I watched the Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway some time ago and seemed to recall enjoying it but it was so long ago I decided to watch it again. I think this show worked every bit as well as his kids' Saturday morning show - can it be that Pee Wee was on TV long ago enough that kids still had Saturday morning shows?
Of course to enjoy Pee-Wee you have to have some suspension of belief. Yes he's way, way, way older than the overgrown boy he plays in the role, but he's such a unique character it still works
On the 'Show on Broadway' we got a little bit of more adult humor - nothing smutty or obscene in any way, but jokes grown ups would get and kids would probably miss. (That was also the secret of Chicago's Bozo's Circus being so popular it lasted 40 years.) In this show, Pee-Wee gets his first computer and his first email. The electrician who wired it up sees an offer for Viagra. Magic Screen asks 'What's Viagra?" and Pee-Wee says "I'll have to order the free sample and find out!"
He was also wearing an 'abstinence ring' during the show, which he took off and tossed to the audience at the end of the show.
There were lots of jokes and basically it was the Saturday show expanded to 90 minutes - and it worked. We got to see all of the regular characters i.e. Cowboy Curtis, Jambi, Terry the Pterodactyl, Miss Yvonne, etc. Etc. And they were their same old selves only in expanded skit lines.
I laughed out loud ad some of the schtick and jokes, but at the end of it all I felt a little sad too, knowing that Pee-Wee is dead. Well, no, not really... Paul Reubens has died, but Pee-Wee will live on for a long long time, and he should. I loved this show and I'll give it a 10 because there can never be another, and this one was so good.
Rest in peace Mr. Reubens, thank you for all the laughs and for leaving us Pee-Wee.
Of course to enjoy Pee-Wee you have to have some suspension of belief. Yes he's way, way, way older than the overgrown boy he plays in the role, but he's such a unique character it still works
On the 'Show on Broadway' we got a little bit of more adult humor - nothing smutty or obscene in any way, but jokes grown ups would get and kids would probably miss. (That was also the secret of Chicago's Bozo's Circus being so popular it lasted 40 years.) In this show, Pee-Wee gets his first computer and his first email. The electrician who wired it up sees an offer for Viagra. Magic Screen asks 'What's Viagra?" and Pee-Wee says "I'll have to order the free sample and find out!"
He was also wearing an 'abstinence ring' during the show, which he took off and tossed to the audience at the end of the show.
There were lots of jokes and basically it was the Saturday show expanded to 90 minutes - and it worked. We got to see all of the regular characters i.e. Cowboy Curtis, Jambi, Terry the Pterodactyl, Miss Yvonne, etc. Etc. And they were their same old selves only in expanded skit lines.
I laughed out loud ad some of the schtick and jokes, but at the end of it all I felt a little sad too, knowing that Pee-Wee is dead. Well, no, not really... Paul Reubens has died, but Pee-Wee will live on for a long long time, and he should. I loved this show and I'll give it a 10 because there can never be another, and this one was so good.
Rest in peace Mr. Reubens, thank you for all the laughs and for leaving us Pee-Wee.