Salon

“Pee-wee as Himself” director says working with Paul Reubens was “contentious” and “thrilling”

Even as Reubens wanted to impact kids with TV the way it impacted him, he lost part of himself by having his alter ego pass as a real person. Director Matt Wolf shrewdly recounts Reubens’ life and his ...
The Boston Globe

‘Pee-wee as Himself’ is a bittersweet look at the price of fame

The two-part HBO documentary series, “Pee-wee as Himself” follows in the footsteps of “Faye,” “Sly,” and “Martha”; that is, it’s a film where the subject speaks for himself in interviews conducted by ...
Los Angeles Times

Everyone knew Pee-wee Herman. But few knew the man behind the man-child

The first time we see Paul Reubens in the documentary “Pee-wee as Himself,” he is not playing Pee-wee Herman, the antic man-child he portrayed in comedy routines, movies, a children’s TV show and most ...
Forbes

‘Pee-Wee As Himself’ Director Had No Idea Paul Reubens Was Dying

Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman posing for a portrait while promoting 'The Pee-wee Herman Show' live stage play in Los Angeles. "I was scheduled to do a final interview with him the week after Paul ...
Yahoo

'Pee-wee as Himself' gives Paul Reubens the final word on his identity

"I was born in 1938 in a little house on the edge of the Mississippi River; my father worked on a steamboat and his name was Steamboat Milton," says Paul Reubens by way of misdirection in Matt Wolf's ...
NPR

'Pee-wee as Himself' is a portrait of a private man and his public alter ego

Pee-wee As Himself tells the story of how a kid who grew up adoring The Little Rascals and I Love Lucy went on to revolutionize sketch comedy and children's television. In 1986, one of the most ...
NPR

'Pee-Wee As Himself' reveals the person behind the persona

The new HBO documentary Pee-Wee As Himself isn't the boilerplate Hollywood profile you think it is. You get the biographical details you expect – how young avant-garde artist Paul Ruebens created the ...
The New York Times

Pee-wee’s Legacy: A Network of Ambitious Weirdos

Paul Reubens’s performance as Pee-wee Herman gave fans “license to be weird.” At an underground cabaret, he cheered on his community of renegades. Paul Reubens, as seen in the documentary “Pee-wee as ...
Variety

‘Pee-wee as Himself’ Review: The Late Paul Reubens Opens Up — When He Doesn’t Close Up — in an Expansive Portrait

Matt Wolf's two-part documentary gives the man behind Pee-wee Herman a platform to come out of the closet, but doesn't mask the tension between the filmmaker and a subject with understandable trust ...
Hosted on MSN

26 Big Facts About Pee-wee Herman

On July 30, 2023, the entertainment world lost a pop culture icon when Paul Reubens passed away at the age of 70 after a private battle with cancer. The entertainer had built up quite a reputation for ...
Los Angeles Times

‘Pee-wee as Himself’ gives Paul Reubens the final word on his identity

“I was born in 1938 in a little house on the edge of the Mississippi River; my father worked on a steamboat and his name was Steamboat Milton,” says Paul Reubens by way of misdirection in Matt Wolf’s ...