Paul Reubens

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 November 2021

⏱️ ? minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A special treat from the Bullseye archives: Paul Reubens! The man behind Pee-wee Herman. Pee-wee is, of course, a beloved character among kids who grew up in the 1980s and 90s. He's the star of Pee-wee's Playhouse, Pee-wee's Big Adventure and so many others. Pee-wee's Playhouse remains a singular achievement in kid's TV. It's a kitschy pastiche of a thousand TV shows that went before it, but it's also much more than that: it's a kaleidoscope of difference, a tribute to the big dreams and big feelings of being a kid. And it's so, so funny. In this interview, Paul tells us about growing up in a circus town, working hard to make Pee-wee Herman seem real, and why Pee-wee is a little bit of a jerk — and why that makes him work as a character.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:08.2	It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn. My parents were divorced when I was a kid. When I was in elementary
0:32.7	school, they shared custody 50-50 with one exception. Every Friday night and every Saturday morning,
0:39.6	I was at my mom's house. And every Saturday morning, my mom and I shared one special ritual.
0:46.0	We sat down together to watch Peeley's Playhouse. Peeley's Playhouse remains a singular achievement
0:53.4	in kids' TV, a kitschy pastiche of a thousand TV shows that went before it, but also more than that,
1:00.4	a kaleidoscope of difference, a tribute to the big dreams and big feelings that go with being a kid,
1:06.4	and also so funny. Seven years ago, I got the chance to talk with Paul Rubens,
1:12.8	the creator and actor behind Peeley. It was a great conversation. You'll hear that in just a minute.
1:19.0	More recently, I've had the opportunity to work with Paul. He's reviving Peeley Herman one more time,
1:25.2	now on radio. The Peeley Herman radio hour is a collaboration between Paul, my company maximum
1:32.9	fund, and KCRW, a public radio station here in LA. It's Peeley Herman's chance to play DJ on one
1:42.1	of the world's most famous music stations. We've got the Playhouse gang there. It is so much fun.
1:49.0	You can listen to it live on the radio Friday, November 26th at 6pm Pacific, 89.9 on your FM dial in
1:57.4	Southern California. It'll also be streaming at KCRW.com for a week after that. Get pumped, it rules,
2:05.8	a highlight of my career, a highlight of my life. In the meantime, let's meet the man behind the
2:11.5	bow tie, my interview with Paul Rubens. Paul, welcome to Bullseye. It's so great to have you on the show.
2:23.5	Oh, thank you so much. You spent your teenage years in Sarasota, Florida, which, besides being like a,
2:32.3	you know, a nice, you know, retirement community type place is also the offseason home of Wrinkling
2:42.0	Brothers. It was at the time I lived there. Yes. So was that like part of your life as a kid and as
2:52.3	a teenager that there was just circus stuff around? Yeah, there was there was circus stuff everywhere.
3:00.4	There was circus stuff. My high school had a circus. I think it's the only high school in the
	...

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