You can go home again.
That’s what so many people who grew up — or sobered up — watching “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” are discovering these days. Cartoon Network has reached back into the trippily innocent past to resurrect reruns of the Saturday morning kids show and put them where they rightly belong.
So says the man who pulled the strings on the air and behind the scenes during the show’s 1986-91 CBS run.
“There was a lot of talk for a couple of years of CBS maybe re-airing it at night, and I was always really excited about that,” Paul Reubens, 53, said by phone recently.
With “Playhouse” now part of Cartoon’s offbeat Adult Swim programming bloc — and drawing a healthy 1.5 million viewers a night — we caught up with Reubens, the once (and very possibly future) Pee-wee:
Q. It took so long for “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” to make it back to TV. Why now?
A. There’s such a difference between turning on the TV and there it is versus having to go out and buy it [on DVD, released in 2004]. There was just a new generation of kids who hadn’t seen it before, so I began to look into a home for it. I had a couple of places that were interested in it, but none that seemed exactly right to me. Lo and behold, 48 hours after deciding not to go with one particular network, I got a phone call from Cartoon Network. To me, everything fades into the background when you hear Cartoon Network and Adult Swim.
Q. Now that it’s airing late at night, tell us the truth, was “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” ever really a kids’ show?
More Top Picks Best Vinyl Cutters For Beginners
A. It was designed to be a Saturday morning kids’ show. Whatever else happened to it was fluky. It’s 20 years later, and it has a kind of underground history to it now. So many college kids would tell me, “I would set my alarm and get up half-dead or half-hung over to watch on Saturday mornings.” I thought it would be interesting to put it on at night.
Q. There seemed to be no limits to Pee-wee’s imagination — or to the look and feel of the playhouse. From the cartoonishly bright colors and blend of mediums (live action, cel animation, computer graphics) to the characters such as Cowboy Curtis and Chairry the talking armchair, are you amazed now at all you managed to come up with?
A. We got to be very artistic and commercial at the same time. People say to me, “I’m an artist because of that show,” or “How did you get to do that and put it on a [broadcast] network like that?” I have to constantly give CBS their credit. They lived up to their word 100 percent [when] they said, “Make the show you want to.” They gave us very little interference. The first [editing] note I ever got from them was, “You can’t stick pencils in a potato,” and there we were last night [in an episode Reubens had just watched] sticking pencils in a potato. They asked for five things, maybe, and I did two.”
Q. Uh, why no pencils in a potato? Because someone might get lead poisoning?
A. Because they were sharp.
Q. Do you sit around watching old episodes now, congratulating or chastising yourself about how something turned out?
A. That sounds very “Sunset Boulevard,” me reliving it all and thinking, “Wow, I really was funny?” [chuckling] I co-directed those shows as well as producing and writing them, so I was in the editing room for every single cut. There were a couple of things I wanted to change and did change from the first to second year. I went to L.A. [the first season was shot in New York], where I had way more connections, I knew who to hire and how to get things done. The playhouse looks different, the makeup and costumes are different, and there are changes in some of the puppets. I don’t look at stuff anymore and say, “I wish I would have done that.” If something didn’t seem right at the time, we redid it right then.
Q. Back at the height of Pee-wee’s popularity, you conducted interviews in character. Was there ever a time when he felt like a burden to you?
A. I always thought it worked better that people thought Pee-wee Herman was a real character. And I think a lot did think he was real! People called me by that name, and it was really comfortable for me. There was a minute, maybe, at the height of all that when I was thinking, “Wow, it would be great to be in a movie and play another character,” but I was too busy. When I wasn’t shooting the show, I was writing it. I don’t think it was a burden. What a great burden to have.
Q. Your post-“Playhouse” resume includes an Emmy-nominated guest arc on “Murphy Brown,” an active voice-over career and a couple of current big-screen roles (“The Tripper,” “Reno 911!: Miami”). Any chance we’ll see more of Pee-wee?
A. There are two Pee-wee scripts for movies. The one that looks like it’s getting made first [takes place] almost completely outside of the playhouse. The King of Cartoons disappears, so it’s an epic adventure story. It will be very funny just to see those characters out of the playhouse. A lot of them are a little on the clunky side. The idea of Chairry leaving the playhouse to go on a road trip, that’s part of what I think is funny. We hope to start shooting early next year.
Q. Got a certain big-name star already lined up, we hope? And does the skinny suit still fit after all these years?
A. I hope so! I will play Pee-wee. I think I have a couple of years left in me. I’ll get down to final weight. Or I hope to have a small panel put in the back [he chuckles again].
Q. Other than Pee-wee, who was your favorite “Playhouse” character?
A. [Gasping] I created most of those characters. I couldn’t pick one! It almost feels real enough to me even after this many years that I fear I’d hurt one of their feelings if I did say. I’m kidding, but a part of me does feel like, “What if Chairry picks up the paper tomorrow and sees Magic Screen was my favorite?”
Q. Would it surprise you to know that I’ve always liked Randy, the hardheaded, freckle-faced little boy marionette who regularly dropped in to stir things up?
A. I designed him as the troublemaker. When people say to me that their favorite character is Randy, I always know who I’m dealing with. Someone who identifies with the troublemaker.
Q. So is this interview ending badly?
A. I’ve made a note in your permanent record.