Pee-wee's Playhouse

Pee-wee's Playhouse was a children's television program starring Pee-wee Herman (played by Paul Reubens) that aired on Saturday mornings on CBS. The show ran from September 13, 1986 until 1991 and was enormously popular with both children and adults. It introduced several major new actors, and greatly expanded the range of acceptable characters and themes for children's television. It is currently shown on Adult Swim weeknights at 11PM EST.

Creation of the Pee-wee character

The Pee-wee Herman character was created by comedian Paul Reubens. One commentator described the character as combining "a transgressive sexuality, unabashed materialism, obsessive neatness and a sly anti-authoritarian pose, dressed up in a distinctive costume of white shoes, white socks, red bowtie, tight plaid suit, rouge and lipstick".

Pee-wee first appeared as a cameo character in a revue that was staged while Reubens was a member of the Los Angeles-based comedy troupe The Groundlings. The character first appeared on film in Cheech and Chong's Next Movie. Reubens then developed a live stage show starring Pee-wee entitled The Pee-wee Herman Show which featured many characters that would go on to appear in Playhouse, including Captain Carl, Jambi the Genie, Miss Yvonne and Clocky. When it became successful, he sold it to HBO in 1981, where it was filmed as an adult comedy special.

He teamed with young director Tim Burton in 1985 and they made the comedy film Pee-wee's Big Adventure. It became one of the year's surprise hits. It was hugely profitable—costing a relatively modest US $6 million to make, but taking in US $45 million at the box office.

Thanks to the movie's runaway success, in 1986 CBS offered Reubens a Saturday-morning TV timeslot, total creative control and a huge budget of US $325,000 per episode (a figure usually reserved for prime-time sitcoms). The result was one of the most original children's shows ever made, combining live action, video effects, animation, puppetry and vintage cartoons.

The Art of the Playhouse

The creative design of the show was concocted by a slew of artists including Gary Panter (the art director), Ric Heitzman, Phil Trumbo, Richard Goleszowski, Greg Harrison and Wayne White. Several filmmaking styles were featured on the program including stop-motion animation and claymation which was designed by Aardman Animations.

Cast and Crew

Many now-well-known TV and film actors received their major breaks on the show, including Phil Hartman, as Captain Carl; Laurence Fishburne, as Cowboy Curtis; Jimmy Smits, as "your authorized Conky repairman"; Lynne Stewart as "the most beautiful woman in Puppetland," Miss Yvonne; S. Epatha Merkerson, as Reba the Mail Lady; Natasha Lyonne as one of the children, Opal; Steve James as Derek, Reba's one-time boyfriend; and Sandra Bernhard as Rhonda the Picturephone Operator.

Other major human characters include the King of Cartoons (played by Gilbert Lewis season one and William Marshall all subsequent seasons), Tito the Playhouse Lifeguard (played by Roland Rodriguez) season one, and Mrs. Rene (played by Suzanne Kent). Among the other characters, John Paragon played Jambi the Genie and voiced Pterri the Pterrodactyl; Ric Heitzman voiced Mr. Window; Kevin Carlson voiced Clocky, Conky, and Floory; George McGrath voiced Globey; Alison Mork voiced Chairry, Chicky Baby, and the Magic Screen; Anna Seidman voiced Penny; and Wayne White voiced Dirty Dog, Mr. Kite, and Randy the Bully. Ric Heitzman, George McGrath, and Wayne White all voiced the fish and flowers. Rob Zombie was a part of the Production Staff

The music for the show was provided by artists including Mark Mothersbaugh, The Residents,Todd Rundgren, Danny Elfman, Mitchell Froom, Van Dyke Parks, George Clinton and Dweezil Zappa.

The opening prelude theme is an interpolation of Martin Denny's "Quiet Village". The singer of the theme song was Cyndi Lauper (credited as Ellen Shaw).

Recurring gags, themes, and devices

Some recurring gags, themes, and plot devices were used in the show.

At the beginning of each show, viewers were told the day's "secret word" and were instructed to "scream real loud" every time a character on the show said the word, which was given to Pee-wee by his robot friend, Conky. Just before departing the playhouse at the end of every episode or during some other situation, he always "accidentally" says the secret word and everyone screams. The second instance is always responded with a confused or angry "What's with all the screaming?" by several characters. Sometimes, a character said the word and no screaming was done at all.

Most episodes would involve Pee-wee leaping into Magic Screen's screen, tossing a number of dots from his pocket, and playing a connect-the-dots game with them. He would then interact with the object the dots had formed in a cartoon environment, eventually leaping out of the screen and landing safely on Chairry, who would usually proclaim, "Gotcha!". However, on one occasion, Pee-wee did land on the floor, In which case the chair exclaimed "Safe!"

Pee-wee often claims everything in the Playhouse to be his (usually because it actually was), including the Playhouse itself, and he often played the role of an authority figure to prove his point—exaggerating the role to an extreme scale (a judge, a boss, and a librarian, to name a few). During these games, he gives everyone else "inferior" positions in each game. The tables were eventually turned once and for all in the final episode of the show, when Miss Yvonne says "How could you even think of selling the Playhouse without first consulting us? It belongs to all of us! You just remember that, Pee-wee, it's all our Playhouse!".

One joke that became a running gag in the series involved Pee-wee or another character saying that he or she loved something, to which someone would reply, "Then why don't you marry me/him/her/it?". This joke was last used in the "Sleepover" episode, where Pee-wee finally does marry a bowl of fruit salad in a formal ceremony.

Every time he was given a gift, he never gives someone time to explain what the gift is upon showing him the box or bag, often telling them to "fork it over".

Most episodes have a recipe segment (called "Snack Time") in which Pee-wee teaches kids how to make a simple dish for themselves. The segment begins with Pee-wee opening the refrigerator and catching the food off-guard, dancing and having a good time in a claymation kind of animation, exposing the secret life of the fruits and veggies in the fridge when the door's closed and we're not watching. The food items quickly settle down once they realize they've been caught.

When Pee-wee eats or tastes something, typically while cooking in the recipe segment, he often exclaims enjoyment by saying, "Mmm, (object)-y!" and laughs. For example, he would say "Mmm, lemony!" when tasting something with a lemon flavor. This gag was later used on The Simpsons by Homer and by Johnny Bravo in the Cartoon Network cartoon of the same name. This joke was used during other situations as well. For example (as an innuendo), when Pee-wee is describing the bust that Dirty Dog made for Miss Yvonne in the episode Playhouse in Outer Space, he says "Mmmm, busty!" and laughs.

Picturephone

The Picturephone was a prominent feature on the show, remaining virtually unchanged throughout the series, except for the phone's ringing. It was a videophone. A large photo booth-like area in the shape of a woman's head was the exterior. The lips served as the saloon doors that could be opened and closed at will. Inside was a TV monitor, a tin can handset, and several levers and other controls that Pee-wee and other characters pulled, pressed and twisted, as well as lights to brighten the inside. Also, a pull-down drape was often seen; it parodied a lot of modern-day artwork, such as American Gothic (as seen in the episode "Miss Yvonne's Visit"). On some occasions, Pee-wee wore a goofy hat that matched the pull-down drape's theme. The phone's "ringing" would be accompanied by a flash of shapes and patterns on the monitor as well. In the first season, Pee-wee was the only person that could use the Picturephone(with the exception of the puppet 'Randy' using the Picturephone in "Rainy Day" to teach Pee Wee how to prank call people, and with Cowboy Curtis in "The Cowboy and the Cowntess" using the Picturephone to call Miss Yvonne only to find out that she wants to date him), but in later seasons, characters such as Miss Yvonne, Mrs. Renee, and Cowboy Curtis used it. The interior only had one seat, but three people could get inside it, as seen on the episode "Store". Also, it seems that there's more than one Picturephone, as Pee-wee gets called by various people including a puppet-like game show host, Miss Yvonne, a police officer named Darryl and his wife, Roger's mom, Cowboy Curtis, Mrs. Renee, an alien named Zyzzybalubah, and a seductive Picturephone operator named Rhonda.

The "conversations" were actually pre-recorded video films of any character that Pee-wee "called".

Critical praise

The show was notorious for its campy undertones and double entendre.

As soon as it first aired, Pee-wee's Playhouse fascinated media theorists and commentators, many of whom championed the show as a postmodernist hodgepodge of queer characters and situations which appeared to soar in the face of domineering racist, sexist, and heterosexist presumptions. For example, three of Pee-wee's closest human friends, Cowboy Curtis, Reba the Mail Lady, and the King of Cartoons, were black.

In its entire run, the show won 22 Emmys as well as other awards.

"I'm just trying to illustrate that it's okay to be different—not that it's good, not that it's bad, but that it's all right. I'm trying to tell kids to have a good time and to encourage them to be creative and to question things," Reubens told an interviewer in Rolling Stone.

Episode guide

First season: 1986-87	Episode title	Secret word	Scored by
1	Ice Cream Soup	DOOR	Mark Mothersbaugh
2	Luau For Two	FUN	Todd Rundgren
3	Rainy Day	HELP	Mark Mothersbaugh
4	Now You See Me, Now You Don't	LITTLE	Mitch Froom
5	Just Another Day	BACK	Mark Mothersbaugh
6	Beauty Makeover	TIME
7	The Restaurant	DAY
8	Ants In Your Pants	WHAT
9	Monster In the Playhouse	LOOK
10	The Cowboy and the Countess	GOOD
11	Stolen Apples	THERE
12	The Gang's All Here	OKAY
13	Party!	THIS

Second season: 1987-88	Episode title	Secret word	Scored by
1	Open House	HOUSE (and PLAYHOUSE)
2	Puppy In the Playhouse	OVER
3	Store	MORE
4	Pee-Wee Catches a Cold	OUT
5	Why Wasn't I Invited?	ALL
6	Tons of Fun	COOL
7	School	EASY
8	Spring	BEGIN
9	Playhouse In Outer Space	ZYZZYBALUBAH	The Residents
10	Pajama Party	WATCH	The Residents

Third season: 1988-89	Episode title	Secret word	Scored by
1	Reba Eats and Pterri Runs	NOW
2	Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special	YEAR
3	To Tell the Tooth	IT

Fourth season: 1989-90	Episode title	Secret word	Scored by
1	Dr. Pee-Wee and the Del Rubios	WELL
2	Fire In the Playhouse	ONE
3	Love That Story	END
4	Sick? Did Somebody Say Sick?	GO
5	Miss Yvonne's Visit	NICE
6	Rebarella	STOP
7	Heat Wave	HERE (and HEAR)
8	Chairry Tee Drive	WAIT
9	Let's Play Office	THAT
10	I Remember Curtis	REMEMBER

Fifth season: 1990-91	Episode title	Secret word	Scored by
1	Conky's Breakdown	GREAT
2	Mystery	AROUND
3	Front Page Pee-Wee	HOW	The Residents
4	Tango Time	FAST
5	Playhouse Day	THING
6	Accidental Playhouse	PLACE
7	Fun, Fun, Fun	ON
8	Camping Out	SHOW
9	Something To Do	DO
10	Playhouse For Sale	WORD

Later airings, home video and DVDs

On August 15, 1998, the show returned to television in reruns on Fox Family Channel, only to go off the air once again the following year.
Adult Swim began airing the show Monday through Thursday on July 10, 2006.
Several episodes were initially released on video in 1988. They were then reissued on video in 1996, along with several episodes that were not released on video the first time. Finally, all 45 episodes (plus the Christmas special) were released on DVD by Image Entertainment in 2004.

Trivia

Famous gags

In the episode "Luau For Two", Pee-wee puts scotch tape on his face just like he did in Pee-wee's Big Adventure.
In the episode "Fire in the Playhouse", Pterri incorrectly says Jambi's name as "Zombie". Later, in "Front Page Pee-wee," Pterri says Jambi's name correctly. Interestingly, both Pterri and Jambi are played by the same actor.
In the episode "Stolen Apples", the flashing word on the screen and the bell sounds fizzle out when Pee-wee "screams" in exasperation over not getting any pen pal letters, a clear indication of his infantile behavior.
In the episode "The Gang's All Here", Pee-wee slowly gets really annoyed at having the Playhouse Gang around, and ultimately asks the Playhouse Gang to leave for unacceptable behavior, though they had returned by the end of the episode, having hid behind Mr. Window.
In "Sick? Did Someone Say Sick", Randy the Bully changed the ganeral gameplay rules, so that whenever the secret word was said, everyone instead had to bark like a dog instead of scream. This infuriated Pee-wee.

References and homages on other shows

The show was referenced in an episode of the Teen Titans series. However, the secret word was called the "sloppy mess word" instead.
In the Family Guy episode Husband, Father...Brother? Peter Griffin spends his reparation money to convert his den into a replica of Pee-wee's Playhouse, calling it "Peter's Playhouse." Brian plays the role of Jambi, saying "Meka Leka Hi, Meka Hiney-oh God I hate you so much" ^*, and the secret word is "RIDICULOUS".
Pee-Wee and his playhouse have been referenced a number of times on the series "Full House", usually because the child-like character Joey loved the program.
John Travolta imitated Pee-wee in Look Who's Talking Too.
A photo comic on X-Entertainment revolves around Skeletor hiding out from He-Man in the Playhouse in order to avoid having his arms cut off by Leonardo and Raphael of the Ninja Turtles.
On the popular web cartoon website, Homestar Runner, some toons make a reference to the show, including one Halloween toon in which Strong Bad dressed up as Jambi the Genie.
In "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi", Al sings "Meka Leka Hi Meka Hiney Hiney Ho" within the first 30 seconds of the song, famous magic words from Jambi the Genie. He also sings "Meka Leka Hi Meka Meka Channey Ho" about halfway through the song.
In the Internet meme "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny", Jambi the Genie and Cowboy Curtis are two of the many who slaughter Chuck Norris.

External links

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