​Secret words: Wolf considers ‘Pee-wee as Himself’

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

Filmmaker Matt Wolf, whose lovely “Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell” suggests he would be the perfect director to construct the definitive biographical account of the wholly original Paul Reubens, mostly makes good on that promise with the two-part “Pee-wee as Himself.” The story, now on HBO following a Sundance world premiere, has been identified somewhat disappointingly as a kind of “coming out” revelation, even though many fans and followers of Reubens assumed his queerness for a long, long time before it was confirmed. With a total duration of about three hours and twenty minutes, Wolf enjoys a generous enough canvas to examine Reubens in considerable detail. The chronological structure, however, builds toward the inevitable gut-punches of the dual scandals that so unfairly derailed and deflated a singular career.

Reubens, who sat in front of Wolf’s camera for some 40 hours, is every bit as clever and subversive as his (still) more famous alter-ego. The performer, who died of cancer in 2023 at the age of 70, kept his health status secret from all but a tiny circle. Wolf did not know Reubens was sick and never completed what was to be their final on-camera interview. In his New Yorker commentary on the film published this May, Michael Schulman provides some crucial context for how this turn of events led Wolf to a new edit of the project. Schulman notes that following the death of his subject, the filmmaker “included more fourth-wall-breaking moments, realizing that his own tug-of-war with Reubens was key to understanding the performer’s bifurcated existence.”

As suggested by Schulman’s quotation and the title, the central thesis sees both Reubens and Wolf contemplating the former’s decision to, in essence, operate only as his creation. Reubens speaks at length about treating Pee-wee Herman, the chaotic, off-axis oddity whose blend of childlike exuberance and grown-up cunning appealed to rebels and nerds of all ages, as a real person. For example, the Hollywood Walk of Fame star heralds Pee-wee and not Reubens. The toll taken by the decision to hide behind Herman plays out as a major motif in the documentary, from the actor’s early romantic relationship with sensitive painter Guy Brown, who would inspire several “Pee-wee-isms,” to the catastrophic fallout from the 1991 Florida arrest.

Part of me wishes the order of the episodes would have been flipped, since the pain of both the indecent exposure charge and the even more frustrating results of the 2002 search warrant that police obtained to go fishing for illegal images have a tendency to overshadow the massive creative achievements that beguile both die-hard superfans and Pee-wee newcomers. Thankfully, Wolf and Reubens unpack the most significant milestones in the Pee-wee Herman journey, from the origin of the character while Reubens collaborated with Phil Hartman as members of the Groundlings to the miracle of feature film “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” which remains my own favorite and most revisited piece of Pee-wee media.

It is hard to argue, however, with the impact of “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” the cult Saturday morning children’s television series that aired on CBS from 1986 to 1990 for a total of 45 episodes and a beloved Christmas special. Wolf and Reubens recognize “Playhouse” as the fulfillment of Pee-wee’s promise and treat it with the respect it deserves. Many writers have attempted to account for the hidden-in-plain-sight suggestiveness, innuendo and adult humor — qualities that, while toned down from the stage show, were never fully scrubbed. Like the Reubens/Herman duality, the successful mashup of outré performance art with the formula of midcentury television aimed at kids is rare indeed. The secret word is “genius.”