#peewee's playhouse

[tsunami--tsunami]

Pee-wee's Playhouse 1986-1990. Who could ask for anything more?

[linesonscreens]

Let's Read Peanuts (Only 45 more years to go!) – May 1955

There are lots of great strips I just don't have room to comment on. I strongly encourage everybody to read the full month at the official GoComics page. Today's month starts HERE.

May 2, 1955

She’s correct, just not in a literal sense.

May 10, 1955

He’s into it.

May 17, 1955

“I meant ~constructive~ criticism!”

“Oh... You you would be more successful if you were less stupid.”

May 19, 1955

No, this is the correct move. Eating the clover gives a smaller stat boost than using it as an accessory but the bonus is permanent.

May 20, 1955

Let the kindergartner write an editorial you cowards! It can’t be worse than what you let the adults submit!

May 22, 1955

God I love it when he draws backgrounds.

May 30, 1955

God damnit. Guess we're doing this thing again...

~googles~

Okay, so ‘Pinky’ Lee was a children’s TV performer who hosted a popular kids show in the 50s called The Pinky Lee Show. It was your classic collection of skits, jokes, stunts, dance numbers, and hard-selling preschoolers on sponsored products and services. Basically, a black and white version of the Krusty the Clown show from The Simpsons. You can see an episode of it here.

Personally I find it to be an weird mix of obnoxious and off-putting and gave up on trying to get through it only a few minutes in. Kids apparently loved it though and it won some awards.

As an interesting side-note The Pinky Lee Show was one of the main inspirations for PeeWee’s Playhouse, another kid's show that was incredibly popular despite being insufferable. You can really see the similarities if you watch them back to back.

Anyway, Pinky’s run on the show would end about 4 months after this strip was published after having some sort of medical episode on-set which forced him to step down. Sad but hardly surprising considering the guy was either on some serious drugs or pushing himself WAY too hard.

[texaschainsawmascara]

[forgotn1]

Absolutely nothing neurotypical happened on Pee-wee's Playhouse. That show was 100% for neurodivergent kids.

[popculturebuffet]

Pee-Wee's Playhouse: Monster in the Playhouse Review

In Loving Memory of Paul Rubens 1952-2023 The loss of Paul Rubens this week.. was one of the most devistating celebrity death's i've experienced, up there with Bowie and Adam West. It's just one of those deaths that really gnaws as your soul a bit, to see some one who brought such joy to your life gone in an instant. With Paul it hurt more because he's been such a constant: My family LOVED Pee Wees Big Adventure and I saw it PLENTY as a kid, a truly iconic and fun film that really showcased what paul could do. As I grew up, he was in Mystery Men, one of my faviorite superhero films to this day and a great part of it as the gaseous gladiator The Spleen.

Ironically it wasn't till I was in college and beyond I got to see Peewee's Very own children show and paul's masterwork Peewee's Playhouse, the classic 80's childrens show that had plenty of whimsy for it's target audience of young children.. but plenty of charm, puppetry, a stacked cast, and some all time great set design that made it a classic. It's no wonder my young niece and nephew glommed onto it as kids back when Netflix had it nor mourned him alongside the rest of us.

So while I intend to do more of Paul's work later when I can, faster if someone comissions them, I figured this was the best place to start and to honor him in the moment: my faviorite episode of his show. You'll find out why and if you hadn't really heard of paul rubens find out why he was so awesome under the cut.

Pee-Wee Herman started as a character Rubens made for the stage, with his stage show The PeeWee Herman show. The character was a hit from the get go and said hit lead a young filmaker by the name of Tim Burton to come calling. Thus Pee-Wee's Big Adventure Was born. I was honestly suprised to find the movie came first, as the show has none of it's cast, just the human muppet at the center. It does make sense though as the two works show off the two diffrent but equally awesome ways to play with Pee-Wee. Pee-Wee as a character.. is a giant cartoon. He's very clearly a grown man, but acts like a ten year old, lives in a bonkers house no matter the verison of him, and dosen't care how weird he comes off to everyone.. and thus charms most people simply by being himself. It's why the character resonates with me so much: Pee-Wee is who he is and he's not self concious about it. he's not really lambasted by most characters for being weird and those who do are usually jerks. When something bad happens to him it's usually because he brought it on himself.

So as a giant cartoon there's two ways to play him: you either plop him into the mundane world and see everyone else bounce off the loveable weirdo, or you meet him on his level and have a world of childlike wonder and total insanity. The movie went for the former, allowing rubens to be as unrestrained as he wants while still being a charming guy, and the show, being meant for kids but not talking down to them, could be as weird as rubens could get.

Playhouse has the trappings of a preschool show: most of the cast is hammy, everythings weird and ther'es a lot of loud stuff to keep attention like the secret word. But it's done in a way that's also gentle, calming and just dang fun to watch: it comes off as what a young kid would THINK being an adult was where you can be a cowboy or pretty for a job, have to deal with horrifying salesman and get to have a ptreodactyl as a pet. It's this nice chill fantasy world that's diverse, where only three people are dicks and one of them, pee wee, ususally learns not to be and that tries to teach kids to be excellent to one another.

And while I picked this episode as a personal favorite.. it really encapsulates a lot of what makes this series great and it's philosphy well. Monster in the House follows Pee Wee on what starts as a pretty normal day, he checks on his ants who are gorgeously animated in this nice construction paper style with black on yellow. It REALLY looks cool. Also cool is a season 1 exclusive feature: his toys. His toys... are basically sids toys from toy story, some horrifying mashups, in this case an octopus cowboy with a thousand eyes and a Frankenstein head on a standard dolly, that still has doll hair. It made me realize something about the show: it REALLY loves it''s animation. While the puppetry is awesome, we'll get to that, we have bits like the dinosaur family, the toys and the ants, the penny cartoons, all vastly different styles, all gorgeous. They even bring in some retro shorts via the king of cartoons. It also speaks to the shows tone: it's really freefloating: While there's usually some through line to anchor the episodes shenangians, it has this nice, serene atmosphere, a childhood memory brought to form where you'll often play or do other stuff amidst the hustle and bustle of your life. It's a vibe I haven't really seen in any other show or felt anything close to and it's glorious. There just.. isn't another show that FEELS like this.

Helping with that is the puppetry. I've been covering muppets here lately and Paul really has a lot of the same philosphy's as Jim Henson. It's really sad the two never did something together: Pee Wee did a segment or two for sesame street and not only won an honrary muppet award but was a guest in muppet magazine where we got just.. the most wholesome image ever

But both have this gentle nature that belies the manic content they make, injecting an earnestness into the madness. Peewee has a talking chair, a dog who is also a chair and looks utterly horrifying, a globe, his own robot, a tetradactyl.. all puppets.. but all feel really. Terry is like the son PeeWee never had, CHairy is one of his best friends and in a nice touch i'd never noticed before her eyes and hands usually move when she's in frame even if she's not the focus of the scene. There's also clearly something going on between them but I feel a memorial is a poor place to talk about chair on human romance. The puppets feel real even whent hey can be limited, and all have unique looks. Even chairy and dog chair despite being both animate chairs look and feel different, chairy coming off as pee wee's shy best friend and dog chair being an utter nightmare that's also adorable.

It's the giant gaping mouth. Just... I love a good dog but when you make one that could swallow me whole and very likely my soul at the same time you loose me. Except for Clifford. he's a good boy. You eat those souls clifford, you get bigger and stronger boy. That's a good red dog. Good boy.

So before we get to the plot we need to get the secret word. For those less familiar Pee Wee unplugs and turns on his robot buddy Conky, whose just a delight. And honestly all this reviewing thomas the tank engine effed me up a bit as I was horrified at first that Pee Wee turns Conky off at all.. but then realized they cleverly tucked the reason WHY Conky is plugged in and has to be turned on into the show: he needs to be recharged. Pee Wee would love to have him on all the time, but he dosen't want his friend to run out of battery. It's simply how the bot sleeps.

So he has honky print it out the word and whenever somebody says the secret word "scream real loud". it's a LOT of fun as any time it happens the whole playhouse joins in. Pure hell for parents but something so charmign you can forgive it. It's also sweet when Reba the Mail Lady, one of peewee's friends and his well mail lady, is so deligthed to have said it by accident. It's really sweet

The plot kicks off proper when Mrs. Steve shows up. Mrs Steve is a season 1 exclusive... and unlike others like Tito or Captain Carl who likely got cycled out because production moved and they simply coudln't move with it, Mrs. Steve feels like she got shuffled out because she just doesn't fit the shows tone well. The show DOES have an outright antagonist in randy, but he's more a harmless doofy bully no one takes seriously and who at most sets peewee astray by getting into his head. Mrs. Steve on the other hand is that kind of asshole we've all had: she gets into everyone's business, complains constantly and unlike most of the cast dosen't really jibe with the weirdness that is the playhouse. I don't mind someone say having a straight reaction to peewees nonsense but detesting it just dosen't work. She DOES work well enough for the episodes she's in, I just think longterm it was a wise decision to phase her out. Her actress does a great job though.

In this case there's a monster in the neighborhood. I mean you'd THINK given Mrs Steve sees Dog Chair and Season 1 globey on a regular basis she'd be used to monsters but apparently not. She's warning everyone. Pee Wee doesn't believe but everyone else does. Even the king of cartoons has to be talked into doing his job. I also just.. love the fact that in season one the king whose only job is showing up to show children cartoons has a new york style cabbie. It's so peewee.

Naturally though for this universe there IS a monster, as just when peewee clams everyone down by turning off the lights,a nice calming little bit of letting fear go.. the monster shows up. And Roger , he's named later.. has a fucking awesome design. It's clearly someone in a suit though how I don't know. THey might be hunched over by they CAN jump.

It's such a unique design. Admitely I love cyclopic monsters, so i'm defintely bisased but the nice touches like his weird foot, the little tubes or the side mouth are great.

I also love Pee Wee's response to Chairy Pointing out he said monsters weren't real "So I was wrong, sue me". With Roger just making monster sounds Pee Wee has no idea how to deal with him, realizes he's hungry and makes him a sandwitch which is fun. I also love Roger looking inside peewees fridge to see his food doing thier usual capering and how he just opens and shuts it like a kid would. And as it turns out.. that's what roger is. When PeeWee can't get him to go he WISHES he could understand him. And naturally ...

Since he's not being forced to this bit though the real jambi gladly grants the wish. With the wish granted, long lived Jambi we find out Roger.. is actually a child. He's kind, has a nicely innocent voice and simply wanted to play. He didn't mean anything by his stomping, and was just confused why Peewee was scared of him jsut because he was a monster. It's a nice message about not hating something you don't understand just because it's diffrent. Not subtle, but it's also not so over the head that it dosen't work. Roger may look weird.. but so does the rest of the house. Unsurprisingly PeeWee is huge in monsterland. So PeeWee apologizes and makes a new friend and everythigns good. The episode ends with pee wee getting a call on his picture phone.. which is one of my faviorite runners as in a nicely peewee touch, he always puts on some background and costume before answering. We get Roger's mom whose upset he was missing, ssays the secret word (a touch I really love) but invites peewee back for spagetthi because who wasn't. We also get a nice twist on the usual ending. Usually pewee gets on his scooter, heads off and we see him ending. Here Roger JOINS peewee for the trip. They also scare the crap out of mrs steve, always a good time. Monster in the Playhouse is excellent and it's on youtube. It's a great sample of how good the series was, has a nice wholesome legend and as always showcases just what a great performer rubens was. He'll truly be missed and I hope he's somewhere up there, in his own playhouse. Thanks for reading.. and we'll miss you paul.

[halothanic]

“you don’t wanna get mixed up with a guy like me.. i’m a loner, dottie, a rebel..”

this is probably my favorite thing i’ve ever drawn, bc it truly comes from the heart. pee-wee’s big adventure has been one of my top five films since i'd seen it as a kid, and i love it and laugh more each time i watch it, which is why i jumped at the opportunity to draw this poster for one of my favorite theaters that sold out at their screening a couple days ago! i couldn't be more proud or pleased.

i put a lot of work into the concept and details! pee-wee's costumes are in order of appearance, and of course, as said at the bottom, it's based on kraftwerk's tour de france cover, due to his dream in the opening scene. what could be better than combining an excellent album and film? i can’t put into words how much he impacted my personality, decor taste, and sense of humor so i’ll leave it at a simple “thanks for everything, pee-wee”! without you, i would have never started to feel comfortable being, in total seriousness, a silly little guy.

i have pee-wee stickers for sale in my shop, which i just resurrected, and will be listing this print, as well as a couple others, in the near future!

[devilh0rnsinc]

Fuck it

PEEWEE HERMAN YOAI

Jk Jk, but guys seriously I’m a massive Peewee Herman fan.

Idk why but these two would be cute! Peewee has always given me a LGBTQ vibe too (intentional or not)

This fanart is for every Peewee x Cowboy Curtis ran out there, which is like 3 people on tumblr…

Anyways, hope you like it!

[subjectsix]

I think I could be a clown tbh

[yeahiwasintheshit]

[wbnheros]

happy birthday paul rubens i love you

[cinnamontherabbit]

Things I love about the Peewee Christmas special.

“Magic screen and I are cousins”

A lady goes to make out with a sentient part of the floor.

Cowboy Curtis

“You want an extra wish, what do you think this is? Christmas?” “Yes” “oh ok”

The running joke about how fruitcake is hard, heavy, and gross. People keep giving him fruitcake, to the point where he can build a new wing to the playhouse using fruitcake as bricks.

A lady gets mailed to him when she was going to the White House.

“Potato-y”

Cher is in this and I love her so much, her outfit is great.

Cowboy Curtis

The king of cartoons seems like a nice old man.

I hate the old cartoon though.

Billy takes over the special for like 5 seconds.

Peewee gets so excited for snow and fucks with people with the snow.

Cowboy Curtis and his outfit

Curtis and peewee get pranked by a snowman

Little Richard and him failing to skate.

Peewee have an ice skating double named Hans.

KD lang made me gay and she kisses a dinosaur.

There’s a talking cow who is friends with a princess

Peewee makes a maniquin of himself so he doesn’t have to listen to 12 days of Christmas.

Peewee is a menace the whole god damn time

Charo outfit is so shiny.

Someone gives him 8 fruitcakes

“This is the Hanukkah part of the episode. We’re going to sing the dural song, just follow the dancing genie head”

Peewee present bankrupts Santa and has a moral crisis

He apologizes to Santa and uses he’s second wish for peace on earth.

[tsunami--tsunami]

"I didn't know you was ticklish, Pee-wee!" [X]

[happy-harleys-house-of-humor]

Harley, if you could buy anything in the world, even if it's something you can't buy, what would it be?

Wow wow wow! What a fantastic question!

Okay so if the sky is the limit, I want a house that looks exactly like PeeWee’s Playhouse!!!

Can you imagine?? It would be so much fun! With a Chairy and Jambi and maybe even Cowboy Curtis would stop by!!!

Before I might have said boots that turn into rocket powered roller skates! But now my dream is coming true🎶

♦️🖤

[could-they-be-a-pro-wrestler]

How successful would Pee-wee Herman…

Would you like to submit a character? Click this link if you do!

[rulethemwithkindness]

Paul Reubens ( aka Pee-Wee Herman ) and late John Paragon ( Also known as Jambi The Genie ) on the set of Pee-wee’s Playhouse.

[popculturebuffet]

I remember watching Pee Wee’s Playhouse when it was on Adult Swim

I forogt abotu that. I saw it once or twice there too. It honestly fit way better than it had any right to.