Paul Reubens, an actor and writer, who created the cartoon character Pee-wee Herman, and frequently incorporated comments from the playground into his everyday speech is dead.
One of the character’s go-to lines was it;
“Why don’t you take a picture? It’ll last longer!”
“That’s my name! Don’t wear it out!”
And, most iconically,
“I know you are, but what am I?”
Of course, the actual question was “What am I?” because Pee-wee himself asked it by simply being, complete with a tight gray suit, red bow tie, crew cut, rouged cheekbones, and ruby-red lips.
Reubens, 70, passed away from cancer on Sunday. He was an actor, but he spent a lot of time trying to persuade people that Pee-wee was a genuine person, not just a fictional persona.
At first, people weren’t sure what to make of Reubens’ obnoxious man-child. Pee-wee was a character created in 1977 by Reubens while he was a member of the Los Angeles sketch group The Groundlings. Pee-wee was a combination of a prop comic, brat, and trickster spirit.
Pee-wee had a fearlessness about him that took a moment to register. He was brazen and unrepentant. It was extremely clear that the figure was what people used to refer to as a sissy on purpose, but how could a sissy command the stage with such authority? like the limelight as much as he did? How could a sissy command his audience’s experience of him with such assurance and explicitness?
With puppets, parody, and vintage educational films, The Pee-wee Herman presentation at The Groundlings Theatre quickly attracted LA hipsters who lined up around the block for a midnight performance. This presentation provided the exact fuel mix for Reubens’ subsequent CBS Saturday morning show, Pee-wee’s Playhouse.
