kids show. Based on ‘Pee Wee’s Playhouse.’”
Over the last few years, fans of veteran funnyman Paul Reubens have heard rumblings that he was feeling out the studios to see if they’d be willing to bring the world’s oldest little boy back to the big-screen for a third movie following Tim Burton’s “Adventure” and the 1988 spiritual sequel “Big Top Pee-wee.” Rumors were that he had two competing ideas: A darker adult one he’d call “The Pee-wee Herman Story” or a PG-friendly one based on his classic Saturday morning show. Well, the second idea won out – and now, the script is finished.
“It’s already done, the script is already fully written; It’s ready to shoot,” explained Pee-wee in his trademark style. “It’s ready to shoot tomorrow. Oh wait, not tomorrow! I’m not available tomorrow. I had a conflict, forgot.”
These days, Pee-wee is actually quite busy putting the final touches on “The Pee-wee Herman Show,” a live multimedia stage production that runs at L.A.’s Club Nokia for several weeks beginning January 12th. If those dates go well, Reubens hopes it will show Hollywood that moviegoers would pay to see a “Playhouse” flick that would have Pee-wee and such old friends as Jambi the genie and Magic Screen leaving the playhouse after one of their own goes missing.
“[Will we be] going out into the real world in the movie?” Pee-wee explained, answering a question about the script. “It’s not really the real world, it’s Puppetland. On ‘Pee Wee’s Playhouse,’ on the television series we never left the playhouse, we were always inside the playhouse.”
“The movie is all out of the playhouse,” he revealed. “There are two scenes in the playhouse, but the rest is out of the playhouse.”
Once out in Puppetland, Pee-wee said, the group will encounter all sorts of eccentric new characters. “Yeah,” he said of new friends, who could possibly be created via Claymation, a la Penny or Large Marge or the food often glimpsed in Pee-Wee’s fridge back in the day. “But I can’t really tell anything about the movie at this time; it’s pretty much top-secret in Hollywood.”
So, if Pee-wee’s stage show goes well, keep your ears out for more news on “Pee-wee’s Playhouse: The Movie.” “It’s a catchy title,” he said with a grin. “It was catchier than ‘Dukes of Hazzard: The Movie.’ Plus, that was already taken.”
Are you eager to see Pee-wee on the big-screen again?
Posted by gjblass at 10:08 AM 0 comments
Labels: Paul Reubens, Pee-Wee Herman, Pee-wee Playhouse
details.com — After carrying tabloid baggage for 18 years, Paul Reubens is back in the saddle---and in the Playhouse. Ready for a big adventure, boys and girls?
Click here to read this article: Pee-wee Herman Rides Again
Posted by gjblass at 11:23 AM 1 comments
Labels: Paul Reubens, Pee-Wee Herman, Pee-wee Playhouse

Paul Reubens has been going around for the past couple years saying that he was developing two new Pee-Wee Herman feature films, one for adults, one for children. Neither of which seem to have advanced past the “is there anyone crazy enough to fund either of these films?” phase, but that doesn’t mean that we haven’t heard the last of Pee-Wee. Reubens has announced that he will be reprising the character live onstage in Hollywood, will have a limited engagement beginning November 8th, 2009, at The Music Box @ Fonda. Details after the jump.
“It’s time,” said Reubens in a press release. “My Pee-wee suit and red bow tie are at the ready - and this is proof that white shoes are cool past Labor Day.”
Some people may remember that before Pee-Wee Herman began his kids television show Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, the character was created while Reubens was at The Groundlings. After being turned down by Saturday Night Live in 1980, Reubens created an adult stage show titled The Pee-Wee Herman Show. I remember watching a version of this show which aired on HBO in the mid- 1980’s, and was shocked at the raucous comedy which was only hinted at ever-so-slightly in the Tim Burton movie, and to a lesser extent, the children’s show. So Pee-Wee is indeed returning to where everything first began. You can watch a clip from the 1981 HBO show below.
This new version of The Pee-wee Herman Show is being billed as “Re-imagined, re-invented, and nuttier than ever.” But the press release says that it is”still about a wish,” and will include the characters Miss Yvonne, Mailman Mike, Cowboy Curtis and Jambi the Genie, as well as Pee-wee’s talking chair, Chairry, Pterri the pterodactyl, robot Conky, Magic Screen, Randy, and many more. Many of the show’s original artists, both on stage and behind the scenes are involved in this re-imagined production. I find it somewhat doubtful that Laurence Fishburne will reprise his role as Cowboy Curtis , and Phil Hartman, who played Captain Carl, is obviously no longer with us.
Here is information about Pee-Wee and the original show, thanks to the press release:
The Pee-wee Herman Show” debuted at The Groundlings Theatre in 1981, then moved to the Roxy Theatre on Sunset Strip for five sold out months. Taped as part of HBO’s On Location series, the show catapulted Pee-wee into the national consciousness. It lead to Pee-wee’s many appearances on “Late Night With David Letterman,” followed by a 22-city tour that included Carnegie Hall. In 1985, Warner Brothers brought Pee-wee to the big screen with “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure”, Tim Burton’s feature film debut. Co-written by Reubens, it featured Danny Elfman’s first original film score.
The CBS television series “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” premiered in 1986. During its five seasons, the show garnered 22 Emmy Awards. Pee-wee’s second film, “Big Top Pee-wee” was released in 1988. While “The Pee-wee Herman Show”, and “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” were an homage to an earlier generation’s television classics – “Howdy Doody,” “The Mickey Mouse Club,” “Captain Kangaroo,” “Kukla, Fran, and Ollie,” and “The Shari Lewis Show” – Pee-wee himself became one of the most original and beloved stars in all of television history and late-century American culture.
By the late 90s, even fashion was not immune to the style of Pee-wee as fashion designers like Christopher Bailey, Ennio Capasa, Miuccia Prada, Viktor & Rolf, and Thom Browne imitated the high armholes, short inseams, and tight cut suits that Pee-wee made as his trademark. In 2007, Nike created a version of the Nike SB sneaker loosely inspired by Pee-wee.
When Cartoon Network aired the series in 2006, 1.5 million viewers watched every night; the next year TV Guide named the “Playhouse” among the top 10 cult classics of all time. All of the episodes of “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” have been issued on DVD (and iTunes) and are consistently best sellers. And as Pee-wee was influenced by the television classics that came before him, it is hard to imagine that “Blue’s Clues” or “SpongeBob Square Pants” would be quite the same without him.
Tickets go on sale Tuesday, August 11 at 8 am at all Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and by phone at 800-745-3000.
Posted by gjblass at 9:21 AM 0 comments
Labels: HBO, Paul Reubens, Pee-Wee Herman, Pee-wee Playhouse, TV News