Pee-wee's Playhouse is an American comedychildren's television series starring Paul Reubens as the childlike Pee-wee Herman that ran from 1986 to 1990 on Saturday mornings on CBS, and airing in reruns until July 1991. The show was developed from Reubens's popular stage show and the TV special The Pee-wee Herman Show, produced for HBO, which was similar in style but featured much more adult humor.
In 2004 and 2007, Pee-wee's Playhouse was ranked No. 10 and No. 12 on TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever, respectively.[2][3][4] It was also named to Time's list of the 100 Best TV Shows in 2007.[5]
Development
The Pee-wee Herman character was developed by Reubens into a live stage show titled The Pee-wee Herman Show in 1980. It features many characters that would go on to appear in Playhouse, including Captain Carl, Jambi the Genie, Miss Yvonne, Pterri the Pterodactyl, and Clocky. While enjoying continuous popularity with the show, Reubens teamed with young director Tim Burton in 1985 to make the comedy film Pee-wee's Big Adventure. It became one of the year's surprise hits, costing a relatively modest $7 million to make but taking in $40 million at the box office.[6][7]
After seeing the success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, the CBS network approached Reubens with an ill-received cartoon series proposal.[8] In 1986, CBS agreed to sign Reubens to act, produce, and direct his own live-action Saturday morning children's program, Pee-wee's Playhouse, with a budget of US$325,000 per episode (comparable to that of a half-hour prime-time sitcom),[9] and full creative control, although CBS did request a few minor changes over the years.[10]
Reubens assembled a supporting troupe that included ex-Groundlings and cast members from The Pee-wee Herman Show, including Phil Hartman, John Paragon, Lynne Marie Stewart, Laurence Fishburne, and S. Epatha Merkerson. Production began in New York City in the summer of 1986 in a converted loft on Broadway, which one of the show's writers, George McGrath, described as a "sweatshop".[1] Reubens moved the production to Los Angeles for season two in 1987, resulting in a new set and a more relaxed work atmosphere.[11]
The creative design of the show was concocted by a troupe of artists including Wayne White, Gary Panter, Craig Bartlett, Nick Park, Richard Goleszowski, Gregory Harrison, Ric Heitzman, and Phil Trumbo. The first day of production, right as Panter began reading the scripts to find out where everything would be situated, set workers hurriedly asked him, "Where's the plans? All the carpenters are standing here ready to build everything." Panter responded, "You just have to give us 15 minutes to design this thing!"[12] When asked about the styles that went into the set design, Panter said, "This was like the hippie dream .... It was a show made by artists .... We put art history all over the show. It's really like .... I think Mike Kelley said, and it's right, that it's kind of like the Googie style – it's like those LA types of coffee shops and stuff but kind of psychedelic, over-the-top."[13] Several artistic filmmaking techniques are featured on the program including chroma key, stop-motion animation, and clay animation.
Pee-Wee's Playhouse was designed as an educational yet entertaining and artistic show for children. Its conception was greatly influenced by 1950s shows Reubens had watched as a child, like The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, The Mickey Mouse Club, Captain Kangaroo, and Howdy Doody. The show quickly acquired a dual audience of kids and adults.[14][15][16] Reubens, always trying to make Pee-wee a positive role model, sought to make a significantly moral show that would teach children the ethics of reciprocity.[16] Reubens believed that children liked the Playhouse because it was fast-paced, colorful, and "never talked down to them", while parents liked the Playhouse because it reminded them of the past.[16]
Production
At the start of season two, the show moved from its New York City warehouse studio to facilities at the Hollywood Center Studios, creating changes in personnel and a change to the set that allowed the show to take advantage of the additional space.[17] The show changed production facilities again in 1989 during its fourth season, this time at the Culver Studios, also in Los Angeles.[citation needed]
Format
The premise of the show is that host Pee-wee Herman plays in the fantastic Playhouse in Puppetland. The house is filled with toys, gadgets, talking furniture and appliances (such as Magic Screen and Chairry), puppet characters (such as Conky the Robot and Pterri the baby Pteranodon), and Jambi (John Paragon), a disembodied genie's head who lives in a jeweled box. The Playhouse is visited by a regular cast of human characters, including Miss Yvonne (Lynne Marie Stewart), Reba the Mail Lady (S. Epatha Merkerson), Captain Carl (Phil Hartman), Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne), and a small group of children called The Playhouse Gang.
Although primarily a live-action comedy, each episode includes segments featuring puppetry, video animation, and prepared sequences using Chroma-key and stock footage (for example when Pee-wee jumps into the Magic Screen), as well as inserted clay animation sequences (some made by Aardman Animations, who would later make Wallace & Gromit) and excerpts from cartoons from the Golden Age of American animation and in the public domain, usually presented by the character "The King of Cartoons".[8] Each episode features specially written soundtrack music by rock and pop musicians such as Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo), Todd Rundgren, Mitchell Froom, and The Residents. The show's theme song performance is credited to "Ellen Shaw", though in her autobiography, Cyndi Lauper admits to being the actual singer.[18]
The show has many Recurring gags, themes, and devices. Each episode usually contained a running gag particular to that episode, or a specific event or dilemma that sends Pee-wee into an emotional frenzy. At the beginning of each episode, viewers are told the day's "secret word" (often issued by Conky the Robot) and are instructed to "scream real loud" every time a character says the word.
CBS and Reubens mutually agreed to end the show at the end of the 1990–91 season after five seasons and 45 episodes.[19] The last original episode aired on November 17, 1990. In July 1991, Reubens was arrested for exposing himself in a Sarasota, Florida, adult movie theater,[20] prompting CBS to immediately stop airing its Playhouse re-runs, which were originally intended to air until late 1991.[21][22][23] The show was replaced by reruns of The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy.
Mothersbaugh, who later went on to become a fixture in composing music for children's shows like Rugrats, joined the show on hiatus from recording with Devo.[24] Said Mothersbaugh in 2006:
Paul Reubens asked me to do Pee-wee's Playhouse, and I had some time, so I was like, yeah, let's do it. Pee-wee's Playhouse was really chaotic. They'd send me the tape from New York on Tuesday. I'd watch it Tuesday night; Wednesday I'd write the music. Thursday I'd record the music, it'd go out Thursday night to them, they'd have Friday to cut it into the picture, and then Saturday we'd watch it on TV. And it was like really fast, and instead of writing an album once a year I was writing an album's worth of music once a week, and it was really exciting. It was a new experience and it was a different creative process.[25]
The opening prelude theme is an interpretation of Les Baxter's "Quiet Village". The theme song, which originally followed the prelude, was performed by Cyndi Lauper (credited as "Ellen Shaw"), imitating Betty Boop.[18] For the final season in 1990, a new version of the prelude theme was recorded, and the opening theme was slightly edited.
The childlike "host". Pee-wee is portrayed as an impatient and fun-loving man with dainty mannerisms and quirky facial expressions. He is typically cheerful and flamboyant, with occasional childish temper tantrums.
A gritty, unshaven sea captain with a gruff voice, but a somewhat shy demeanor, he shows Pee-wee interesting things from the ocean. His tolerance for Pee-wee's antics is often tested whenever he stopped by. Captain Carl is more adult-oriented in the HBO special and Miss Yvonne appears to have deep feelings for him. The character was dropped after season one.
A woman obsessed with beauty and cosmetics, who often flirts with Pee-wee and many of the other male characters on the show. Miss Yvonne is given the title "the most beautiful woman in Puppetland" by the puppet characters (especially Mr. Window who would usually introduce her). She wears a large brown bouffant-style wig that she doesn't like getting wet, gaudy dresses, and heels.
A king who rules Cartoonland who shows a brief cartoon clip during his segment with his catch phrase "Let the cartoon begin!" In the first season, the King of Cartoons would show the cartoon on his projector. In the second season, he would show the cartoon on Pee-wee's television which he got Pee-wee as a housewarming gift following the remodeling of the Playhouse.
Tito
Roland Rodriguez
The playhouse lifeguard, he usually enters the house during a group activity. The character was dropped after season one.
Ricardo
Vic Trevino
A soccer star with an apparent medical background.
A frequent visitor to the playhouse during the first season, she enjoyed eating and "snooping around" when Pee-wee was not seen. The character was dropped after season one.
Mrs. Rene
Suzanne Kent
A Jewish neighbor of Pee-wee's who served as a replacement for Mrs. Steve after the first season. She is the polar opposite of Mrs. Steve, being much more tolerant and fun-loving.
A no-nonsense taxi driver, she introduces the King of Cartoons in the first season by playing her trumpet. The character was dropped after season one and the King's introduction is done by the three flowers.
A blue-faced (later green) genie who lives as a disembodied head in a jeweled box, he usually appears once per show to grant Pee-wee a wish, often with unexpected results. To power his magic, he makes the group and audience chant "Mecca lecca hi, mecca hiney ho."
Chairry
Alison Mork
A bluish-green armchair with eyes on the chair back, a mouth between the seat cushions, and armrests that flap around, she occasionally hugs Pee-wee when he sits on her.
Magic Screen
Alison Mork
A screen on wheels that slightly resembles an Etch-A-Sketch, she shows films and Pee-wee would frequently jump into the screen to interact with a fantasy land inside that would also include Pee-wee connecting the dots there.
Pterri
John Paragon (seasons 1, 3–5) George McGrath (season 2)
A green pteranodon and one of Pee-wee's closest friends, he usually acts like a sensitive young child.
Mr. Window
Ric Heitzman
The window to the left of the playhouse door when inside the playhouse, he has googly eyes and talks by moving his yellow window pane up and down. His role on the show is to introduce other characters.
A yellow and red clock shaped like a map of the United States, he often introduces cartoons.
Conky 2000
Gregory Harrison (season 1);[31] Kevin Carlson (subsequent seasons)
The playhouse robot who gives Pee-wee the "secret word" each week and serves as a computer element. He spoke with a stutter, and is made from various parts of old electronics, including old camera attachments for eyes, a boombox for a chest, a phonograph for a torso, and a cash register for the head.
Globey
George McGrath
A spinning globe with a pair of arms at the base and a large face in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Globey speaks with a French accent and often helps Pee-wee out with geography, language, astronomy, or history questions.
Puppet Band
Dirty Dog: Wayne White Cool Cat: Ric Heitzman Chicky Baby: Alison Mork
Three animal puppets who comprise a 1950s-style jazz combo and live in a corridor of the Playhouse resembling a street alley. It consists of Dirty Dog on guitar, Cool Cat on bongos, and Chicky Baby on vocals. They normally speak in rhyme, parodying Beat generation poetry.
Mr. Kite
Wayne White
A pink kite, he occasionally appears in one of the playhouse windows for weather advisories and occasional visitor announcements.
Randy
Wayne White
The main antagonist. A red-headed marionette who serves as the playhouse bully, usually making life miserable for everyone. Sometimes, Pee-wee would have to set him straight as seen when Randy tried cigarettes and once tried to take over the show while Pee-wee was out getting groceries.
Billy Baloney
Paul Reubens
A ventriloquist dummy, he slightly resembles Randy in appearance (but blonde) which Pee-wee himself operates on occasion.
Dog Chair
George McGrath
A white chaise longue, which is similar to Chairry but resembling the face of a dog.
The Ants
Miscellaneous
Occasionally, Pee-wee would check on his formicarium; a short close-up animated sequence shows the ants engaged in some human activity.
The Dinosaur Family
Red Dinosaur: George McGrath Light Blue Dinosaur: Alison Mork Blue Dinosaur: Ric Heitzman Pink Dinosaur: Kevin Carlson
A den of miniature clay-animation anthropomorphic dinosaurs, they live in a mouse hole in the playhouse. The Red Dinosaur resembles an anthropomorphic Triceratops, the Light Blue Dinosaur resembles a Styracosaurus, and the Blue and Pink Dinosaurs have Pteranodon-like heads.
Food
Miscellaneous
The contents of Pee-wee's refrigerator, these clay-animation food items dance and juggle. One episode had them assisting Ricardo in telling Pee-wee and the viewers about the different food groups. In two episodes, they have been shown watching something in their movie theater when Pee-wee looks for something inside the refrigerator which often causes a mustached egg roll to turn around and quote "Hey, what are you doing"?! The other foods then starts to clamor at him as Pee-wee obtains the item and shuts the door.
Three Flowers
Ric Heitzman George McGrath Wayne White
These three flowers live in a flowerbed in a window on the right side of the playhouse door. After Dixie was retired from the show after season 1, they took over the King of Cartoons’s introduction hymn for the rest of the show.
Fish
Purple Fish: Ric Heitzman Yellow Fish: George McGrath
Gregory Harrison (season 1) Kevin Carlson (season 2)
A large image of a side view of a hand fist, with "googly eyes" and lipstick who tells bad knock-knock jokes.
Cowntess
George McGrath
A life-sized, talking Holstein cattle that speaks in an elegant accent.
Salesman
Ric Heitzman
A full-bodied cartoonish salesman, dressed in the same tacky suit as Pee-wee’s, he rings the doorbell and exclaims "I'm going door-to-door to make you this incredible offer!" A horror music would play during this time as Pee-wee would frantically shut the door quoting "salesman" in a mortifying voice. In the salesman's final appearance in the episode "Party", Pee-wee actually asked him what the incredible offer was and got free foil from him which Pee-wee used to add to his foil ball.
Floory
Kevin Carlson
A section of the playhouse floor that stands up and talks. He was discovered by Pee-wee and his friends following the playhouse remodeling in season two. To continue interacting with Floory, Pee-wee moved the teepee that originally covered him to another spot in the playhouse.
Chandelier
Alison Mork
A talking chandelier who also has a French accent as Globey.
Magic Glasses
N/A
A pair of glasses attached to a hat that has a monkey's head and arms on them. Pee-wee puts them on him and sees various things through them. While the Magic Glasses often quotes "Put me on Pee-wee", it has occasionally said other things as seen in "Party" when it suggested that Pee-wee invites Reba to his party.
These are Pee-wee's strange toys he keeps in a smiley face-shaped window, with movable shelves inside. By season 2, the toys were moved to another part of the Playhouse during the remodeling and Clocky was put in their original place. They remained to be unseen until the Christmas special.
A Spanish-language cartoon about a superhero who stops crime, thwarts strangers, saves people's lives and rights any other wrongs. Six different clay animation shorts are featured on this show.
Reception
Critical reception
As soon as it first aired, Pee-wee's Playhouse fascinated media theorists and commentators, many of whom championed the show as a postmodernist hodgepodge of characters and situations that appeared to thumb its nose at the racist and sexist presumptions of dominant culture.[32][33] For example, Pee-wee's friends, both human and not, were of diverse cultural and racial origins.[34] In a review of the first season for The New York Times, John J. O'Connor called it "undoubtedly this season's most imaginative and disarming new series".[35] O'Connor lauded the show's mixed-media format and commented that the Saturday morning kids' programming of "low-cost, dreary and occasionally questionable cartoons will never be the same" after Pee-wee.[35] Of Pee-wee, O'Connor said, "He whips up a tightly contained world in which anything is possible as long as it doesn't hurt anyone", and "He's sweetly looney and unpredictable, gentle yet always tip-toeing on the edge of devastating absurdity. He is a one-man force battling the plague of boredom that has settled on Saturday-morning programming for children."[35] The show's subversiveness and its "apparent outbreak of playful queerness during the politically reactionary Reagan-Bush/Moral Majority years was a key factor of many adults' enjoyment of the show".[36]Captain Kangaroo's Bob Keeshan hailed the show's "awesome production values", adding, "with the possible exception of the Muppets, you can't find such creativity anywhere on TV."[37]
"I'm just trying to illustrate that it's okay to be different — not that it's good, not that it's bad, but that it's all right. I'm trying to tell kids to have a good time and to encourage them to be creative and to question things," Reubens told an interviewer in Rolling Stone.[38]
In 2007, Pee-wee's Playhouse was named to Time magazine's list of the 100 Best TV Shows.[5]
On November 1, 2011, in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the show, a book by Caseen Gaines called Inside Pee-wee's Playhouse: The Untold, Unauthorized, and Unpredictable Story of a Pop Phenomenon, was released by ECW Press.[39]
In the wake of Reubens' death from cancer in 2023, John Jurgensen of The Wall Street Journal wrote: "Pee-wee Herman wasn't originally meant for kids. So when Paul Reubens did make a Saturday-morning TV show for them, his signature character came in a package shaped by underground art, punk rock and improv comedy. As MTV was to cable and The Simpsons would soon be to prime-time, Pee-wee's Playhouse was a disrupter of the TV domain for kids. The show's psychedelic absurdism also attracted an audience of teens, college students and savvy parents of the show's target viewers. With his wild remix of the kids' shows that he grew up with as a baby boomer, Reubens put a stamp on Generation X."[40]
Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design – Gary Panter, Wayne White, Ric Heitzman, Jeremy Railton, James Higginson, and Paul Reubens (won)
Outstanding Videotape Editing – Charles Randazzo, Peter W. Moyer, David Pincus, and Steve Purcell for "To Tell The Tooth" (won)
Outstanding Film Sound Editing – Steve Kirklys, Steve Michael, Peter Cole, Ken Dahlinger, Greg Teall, and John Walker for "To Tell The Tooth" (won, tied with Muppet Babies)
Vol. 3: "Rainy Day" / "Now You See Me, Now You Don't" / "Cowboy Fun (Just Another Day)"
Vol. 4: "Beauty Makeover"
Vol. 5: "Restaurant"
Vol. 6: "Ants in Your Pants"
Vol. 7: "Monster in the Playhouse"
Festival of Fun: "The Gang's All Here" / "Stolen Apples" / "Party" / "The Cowboy and the Cowntess" / "Monster in the Playhouse"
Vol. 8: "Open House"
Vol. 9: "Puppy in the Playhouse"
Vol. 10: "Pajama Party"
Vol. 11: "Pee-wee's Store"
Vol. 12: "Pee-wee Catches a Cold"
Vol. 13: "Tons of Fun"
"Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special"
Vol. 14: "School"
Vol. 15: "Why Wasn't I Invited?"
Hi-Tops Video LaserDisc releases
Fun-o-Rama: "Ice Cream Soup" / "Luau for Two" / "Rainy Day" / "Now You See Me, Now You Don't"
Potpourri: "Just Another Day" / "Beauty Makeover" / "The Restaurant" / "Ants in Your Pants"
"Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special" (also released by MGM/UA Home Video in 1996)
MGM/UA Home Video releases
Vol. 1: "Open House" / "Pee-wee Catches a Cold"
Vol. 2: "I Remember Curtis" / "Conky's Breakdown"
Vol. 3: "Store" / "Playhouse in Outer Space"
Vol. 4: "Pajama Party" / "To Tell the Tooth"
Vol. 5: "The Gang's All Here" / "Party"
Vol. 6: "Luau for Two" / "Now You See Me, Now You Don't"
Vol. 7: "Fire in the Playhouse" / "Love That Story"
Vol. 8: "Sick? Did Somebody Say Sick?" / "Miss Yvonne's Visit"
"Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special"
Vol. 9: "Dr. Pee-wee and the Del Rubios" / "Rebarella"
Vol. 10: "Let's Play Office" / "Mystery"
Vol. 11: "Front Page Pee-wee" / "Tango Time"
Vol. 12: "Playhouse Day" / "Accidental Playhouse"
Vol. 13: "Ice Cream Soup" / "Puppy in the Playhouse"
Vol. 14: "The Cowboy and the Cowntess" / "Reba Eats and Pterri Runs"
Vol. 15: "Tons of Fun" / "School"
Vol. 16: "Why Wasn't I Invited?" / "Ants in Your Pants"
DVD and Blu-Ray
Image Entertainment first released all 45 episodes of Pee-wee's Playhouse on DVD in 2004.
On July 3, 2013, Shout! Factory announced that they had acquired the rights to the entire series from Paul Reubens, which was released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 21, 2014, the release went out of print several years later. Shout! Factory reissued the complete series Blu-ray on August 27th 2024. In addition, the entire series was digitally reconstructed from the original 16 mm film elements and original audio tracks, with some special effects recreated digitally.[45][46][47][48][49] The restored episodes have also been made available on streaming platforms in May 2024.[50]
DVD name
Ep #
Release Date
Notes
Pee-wee's Playhouse #1
23
November 16, 2004
Includes all episodes from Seasons 1 and 2
Pee-wee's Playhouse #2
22
November 16, 2004
Includes all episodes from Seasons 3 to 5
Pee Wee's Playhouse: Christmas Special
1
October 19, 2004
Pee Wee's Playhouse: The Complete Collection
45 + 1
October 19, 2010
Includes all episodes from Seasons 1 to 5 plus the Christmas Special
Pee-wee's Playhouse: Seasons 1 and 2 (Special Edition)
23
October 21, 2014
Includes all episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 (Remastered)
Pee-wee's Playhouse: Seasons 3 to 5 (Special Edition)
23
March 10, 2015
Includes all episodes from Seasons 3 to 5 plus the Christmas Special (Remastered)
Blu-ray name
Ep #
Release Date
Notes
Pee-wee's Playhouse: The Complete Series
45 + Special
October 21, 2014
August 27th 2024 (reissue)
Includes all 45 episodes plus the Christmas Special (Remastered)
^Vejnoska, Jill (July 10, 2006). "Pee-wee back with bizarre appeal intact". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. p. 1D.
^"What was on TV when Rugrats started". Archived from the original on December 13, 2004.(Citation incorrectly states that this took place at a local Sarasota, FL bookstore; other points in citation are accurate, though.)
^Benshoff, Harry M. "Pee-wee's Playhouse". Television Academy. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
^Keeshan, Bob (November 22, 1996). "This Old 'Playhouse'". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on June 1, 2007. Retrieved January 29, 2010.
