NPR

'Pee-wee as Himself' is a portrait of a private man and his public alter ego

Pee-wee As Himself tells the story of how a kid who grew up adoring The Little Rascals and I Love Lucy went on to revolutionize sketch comedy and children's television. In 1986, one of the most ...
Los Angeles Times

‘Pee-wee as Himself’ gives Paul Reubens the final word on his identity

“I was born in 1938 in a little house on the edge of the Mississippi River; my father worked on a steamboat and his name was Steamboat Milton,” says Paul Reubens by way of misdirection in Matt Wolf’s ...
Los Angeles Times

Everyone knew Pee-wee Herman. But few knew the man behind the man-child

The first time we see Paul Reubens in the documentary “Pee-wee as Himself,” he is not playing Pee-wee Herman, the antic man-child he portrayed in comedy routines, movies, a children’s TV show and most ...
CNN

People still love ‘Pee-wee’s Playhouse’: Why don’t they marry it?

Pull yourself up a chair (“Like Chairy!”), because everyone’s favorite nasal-voiced man-child in the red bow tie and too-small gray suit is back. “I know you are, but what am I?” Earlier this week, ...
The New York Times

I Loved ‘Pee-wee’s Playhouse’ Enough to Marry It

Paul Reubens’s oddball masterpiece celebrated the kind of anarchy that captivates kids and freaks out adults. By James Poniewozik “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” premiered on CBS in 1986, the year I graduated ...
NPR

'Pee-Wee As Himself' reveals the person behind the persona

The new HBO documentary Pee-Wee As Himself isn't the boilerplate Hollywood profile you think it is. You get the biographical details you expect – how young avant-garde artist Paul Ruebens created the ...
NOLA.com

'Pee-wee's Playhouse' makes high-def debut, remastered and more colorful than ever (full home-video listings)

As talented as he is, and as beloved as he was in his heydey, there was a time not that long ago that Pee-wee Herman's legacy wasn't exactly assured. Or, at least it wasn't assured that Pee-wee actor ...