I would tape Pee-Wee’s Playhouse episodes onto blank VHS tapes as a kid, every Saturday just about. Such was the power of its otherworldly quirkiness. A few Christmas season ago, not having seen the show in ages, I acquired the Shout Factory blu-ray set, which features stellar restorations for the contemporary era. Wasn’t sure how well the show itself would hold up, but it was (and is) still pretty great! There’s more creativity on display, more freewheeling aesthetic ingenuity there than you’re gonna find in most things audio-visual. Just this dynamic interplay of different sensibilities that gels well with a wit somewhere between playful, irreverent/subversive, kitschy, and “other.” The eighties truly were a different time. Also, again: tip of the hat to Cher in that Christmas special . . . my, what a babe!

But the fascination with said show only came after seeing Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. Have extolled its virtues here and elsewhere, so I’ll just say, pound for pound, as far as mainstream comedies go, it’s loaded with laughs. Almost no chaff or meandering. When they wrote that screenplay, they were on fire. And I know that Ruebens informed some of the set design with curios from his private collection, upping the ante a bit.

A lot more could be said, am not always in the right headspace to eulogize people, either those in the public eye or people I’ve known, but it’s a sad day when Paul Reubens/Pee-Wee has left the building. R.I.P.

That is a fitting eulogy. Paul Reubens is one of those celebrities that I feel like I’ve met; not that I really think I’ve met him, but there was something so familiar about him, partly due to Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Playhouse both being significant in my childhood, and also from Paul Reubens the man just being the kind of person that I’ve known and that people I know are like in various ways. He was awesome. All right, that’s all I have to say before I start getting a little choked up here in my car doing talk to text.

ChudFusk wrote: Mon Jul 31, 2023 5:44 pm That is a fitting eulogy. Paul Reubens is one of those celebrities that I feel like I’ve met; not that I really think I’ve met him, but there was something so familiar about him, partly due to Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Playhouse both being significant in my childhood, and also from Paul Reubens the man just being the kind of person that I’ve known and that people I know are like in various ways. He was awesome. All right, that’s all I have to say before I start getting a little choked up here in my car doing talk to text.

He was set to come to a friend's wedding and I was supposed to do a comical speech. I was nervous about that for a couple seconds but because of exactly what you described it faded off right away. He didn't make it and we were all bummed but now knowing this all it made that empty chair sadder.

To be honest all I could think of all day is that I don't understand the logic of a world where Paul Reubens or any of the other great people we've lost is dead, but Trump is still alive.

Yeah it's about time we had some good news deaths.

I love Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, but I strangely wasn't much of a fan of the Playhouse, which was on every Saturday morning when I was a kid. For me, the theme song was always the best part. Maybe I just liked animated cartoons more. R.I.P. Paul Reubens.

Anthony Flack wrote: Tue Aug 01, 2023 7:33 am Yeah it's about time we had some good news deaths.

Fucking Kissinger just turned 100.

Actor Mark Margolis

William Friedkin. Couldn't imagine a childhood without him.

So many good films. Good director.

The Exorcist is the only film that my parents told me gave me nightmares after seeing.