Pee-wee as Himself

Paul Reubens, who passed away 2023, was best known as creating and playing the character of Pee-wee Herman who had a successful TV series and 3 movies to his name. A few years before his untimely death, Paul allowed director Matt Wolf (Spaceship Earth, Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell) to make Pee-wee as Himself, a highly personal look at his life and career.

Consisting of a mixture of raw interviews where Paul Reubens is directly looking into the camera (often, he’s toying with the audience and director alike), new interviews with former collaborators, and vintage footage, Pee-wee as Himself deftly takes its time showing Paul’s pre-fame life full of striking still photographs before diving into the inevitable Pee-wee mania and scandals.

Divided up into two episodes running nearly three-and-a-half hours, Pee-wee as Himself takes a deep dive into a cult actor most only recognize as a vague childhood memory or as a cheap punchline on late-night shows. By far the most interesting part of the docuseries is how Paul himself feels as odd about the documentary. His exacting standards and need for hands-on control (a few times, Paul asks to prepare questions for interviews much to Matt’s dismay) make him an impish subject that can take a while to warm up to.

There’s a lot to learn about Paul Reubens from this documentary, but one wonders if it would have benefitted from a shorter runtime. This isn’t Mel Brooks or Carl Reiner we’re talking about here, and the second of two episodes mostly focusing on his scandals feels more long-winded than the first. A near final scene featuring audio of Paul recorded the day before his death is especially moving. It often feels like Paul Reubens should have directed the documentary in the first place with all of his meddling, although it’s not clear how it would have affected the final product.

A hyper-specific deep dive into Paul Reubens the man and Pee-wee Herman the icon, Pee-wee as Himself is an emotional look at an overlooked actor. At times self-indulgent, it’s still a memorable look at a comedic icon.

Pee-wee as Himself is now streaming on HBO Max.