Paul "Pee Wee Herman" Reubens documentary on HBO

It's fantastic, and the vintage photos and clips are beyond wonderful.

There's a brief scene of Paul Reubens at Cal Arts doing a scene with classmates Katey Sagal and David Hasselhoff (!!!).

And Paul's first love was an incredibly attractive man lost to AIDS.

Enjoying it very much. The access to vintage photos and video is fantastic.

It was intriguing to see he was a handsome guy when he was young and before he hit it big.

I adore him and his alter ego. My millennial nieces and nephews do as well. Not that easy to bridge the generation gap unless you're a comedic genius.

It was interesting seeing Reubens without the Pee Wee persona, he came off a bit full of himself, at times.

One of the things I admire about Reubens is that he would not allow Pee Wee's Playhouse merchandise to be advertised during the show, he didn't want the show to be a thirty minute ad for toys.

My brother had a professor in college who was originally from Florida and was from the same area as Reubens and had a crush on him. She said that young Reubens was rather serious and artsy, not the crazy Pee Wee.

Wasn’t a big Pee Wee fan, but the documentary is a great watch.

hey OPea, thank you for posting this- I didn't know it was out and am watching it now. Very much enjoying it. I have always been such a big fan and him narrating it out of character is so charming, what a guy.

Watched both episodes tonight. I got a little weepy at the very end when he said how hurt he was by being labeled a pariah and pedophile, when he wasn't.

A comic genius.

I just finished watching it because of this thread. Very well done and Rubens had a fantastic and tragic story.

Great documentary. Brought back lots of memories.

I'm almost done with episode two.

What a fascinating guy. He was like a more accessible Andy Kaufman.

I also never realized that PeeWee was a stage play before he hit big with the movies and TV show.

Even though I was never a big fan, I miss the pre internet days when stars of all varieties were actually talented, driven, totally unique and, yes, often difficult to deal with.

I loved this man’s work so very much.

Did anyone actually think he was straight?

R15 yes!

You must remember people were shocked by Liberace, Rock Hudson and Ricky Martin.

Unless you are on the cover of Time, with “Yep, I’m gay” the American people are SHOCKED!!

Do people think Mr. Rogers never masturbated?

Why I never in all my life!

YES YOU DID R18!!!!

It's really quite embarrassing how hard I can cry about someone who I never met and didn't know I existed but, I was practically sobbing by the end of this

[quote] Do people think Mr. Rogers never masturbated?

But only when he was fantasizing about being dominated by Lady Elaine Fairchild.

Meow meow masturbate meow meow

I was disappointed to see Phil Hartman join in the Pee-wee bashing on Howard Stern after the movie theater incident. Sure, I understood bitter old (and probably homophobic old) terminally unfunny Soupy Sales lambasting him, but Phil? (Yes, I know about their problems and estrangement, just thought Phil was above that.)

Revisiting His Sudden Death (and the Shocking News That Followed)

I loved Paul Reuben’s and Pee-Wee. Even saw him on Broadway during his last touring show of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. As someone else said above, he does come across a bit narcissistic and full of himself, but of course, he’s a celebrity. And his charm and kindness still come across. However, someone on the documentary commented that he could really hold a grudge for a long time. Hey, nobody’s perfect I guess. I miss him terribly.

[quote]There's a brief scene of Paul Reubens at Cal Arts doing a scene with classmates Katey Sagal and David Hasselhoff (!!!).

I'll have to check this out. Met Paul at the CalArts 25th Anniversary (my first year) and he was really cool. He roomed with Hasselhoff and was not a fan, LOL.

Vanity Fair.

Paul & John

I still can’t believe people were shocked that masturbating goes on in an adult movie theater. Good god.

I knew about him being friends with Katey Sagal. She shared photos of them together as kids. I’d know that voice anywhere. My god, Pee-wee, Elvira, Peggy Bundy… these people embodied so many iconic characters.

I think it's a overstatement to say that most people are shocked when there's confirmation that celebrities like Paul Reubens, Liberace, Rock Hudson and Ricky Martin are gay. They have their suspicions and most of the time, they turn out to be true.

People can still be entertained by talented people and not be consumed with wonder of who they are sleeping with.

Like most people who thinking that are "passing", they aren't passing as much as they'd like to think. And most of the time, it's not as big of a deal as they think.

*And* she was a Harlette, r29!

Phil Hartman’s nutbag wife had a real problem with his friends so he presumably hopped on the bandwagon. He didn’t talk to Cassandra Peterson for years after she said he should not marry that crazy hag.

It wasn’t even a gay adult movie theater. It’s beyond rich for the likes of Sam Kinison to call for his execution over it because he did a kid’s show. What a doofus.

Why do they never mention Paul’s brother? I think his name is Luke. This has been an ongoing thing.

Here's the director talking about making the documentary

R34, I looked up his brother, and it looks like there was an assault and that Paul sued him? This was in between the father and mother dying, so it wasn’t about a will or inheritance. Quite icy to erase him from this documentary, but the flip side is that he didn’t feel it was necessary to talk about it to tell this story.

His brother has been cut out of everything before this documentary was even a thing. People were shocked years ago to hear that there was even another sibling. Cassandra Peterson said that she knows his siblings, and knew his parents.

Who the hell is the host of The Daily Show now?

Now we need another doc.

Just finished it. It was amazing. Such a long, odd but storied career. I'd forgotten about the Jeffrey Jones thing and how they went after him a second time.

Seeing Lynne Stewart who just died in it is even sadder. Cassandra is the only one of that group still alive now.

Phil Hartman shot

John Paragon went to the desert and drank himself to death - 2021

Paul Reubens - 2023

Lynne Marie Stewart - 2025

John, Paul, and Cassandra all bought plots together. I believe John and Paul are interred together. John is in a Jambi box. The doc was the first time I ever heard anyone say that John was gay. It was obvious but so many of them kept their private lives private. Hell, Cassandra was eating snatch for 20 years before she went public.

His agent was particularly handsome too.......FYI----->>Pee Wees house is for sale.

John Paragon played the older member of the thuggish gay couple who terrorize Kramer on the street in a few eopisodes of "Seinfeld."

[quote]The doc was the first time I ever heard anyone say that John was gay.

LIES!

Everyone I know has a big but. Come on Simone, let's talk about your big but.