As Pee-wee Herman, Paul Reubens was a performance artist hiding in plain sight in mainstream popular culture. His fictional character, a hyperactive, bow-tied man-child, provided subversive messages ...

A sequel, “Big Top Pee-wee” (1988), was less successful but ... another Jewish comedian whose 1960s kids show also managed to appeal to children as well as adults who were in on the joke.

A Pee-wee harmonica provided the first name. Memories of a manic, obnoxious kid in Florida whose surname was Herman completed the handle. The group’s stage show would double as something like a ...

It was Paul Reubens' second turn at bat. The actor, then 35, had already rocketed to fame as Pee-wee Herman, the ...

Reubens also co-wrote the script with Phil Hartman and Michael Varhol. It spawned two sequels, Big Top Pee-wee (1988) and Pee-wee's Big Holiday (2016).

In 1986, CBS offered Reubens a Saturday morning kids show — “Pee-wee’s Playhouse ... However, that same year, his film follow-up, “Big Top Pee-wee,” was a maligned flop ...

Reubens is candid and perhaps regretful about some of his controlling behavior on the show, and its eventual demise; ditto some of the choices made on Big Top Pee-wee. It’s in the frequently ...

Elizabeth Daily, who played Dottie in 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure,' film writer Larry ... brilliant about being able to feel like you’re a kid again. Pee-wee’s Playhouse was really successful ...

HBO documentary "Pee-wee as Himself" finds Paul Reubens addressing his complicated past in candid, heartbreaking form.