IFC has announced that it will begin airing Paul Reubens’ cult classic TV show, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, starting this Thanksgiving Day. The network will air a 24-hour marathon, including the iconic holiday special Christmas At Pee-wee’s Playhouse, on Thursday, November 22 starting at 6 a.m. Then, the show will return to its rightful home on Saturday mornings beginning November 24. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Pee Wee’s Playhouse premiered on CBS in 1986, and was developed from Reubens’ popular stage show and HBO special The Pee-Wee Herman Show, which was similar in style but was made for grown-ups, on purpose. TV Guide named Pee-Wee’s Playhouse “one of the top 10 cult television classics of all time,” and over the course of its original five-year run on television, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse garnered 22 Emmys, Parent’s Choice Awards, and TV Critics Awards.
The original series features beloved regulars whose characters were stepping stones for long careers, like Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne), Reba the Mail Lady (S. Epatha Merkerson), Miss Yvonne (Lynne Marie Stewart), and Captain Carl (Phil Hartman). Its many catchy jingles are probably playing in your head right now, as you figure out a way to ditch your family to spend a few hours at the playhouse, hoping for a glimpse of His Majesty, the King of Cartoons, come Thanksgiving.
Last we saw Pee Wee on the screen, he was starring in the Netflix original movie Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday, which saw Reubens’ character going on a big adventure (just not the one you’re thinking of).
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Does anyone know where you can get the original HBO production of the stage show? I haven’t seen it in years, and it would be nice to see Phil Hartman again.
Replied to add: Youtube of course.
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My mom has it on VHS from the original HBO broadcast in the 80’s. I’ll give her a call.
I have it on VHS, but I won’t lend it to anyone.
I don’t know if the whole thing is on Youtube but I watch this whenever I need pick-me-up.
Also available on DVD as “The Pee-Wee Herman Show: Live at the Roxy”.
https://media.giphy.com/media/Q9VY7WDsbPLos/giphy.mp4
Good ol LARRY Fishburne
Kill it, if you have to. With fire.
Kylo Ren is a psychopath and a murderer, why should we listen to him?
But he had the best of intentions. The show was actually awful.
Wrong.I introduced my children to them when they were on Netflix recently, so I rewatched a bunch of them. They all hold up.
I was 8-10 years old when it first ran and I couldn’t stand it. I enjoyed the Penny cartoons but the rest especially peewee grated my last nerve. Still don’t understand why people love it so much.
Great and I think football is stupid and boring yet it seems to have quite a few fans despite my opinion.
well that’s because football IS stupid and boring
So you had the sense of humor of a 45 year old at the age of 8-10?It was quite the smash hit and probably would’ve gone on longer if not for Pee Wees legal drama.People still love it because the humor was also geared towards adults.
I did actually. whats wrong with that?
Poor kid….
really whats wrong with it?
Sorry man, that show ROCKED and you are wrong.
The Netflix movie was delightful.
Let TLJ die.
“Reruns are toxic nostalgia” is a hot take, pardner.
No, never…
Nah. It holds up pretty well. Showed it to my kids last year and they loved it (they were 8 and 10 at the time).
Should we scream in horror or happiness??
Yes.
This article kind of pissed me off because for half a second when i saw the headline I thought someone was going to produce new episodes, then i read the article.I have the show on Blu-Ray, and it is all on Netflix. Pee-Wee’s Playhouse Returns to my tv OFTEN. Why is it news if some network is going to re-run the show. I can literally have a 24 hour marathon ANY time i want.Every day I hope and pray that we learn of a NEW Pee-Wee project (like when will someone give him money to produce that Script for the R rated Pee-Wee movie that PW has had sitting on his shelf for years), but i keep getting burned by stuff like this…
Uhmmm Jill….How could you leave out Grace Jones on the Christmas Special?
That was such a quietly subversive special. It’s shocking how many queer touchstones they fit into a 1988 Christmas special without anybody but those in the know really noticing.
The entire series was very queer. In the documentary about Wayne White someone mentions below, one of the people who worked on the show described it as a John Waters film for kids.
It always blows my mind that the same actress who played Miss Yvonne plays Bonnie Kelly (Charlie’s mentally unstable, horny mom) on It’s Always Sunny…
oh my god. oh my god.i knew she was familiar but i just couldnt place her. oh my god.
Yep.
And, if you’ve seen Batman Returns, the Penguin’s clown henchman who kidnaps the Gotham Mayor’s baby during a press conference is played by the same actor who plays Mac’s dad.
No way!*checks IMDB*
Whoa…TI fucking L
It always blows my mind that the same actress who played Miss Yvonne plays Bonnie Kelly (Charlie’s mentally unstable, horny mom) on It’s Always Sunny…I still struggle with this reality.
When I bought it to watch with my son a few years back, I had forgotten about the scene at the end where he opens a door and there are shirtless, ripped “construction guys” building the new room of his house with fruitcakes. From the men’s choir at the beginning to the end scene, the entire show pings to high heaven, some more obvious now than it was to me as a teen, but it still felt pretty subversive at the time.
Quietly?
Like Liberace. Flamboyantly gay, but somehow nobody but gay people or those in the know noticed. If they did realize it, they just ignored it and were quiet about it.
We watch that every year, me & my son love it. I know what will help keep him entertained while I cook next Thursday!
Like, they’re making new episodes!!??
This time with 25% less masturbation.
Right, because Reubens was the first host of a kid’s television show who ever got caught doing something in his private life that wasn’t G-rated.
Jesus Christ! Even Paul Reubens was making fun of this all the way back in 1991. Calm down.
I am very calm. I don’t even have a problem with people joking about Reubens foibles, but I think the joke you made has at it’s core the reason Reubens ‘fell from grace’ – i.e. people conflated Reubens the person with his character, and to hear people talk about it at the time and outraged they were, you would have thought he masturbated on the show or masturbated in front of children, so your joke just reminded me of the kind of idiotic ‘objections’ people had to Reubens hosting a children’s show. Note: not saying you are an idiot or that your joke was idiotic, it just reminded of things idiots said at the time.
Hey man, Brit with no skin in the game here but… didn’t the guy get caught wanking in public? I reckon that, even in these enlightened times, people would be entitled to wonder if that fella should really be presenting TV shows.
Damn thing posted too early! I meant to more clearly point out that I had always been told he was doing it in public. ie was not “caught doing something in his private life”.But I don’t know anything about it. Enlighten me or ignore me. I’ve no idea why I commented 🙂
As I recall, he was wanking it in a porno theater in Florida. It was basically a vice sting by the local PD.
He was caught jerking in an adult theater, not like he was putting on a performance in Central Park.
It was in public, but it was an adult movie theater.
WHAT THE HELL ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THERE?!?!? I GOT THIS ROCKIN’ CHUB AND IT’S GETTING SCRATCHED BY MY UNDERWEAR!!!
i think the location was an adult movie theater. so legally he was ‘in public’ but not anywhere kids or anyone not paying to watch a p0rn movie would be, so he wasn’t in ‘public’ in the commonly used sense.
I remember the outrage people had when it happened, almost as if he was jerking it to kids on a playground.
He got caught rubbing one out at an adult theater. While yes, technically in public, anyone who is shocked that That Activity is going on while porn is playing really needs to get out of their protective bubble.
Didn’t you know? If you mildly disagree with someone on the internet you’re OUTRAGEDERMERGERD!!!1!!!!1!
HEARD ANY GOOD JOKES LATELY!?!?
Or when he came out at the Oscars (or was it MTV? Some kind of awards show) with Turbo Fist Pee Wee. Fucking brilliant, that bit was.
Only 25%? I’ll only take a show with at least 50%. And only from the King of Cartoons.
If you haven’t seen it, you should watch the doc Beauty Is Embarrassing about one of the production designers Wayne White.
Pee Wee’s Big Holiday is an underrated modern classic, if you ask me.
Joe Mangiablahblah is fucking hilarious in it.
A Root Beer Barrel!?!?
Feliz blah blay blah?
What? No love for John Paragon as Jambi?
Meka leka hi leka hiney ho!
Love to Pee-Wee Herman, but I gotta watch the MST3K Turkey Day marathon that day.
For me, Pee-Wee’s show was exactly like going back to my childhood, only on acid. He’s younger than I am but we had some of the same NYC TV heroes: Sandy Becker, Chuck McCann.
Watching Pee-Wee’s Christmas special is one of the family traditions in our house. Though my son claims the DelRubio sisters are one of the most disturbing things he’s ever seen on video.
Your son is correct.
This great news aside, what the fuck happened to IFC? We recently changed our cable package and got it back and they have Two and a Half Men Marathons. Dafuq?
Seems a lot of these networks changed their names to acronyms as they embraced ratings grabber shows: TLC, AMC, IFC. The History Channel might as well change to THC, so it can better reflect the only way I could be compelled to watch more than 5 seconds of their programming.
There used to be a lot of actual good indie films on the network. Do they still televise the Independent Spirit Awards? Because watching Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer exchange dick jokes doesn’t seem like a good lead-in.
Yep, still there. Funny you mentioned it, because I spent time in the past couple of weeks rewatching the monologues and performances by Andy Samberg and Kroll/Mulaney.Personal confession: I like some of the dumb Lorre vehicles. (Two and a Half Men and Big Bang Theory, especially contentious.) I definitely understand why people donmalign them, but they have a consistent (re: formulaic) approach that still makes me laugh. Especially when I’m stoned and not looking for “prestige” entertainment.
I watch BBT too. No shame. It’s a basic-ass sitcom like everything else.
Natasha Lyonne was part of the gang in the first season. Sure were a lot of actors and actresses that came through that series.
Are they going to show Pee Wee plays with himself in the house?
NOW ALL IT NEEDS IS CHARO!
“Fruit salad isn’t really salad, it’s just fruit in a bowl.” – my kid, circa 1987, after seeing Pee Wee marry fruit salad.
I had a crush on Dixie, not ashamed to admit it:
SAME
We need to look the Potato of Injustice right in the eye and tell it just which kids’ programme we really need brought back…
Who doesn’t have Netflix??
My younger brother and I watched this every Saturday morning. Until one day my mom woke up early and saw some of it. After that she banned us from watching us and made a point to wake up early enough to make sure we didn’t. I never really did understand why.
Will record.
Celebratory jack-off session?