Pee-wee as Himself : a new tell-all documentary that premiered at Sundance and will remind you why we loved him so much

For gay men of a certain age Pee Wee Herman was an iconic queer character who brought such sheer joy and energy into our lives with his madcap comedy which was the perfect escapism we all needed at the time.  Now in this new highly anticipated documentary from Matt Wolf that just had its World Premiere at Sundance, he will be discovered (and loved) by so many younger generations.

When Paul Reubens (Pee Wee’s alter ego) was dying (from cancer in 2021) he broke a habit of a lifetime of refusing to talk abut himself, by sitting down with Wolf for an exhaustive forty hours of interviews to be used for this documentary. He used this opportunity  to reflect on his life as a closeted gay man, his showbiz career and agonizing sex scandals ensuring that Wolf’s film would not just set the record straight but would be damn near the truth as it possibly be.  And as he poignantly told Wolf “My whole career, everything I did and wrote, was based in love,” he says.

Reubens ‘gave birth” to Pee Wee in 1981 while performing with comedy troupe the Groundlings  and then when his Pee-wee stage show exploded in LA, the actor chose to conceal his private life entirely.  He explains in this 2 part  movie “I was out of the closet, and then I went back in the closet,  as I wasn’t pursuing the Paul Reubens career; I was pursuing the Pee-wee Herman career.”   He had a successful TV career, that led to a sold out Tour topped by Tim Burton 1985 film Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. The following year when he started his kids morning show on CBS TV : Pee Wee’s Playhouse  that cemented his stardom, which sadly all came crashing down at the height of his popularity when he was arrested in a porn theatre. 

Reuben’s refusal to open up about his sexuality, even with his very close friend David Arquette adds to his enigma, especially as in hindsight it probably would not have ruined his life and his career.  The fact that he talked about most of this in his brutally frank interviews with Wolf, and even about his 2nd movie that was a disastrous flop, makes us warm to him even more. Although when the obscenity topic comes up in this doc, an onscreen text reveals that Reubens stopped cooperating with Wolf and the filmmakers and never sat down for another interview.   Wolf has said that Reuben harbored concerns over how his complex story would be told.  However in our book coping with all this and his rollercoaster career took balls.  And a big set of them at that.

We will all need to wait to wait to  the film but it will be screened on HBO and MAX very soon : keep following QG for updates