on August 27, 1952, in Peekskill, New
York), is a Jewish-American actor,
writer, and comedian, best known
professionally for his character
"Pee-wee Herman".
Born in Peekskill, New York, on August
27, 1952, Paul Reubenfeld grew up in
Sarasota, Florida, where his parents
owned a lamp store. During winters,
The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and
Bailey Circus called Sarasota home,
and young Paul counted such big-top
families as the Wallendas and the
Zacchinis among his neighbors. When
he was 11-years-old, he joined the local
Asolo Theater, and during the next six
years, he appeared in a variety of plays.
After graduating from Sarasota High
School in 1970, he attended Boston
University for one year before deciding
to seek his fortune as Paul Reubens in
Hollywood, where he enrolled as an
acting major at the California Institute
of the Arts and accepted a string of
pay-the-rent jobs ranging from pizza
chef to Fuller Brush salesman.
In the 1970s, Reubens performed at
local comedy clubs and made four
guest appearances on The Gong Show.
He soon joined the L.A.-based
improvisational comedy team The
Groundlings and remained a member
for six years, working with Bob McClurg,
John Paragon, Susan Barnes, and Phil
Hartman. Hartman and Reubens
became friends, often writing and
working on material together. Reubens
wrote sketches and developed his
improvisational skills. He also forged a
significant friendship and working
relationship with Hartman, with whom
he developed the "Pee-wee Herman"
character. Pee-wee was an eccentric
man-child in a too-small grey suit, red
bow tie, short buzz cut, and a
perpetually giddy disposition. His
distinctive "Ha Ha" laugh became the
character's catch phrase.
Reubens auditioned for Saturday Night
Live prior to Eddie Murphy's first season,
but wasn't accepted into the cast.
Instead, he started a stage show with
the Herman character. Originally,
Reubens imbued "Pee-wee" with a
sexuality that was later toned down as
the character made the transition from
raucous night club to children's
television (though sexual innuendo was
still readily apparent, especially with
the "Cowboy Curtis" and "Miss Yvonne"
segments; Curtis was played by actor
Laurence Fishburne and Miss Yvonne
was played by Lynne Marie Stewart).
His stage show was immortalized by
HBO when The Pee-wee Herman Show
was aired in 1981.
In 1980, Reubens landed a small role
in the film The Blues Brothers. He also
appeared in Cheech and Chong's Next
Movie in 1980 and Nice Dreams in
1981, and Meatballs Part II in 1984
with Misty Rowe.
While on a Warner Bros. set, Reubens
noticed that most of the people rode
around on bicycles, and asked when he
would get his. Warner Bros. presented
him with a refurbished 1940s Schwinn;
Reubens then abandoned the Pee-wee
Herman script he was writing in favor of
one about Herman's love for his bike
and his efforts to locate it once it's
stolen. Hartman, Reubens, and Michael
Varhol co-wrote the script for Pee-wee's
Big Adventure and in 1985 the film,
directed by Tim Burton, was released.
Pee-wee was the originator of the
Pee-wee dance in the movie.
The following year in 1986, Pee-wee
(along with Hartman) found a home on
the small screen with the Saturday
morning children's program Pee-wee's
Playhouse on the American CBS
network for the next five years (Hartman,
Shirley Stoler, Johann Carlo, Gilbert
Lewis and Roland Rodriguez only
appeared on the show for the first 13
episodes before the four characters
were dropped from the show). In the
case of Lewis, he was fired and a new
actor, William Marshall, was hired to
play the King of Cartoons. The show
starred Pee-wee living in a wild and
wacky house, known as the Playhouse,
full of talking chairs, animals, robots,
and other puppet and human
characters. During the time Pee-wee's
Playhouse aired it garnered 22 Emmy
Awards.
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