Photograph by Ed Krieger
Pee-Wee Herman Show
Club Nokia
I admit, I was terrified as I waited for the curtain to lift on the Pee-Wee Herman Show. Was Paul Reubens just doing this because he was broke? Was it gonna be a rush job? How were they going to pull off all the characters? Thank God that it was everything I could have imagined it and more. This was not Paul Reubens playing Pee-Wee Herman, this was my childhood icon live and in person. From the Pledge of Allegiance to the adult-friendly jokes (ie. calling Conky’s mother a cougar,) everything was a twisted dream come true.
Herman brought the entire cast of the original Pee-Wee’s playhouse with him, from real people Cowboy Curtis (though played by Phil LaMar rather than Morpheus, I mean, Laurence Fishborne) to Jambi and Ms Yvonne, both played by original actors John Paragon and Lynne Marie Stewart, to the puppetized favorites Pterri the Pterodactyl, Conky and of course, Chairry. Oh, and that dick Randy. Pulling everything together created an hour and a half of laughing. I laughed until Ipulled a muscle in my back. I’m serious. As I write this, there’s an ad for the anti-depressant Pristiq on TV, and all I can think is, that if you are sad, down on your luck, bummed out or simply bored, get your ass to LA and watch The Pee-Wee Herman show, you will feel better about everything.
To the guys from XM Radio who were talking smack about how young I was (I was 5 when the show came out) which means you were 17. Don’t act like you grew up on it! Weirdos. Also, I still blame you for Roxette coming on when I was trying to get my makeouts on.
-Jonathan Yost