Using 40 hours of new, raw interview material from its subject as framework, the two-part documentary Pee-wee As Himself explores the complex and conflicted life of Paul Reubens, who somehow comes across as both eager to set the record straight about certain events in his life, but also reluctant to dive into the parts of his personal life that have been hidden for decades.
Directed by Spaceship Earth helmer Matt Wolf, the film opens with a conversation between director (unseen behind the camera) and subject (in front of the camera, about a year before his death in 2023) in which they talk about how much control Reubens will have over the final product. It’s a conversation they repeat throughout the process, including once near the end of filming when Reubens nearly pulls the plug on the entire endeavor—which would have been a tragedy, considering how good the final film turned out.
Reubens spent years of his later life (he was 70 when he died) organizing his archives, making it somewhat easier for Wolf and his team to go through more than 1000 hours of home-movie footage, tens of thousands of never-before-seen photos from Reubens’ personal collection, not to mention probably hundreds of more hours of news footage, talk show appearances, Pee-wee’s Saturday morning show episodes, and numerous movie appearances. The finished movie is as complete and deeply moving a portrait of the comedic genius as anything you’re likely to see this year.
As most great stories do, Reubens’ begins with his childhood, growing up in Florida with supportive but opinionated parents where he obsessed over children’s television shows like The Howdy Doody Show, Captain Kangaroo, and other programs that featured puppets, as well as perhaps his favorite series, I Love Lucy, which he loved because of the broad-stroke humor and its focus on the couple being in the entertainment industry. Growing up in Sarasota also put him in close proximity to the Ringling Bros. headquarters, so he was infatuated with circus life as well. He wanted to be an actor growing up, but more specifically, he wanted to be an entertainer. Going to college in California gave Reubens the chance to let his freak flag fly, while also exploring his sexuality. The photos and film of him in this period are extraordinary, because they feature a young, attractive, sexually magnetic side of Reubens we’ve simply never seen before.
But it was his time in the improv and sketch comedy troupe The Groundlings that set him on a course of perfecting his craft and eventually creating the Pee-wee Herman character (most of the TV show’s regular cast were members of The Groundlings as well and did the live Pee-wee shows with him years earlier. Reubens talks in detail about how he could steal focus on stage pretty much any time he wanted to, sometimes without saying a word. The film shows examples of some of Reuben's early TV work, including regular appearances on The Gong Show, Late Show with David Letterman, and a failed attempt at getting on Saturday Night Live. At some point, he decided Pee-wee was going to be his ticket to success, but in choosing the Pee-wee character, he ultimately severed ties with his authentic self, including having a social life. For a while, this sacrifice seemed to work for him.
After a wildly successful live tour as Pee-wee, he got a chance to make his first movie as the character (Pee-wee’s Big Adventure) and bonded with an up-and-coming director named Tim Burton, whose visual contributions to the film cannot be understated. Reubens does his best to explain the inspiration and charm of his impish character, but there’s something about his embodiment of the inner child in all of us that made him not just beloved but also universal.
Although the second film, Big Top Pee-wee, was considered a flop, CBS came to him with the idea of doing a Saturday morning kids show, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, which ultimately became a massive hit among adults as well. The perfectionism and care that went into creating the show’s costumes, sets, puppets, and storylines are detailed wonderfully here, and Reubens seems at his happiest when he’s talking about those five seasons.
Just after the show finished, the troubles began, including a short-lived but memorable scandal when he got arrested for indecent exposure in a Florida adult movie theater on a trip home to see his parents. He only had to pay a $50 fine, but the late night shows and just about everybody else had a field day with both the event and his mug shot, which showed a bearded, long-haired Reubens—a look he perfected when he wanted to not look like Pee-wee. Reubens had the last laugh in the end, but the damage was done, and Pee-wee was put away for a number of years.
The film covers additional scandals, his first on-camera interviews as Reubens, an arranged stint dating actor Debi Mazar, other acting roles he took while on hiatus from Pee-wee, and his long struggle with cancer, which only a few people knew about (filmmaker Wolf was not one of those people). Others interviewed include Natasha Lyonne, artists Gary Panter and Wayne White, Laurence Fishburne, David Arquette, Laraine Newman, and Cassandra Peterson (aka Elvira).
The film is so reflective and revealing, it gets to be uncomfortable watching it at times—and that makes it even better. Even the conflicts with the director over creative control are fascinating, if only because they were left in to give the best example of how much Reubens needed to be in control of every aspect of his image. Above all else, Pee-wee As Himself is a celebration of a master comedy craftsman, who had no clue what it meant to coast through life.
Both parts of the two-part documentary debut on HBO and HBO Max today.
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