Latest news with #HowdyDoody
NBC News
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Syracuse professor shows how bygone pop culture references can bridge generations
SYRACUSE, New York — University professor Bob Thompson has been 'teaching television' for about 40 years, tracing his interest in watching the tube back to reruns of Groucho Marx. 'That to me, is a medium and an art form different from any other art form in its own unique ways,' the Syracuse professor says. On a Tuesday 18 years ago, Thompson hosted an informal get-together to watch unedited TV broadcasts — beginning with the Kennedy assassination news breaks, but later transitioning into lighter content. In the following Tuesdays, Thompson would introduce episodes of 'Howdy Doody' ('ran for president … didn't win'), 'Mr. Ed' ('about a talking horse!'), and 'The Flying Nun' ('about a nun who flies!'). Other days have featured viewings of 'MASH,' 'The Twilight Zone' and the early days of YouTube. His joy in the class comes from the intergenerational sharing of pop culture. In its current form, 'Tuesdays with Bleier,' a reference to Thompson's dedicated university program on TV, sparks conversation among students and faculty of all ages and backgrounds — including janitorial staff. 'To be able to connect with people who are much older than you about stuff that they watched when they were a kid, and see them light up about it. It's really beautiful,' said Yasmin Tiana Goring, a Syracuse graduate student. Goring is also Thompson's teaching assistant. His students have left his classes with new cultural reference points, helping them at times connect with their parents. 'Out of context, I would text my mom and be like, have you seen 'Mork & Mindy' before, or ALF,'' said Sam Turin, a sophomore who brought his parents to the spring semester's final Tuesday showing. Thompson recalls that the 'Howdy Doody' class inspired one student to talk about it with his grandmother, who was in the latter stages of dementia. She began to sing the song from the show. Often, the lectures are less about the shows than the context they were originally made and viewed in. For Thompson, the class serves as a 'Trojan horse,' one where attendees watch TV for fun, but learn something about pop culture — and the world at large — along the way. 'If you want to understand the country we live in, you have to understand its presidencies, the wars that if it's fought, its political parties. But you also have to understand its lawn ornaments, its love songs and its sitcoms,' Thompson says.
New York Post
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
HBO debuts new documentary about Pee-wee Herman — How to watch live and on Max
New York Post may be compensated and/or receive an affiliate commission if you click or buy through our links. Featured pricing is subject to change. A new documentary airing on HBO tonight will serve as the definitive portrait of Paul Reubens and his comedic alter-ego Pee-wee Herman. 'Pee-wee as Himself' was primarily filmed prior to Reubens' death in July 2023 and includes voice recordings done the day before he passed. The comedian, 70, died following a private battle with cancer. The candid documentary will reportedly show Reubens and director Matt Wolf sparring over creative control, something Reubens wanted more of despite ceding the director's chair to Wolf. The doc, a 2025 Sundance Film Festival selection, traces Reubens' comedic origins as he left his Florida hometown for California, began performing with the storied Groundlings improv group, and created the character he would become known for: Pee-wee Herman. It will also discuss the effects that his 1991 public indecency arrest at a porno movie theater had on his career going forward. Advertisement Ultimately, in this set of emotional final interviews, Reubens reflects on his life as a closeted gay man who made the decision to conceal his private life entirely behind the Pee-wee Herman persona. 'Pee-wee as Himself' streaming release date: 'Pee-wee as Himself' premieres tonight, May 23, at 8 p.m. ET. The two-part documentary will air back-to-back on HBO linear premium cable channel with the episodes dropping on the Max streaming service at the same time. How to watch 'Pee-wee as Himself': If you don't have HBO through traditional cable, you'll need a Max subscription to watch 'Pee-wee as Himself.' Advertisement Max, which you can subscribe to via Prime Video, starts at $9.99/month with ads and costs $16.99/month ad-free. That's not the only way to subscribe, though. Sling TV is among the best value for money among live tv streaming services, thanks to some great offers. You'll need Sling's Blue plan with a Max add-on to watch HBO live. And when you subscribe to Max through Sling, the money-saving never stops! You'll get 50% off your first month, plus $5 off your bill every month after that. 'Pee-wee as Himself' episode guide: Both parts of 'Pee-wee as Himself' will air back-to-back tonight, May 23. Advertisement Part One ( 8:00-9:40 p.m. ET ): 'Part one details Reubens' childhood and desire to be an actor, inspired by such television shows as 'Howdy Doody,' 'Captain Kangaroo,' and'I Love Lucy.' He finds acceptance at CalArts, where he hones his performance art skills. At the Los Angeles improv group The Groundlings, Reubens creates the alter ego of Pee-wee Herman and puts on a live late-night show that becomes a cult sensation and evolves into a popular tour. The hit 1985 film 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure' made him a global sensation. Subsuming himself into the character of Pee-wee, Reubens hides his personal life, and recognizes too late that fame makes for a complicated companion.' 'Part one details Reubens' childhood and desire to be an actor, inspired by such television shows as 'Howdy Doody,' 'Captain Kangaroo,' and'I Love Lucy.' He finds acceptance at CalArts, where he hones his performance art skills. At the Los Angeles improv group The Groundlings, Reubens creates the alter ego of Pee-wee Herman and puts on a live late-night show that becomes a cult sensation and evolves into a popular tour. The hit 1985 film 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure' made him a global sensation. Subsuming himself into the character of Pee-wee, Reubens hides his personal life, and recognizes too late that fame makes for a complicated companion.' Part Two (9:40-11:20 p.m. ET): 'Reubens' profile continues to grow with an Emmy®-winning weekly Saturday morning television show 'Pee-wee's Playhouse,' which unabashedly celebrates diversity and nonconformity. The episode explores the casting, production design, and creative process of the show that ran for five seasons. Reubens talks candidly about his fame as a pop culture icon and the lows he endured as he faced rumors, vilification, and the vitriol of the media. Reemerging as a cult figure with cameo roles in films and TV shows, a Broadway revival of his Pee-wee stage show, and a final Pee-wee film, Reubens refuses to have his legacy be defined by media scandals based on false rumors. He shares final words with the public, reinforcing his lifelong dream to bring joy, creativity, and acceptance to everyone.' 'Pee-wee as Himself' trailer: Who will appear in the 'Pee-wee as Himself' documentary? In addition to footage from over 40 hours of interviews and over 1,000 hours of archival material, the following people sat for interviews that will be featured in the documentary: Reubens' sister Abby Rubenfeld; artists Gary Panter and Wayne White; actors Lynne Stewart, John Moody, Alison Mork, Natasha Lyonne, S. Epatha Merkerson, Laurence Fishburne, Debi Mazar, David Arquette, Laraine Newman, and Cassandra Peterson; and filmmakers Tim Burton and Judd Apatow. Why Trust Post Wanted by the New York Post This article was written by Angela Tricarico, Commerce Writer/Reporter for Post Wanted Shopping and New York Post's streaming property, Decider. Angela keeps readers up to date with cord-cutter-friendly deals, and information on how to watch your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and movies on each streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she's also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, and pop culture. Prior to joining Decider and New York Post in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Movie Review: 'Pee-wee as Himself' unmasks Paul Reubens
Some bio documentaries are carried mostly by the reflective, archival footage that send you back to the subject's heyday. But in Matt Wolf's 'Pee-wee as Himself' — as wonderful as much of the archival stuff is — nothing is more compelling than when Paul Reubens is simply himself. Before his death from cancer in 2023, Reubens sat for 40 hours of interviews with Wolf. His cooperation is clearly uncertain and sometimes strained in the film — he stopped participating for a year before talking about his infamous 2001 arrest — and his doubts on the project linger throughout. Reubens would rather be directing it, himself, he says more than once. The man many know as Pee-wee Herman is used to controlling his own image, and he has good reason for being skeptical of others doing so. But beyond that tension over authorship of his story, Reubens is also delightfully resistant to playing the part of documentary cliche. 'I was born in 1938 in a little house on the edge of the Mississippi River,' he begins. 'My father worked on a steamboat.' Talking heads have gotten a bad rap in documentaries in recent years, but in 'Pee-wee as Himself,' nothing is more compelling than Paul Reubens simply sitting before the camera, looking back at us. Pee-wee may be iconic, but Paul Reubens is hysterical. And Wolf's film, with that winking title, makes for a revealing portrait of a performer who so often put persona in front of personhood. In that way, 'Pee-wee as Himself,' a two-part documentary premiering Friday on HBO and HBO Max, is moving as the posthumous unmasking of a man you can't help but wish we had known better. Reubens was a product of TV. He grew up transformed by shows like 'Howdy Doody,' 'The Mickey Mouse Club' and, later, 'I Love Lucy.' 'I wanted to jump into my TV and live in that world,' he says. Part of the delight of the first half of Wolf's film is watching the wide range of inspirations — the circus culture of Sarasota, Florida, where his family moved to; Andy Warhol; performance art — coalesce into a singular creation like Pee-wee. That name, he says, came from a tiny harmonica that said 'Pee-wee' on it, and a kid named Herman he knew growing up. 'It was a whole bunch of things that had never really connected connecting,' says Reubens. Wolf carefully traces the birth of Reubens' alter-ego through the Groundlings in Los Angeles, on stage at the Roxy and then out into the world, on 'The Gong Show,' on Letterman, in the 1985 Tim Burton-directed 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure' and, ultimately, on 'Pee-wee's Playhouse.' 'I felt in a way I was bringing the character out into the wild,' he recalls. 'I just stayed in character all day.' That came with obvious sacrifices, too. For the sake of his career, Reubens stayed closeted as a gay man. He grew intensely private and seldom appeared in public not in character. Reubens also jettisoned some of his close collaborators, like Phil Hartman, as his fame grew. There's tragedy, both self-inflicted and not, in Reubens' increasing isolation. When Reubens was arrested in 1991 and charged with indecent exposure, Reubens' carefully guarded persona came crashing down. The scandal was worse because people knew only Pee-wee and not Reubens. There was also injustice in the whole affair, particularly the 2002 arrest that followed on charges of child pornography that were later dropped. In both cases, homophobia played a role. When Reubens does get around to talking about it, he's most resistant to painting himself as a victim, or offering any, as he says, 'tears of a clown.' Wolf, the director of films like 'Recorder,' about Marion Stokes, who recorded television all day long for 30 years, and 'Spaceship Earth,' about the quirky 1991 Biosphere 2 experiment, is better known as a talented documentarian of visual archives than as an compelling interviewer of celebrities. 'Pee-wee as Himself' would have probably benefited from less one-sided interplay between subject and filmmaker. But Wolf's time was also limited with Reubens and just getting this much from him is clearly an accomplishment. Above all, Reubens says he's doing the film to clear a few things up. In the end, the full portrait of Reubens — including all his playful, self-deprecating charm in front of the camera — add up to a much-needed retort to some of the misunderstandings about Reubens. The day before he died, Reubens called Wolf to say one last thing: 'I wanted to let people know who I really was and see how painful it was to be labeled as something I wasn't.' "Pee-wee as Himself,' a Warner Bros. release is unrated by the Motion Picture Association. Running time: 205 minutes. Three stars out of four.
Hamilton Spectator
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Movie Review: ‘Pee-wee as Himself' unmasks Paul Reubens
Some bio documentaries are carried mostly by the reflective, archival footage that send you back to the subject's heyday. But in Matt Wolf's 'Pee-wee as Himself' — as wonderful as much of the archival stuff is — nothing is more compelling than when Paul Reubens is simply himself. Before his death from cancer in 2023, Reubens sat for 40 hours of interviews with Wolf. His cooperation is clearly uncertain and sometimes strained in the film — he stopped participating for a year before talking about his infamous 2001 arrest — and his doubts on the project linger throughout. Reubens would rather be directing it, himself, he says more than once. The man many know as Pee-wee Herman is used to controlling his own image, and he has good reason for being skeptical of others doing so. But beyond that tension over authorship of his story, Reubens is also delightfully resistant to playing the part of documentary cliche. 'I was born in 1938 in a little house on the edge of the Mississippi River,' he begins. 'My father worked on a steamboat.' Talking heads have gotten a bad rap in documentaries in recent years, but in 'Pee-wee as Himself,' nothing is more compelling than Paul Reubens simply sitting before the camera, looking back at us. Pee-wee may be iconic, but Paul Reubens is hysterical. And Wolf's film, with that winking title, makes for a revealing portrait of a performer who so often put persona in front of personhood. In that way, 'Pee-wee as Himself,' a two-part documentary premiering Friday on HBO and HBO Max, is moving as the posthumous unmasking of a man you can't help but wish we had known better. Reubens was a product of TV. He grew up transformed by shows like 'Howdy Doody,' 'The Mickey Mouse Club' and, later, 'I Love Lucy.' 'I wanted to jump into my TV and live in that world,' he says. Part of the delight of the first half of Wolf's film is watching the wide range of inspirations — the circus culture of Sarasota, Florida, where his family moved to; Andy Warhol; performance art — coalesce into a singular creation like Pee-wee. That name, he says, came from a tiny harmonica that said 'Pee-wee' on it, and a kid named Herman he knew growing up. 'It was a whole bunch of things that had never really connected connecting,' says Reubens. Wolf carefully traces the birth of Reubens' alter-ego through the Groundlings in Los Angeles, on stage at the Roxy and then out into the world, on 'The Gong Show,' on Letterman, in the 1985 Tim Burton-directed 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure' and, ultimately, on 'Pee-wee's Playhouse.' 'I felt in a way I was bringing the character out into the wild,' he recalls. 'I just stayed in character all day.' That came with obvious sacrifices, too. For the sake of his career, Reubens stayed closeted as a gay man. He grew intensely private and seldom appeared in public not in character. Reubens also jettisoned some of his close collaborators, like Phil Hartman, as his fame grew. There's tragedy, both self-inflicted and not, in Reubens' increasing isolation. When Reubens was arrested in 1991 and charged with indecent exposure, Reubens' carefully guarded persona came crashing down. The scandal was worse because people knew only Pee-wee and not Reubens. There was also injustice in the whole affair, particularly the 2002 arrest that followed on charges of child pornography that were later dropped. In both cases, homophobia played a role. When Reubens does get around to talking about it, he's most resistant to painting himself as a victim, or offering any, as he says, 'tears of a clown.' Wolf, the director of films like 'Recorder,' about Marion Stokes, who recorded television all day long for 30 years, and 'Spaceship Earth,' about the quirky 1991 Biosphere 2 experiment, is better known as a talented documentarian of visual archives than as an compelling interviewer of celebrities. 'Pee-wee as Himself' would have probably benefited from less one-sided interplay between subject and filmmaker. But Wolf's time was also limited with Reubens and just getting this much from him is clearly an accomplishment. Above all, Reubens says he's doing the film to clear a few things up. In the end, the full portrait of Reubens — including all his playful, self-deprecating charm in front of the camera — add up to a much-needed retort to some of the misunderstandings about Reubens. The day before he died, Reubens called Wolf to say one last thing: 'I wanted to let people know who I really was and see how painful it was to be labeled as something I wasn't.' 'Pee-wee as Himself,' a Warner Bros. release is unrated by the Motion Picture Association. Running time: 205 minutes. Three stars out of four.
Winnipeg Free Press
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Movie Review: ‘Pee-wee as Himself' unmasks Paul Reubens
Some bio documentaries are carried mostly by the reflective, archival footage that send you back to the subject's heyday. But in Matt Wolf's 'Pee-wee as Himself' — as wonderful as much of the archival stuff is — nothing is more compelling than when Paul Reubens is simply himself. Before his death from cancer in 2023, Reubens sat for 40 hours of interviews with Wolf. His cooperation is clearly uncertain and sometimes strained in the film — he stopped participating for a year before talking about his infamous 2001 arrest — and his doubts on the project linger throughout. Reubens would rather be directing it, himself, he says more than once. The man many know as Pee-wee Herman is used to controlling his own image, and he has good reason for being skeptical of others doing so. But beyond that tension over authorship of his story, Reubens is also delightfully resistant to playing the part of documentary cliche. 'I was born in 1938 in a little house on the edge of the Mississippi River,' he begins. 'My father worked on a steamboat.' Talking heads have gotten a bad rap in documentaries in recent years, but in 'Pee-wee as Himself,' nothing is more compelling than Paul Reubens simply sitting before the camera, looking back at us. Pee-wee may be iconic, but Paul Reubens is hysterical. And Wolf's film, with that winking title, makes for a revealing portrait of a performer who so often put persona in front of personhood. In that way, 'Pee-wee as Himself,' a two-part documentary premiering Friday on HBO and HBO Max, is moving as the posthumous unmasking of a man you can't help but wish we had known better. Reubens was a product of TV. He grew up transformed by shows like 'Howdy Doody,' 'The Mickey Mouse Club' and, later, 'I Love Lucy.' 'I wanted to jump into my TV and live in that world,' he says. Part of the delight of the first half of Wolf's film is watching the wide range of inspirations — the circus culture of Sarasota, Florida, where his family moved to; Andy Warhol; performance art — coalesce into a singular creation like Pee-wee. That name, he says, came from a tiny harmonica that said 'Pee-wee' on it, and a kid named Herman he knew growing up. 'It was a whole bunch of things that had never really connected connecting,' says Reubens. Wolf carefully traces the birth of Reubens' alter-ego through the Groundlings in Los Angeles, on stage at the Roxy and then out into the world, on 'The Gong Show,' on Letterman, in the 1985 Tim Burton-directed 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure' and, ultimately, on 'Pee-wee's Playhouse.' 'I felt in a way I was bringing the character out into the wild,' he recalls. 'I just stayed in character all day.' That came with obvious sacrifices, too. For the sake of his career, Reubens stayed closeted as a gay man. He grew intensely private and seldom appeared in public not in character. Reubens also jettisoned some of his close collaborators, like Phil Hartman, as his fame grew. There's tragedy, both self-inflicted and not, in Reubens' increasing isolation. When Reubens was arrested in 1991 and charged with indecent exposure, Reubens' carefully guarded persona came crashing down. The scandal was worse because people knew only Pee-wee and not Reubens. There was also injustice in the whole affair, particularly the 2002 arrest that followed on charges of child pornography that were later dropped. In both cases, homophobia played a role. When Reubens does get around to talking about it, he's most resistant to painting himself as a victim, or offering any, as he says, 'tears of a clown.' Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. Wolf, the director of films like 'Recorder,' about Marion Stokes, who recorded television all day long for 30 years, and 'Spaceship Earth,' about the quirky 1991 Biosphere 2 experiment, is better known as a talented documentarian of visual archives than as an compelling interviewer of celebrities. 'Pee-wee as Himself' would have probably benefited from less one-sided interplay between subject and filmmaker. But Wolf's time was also limited with Reubens and just getting this much from him is clearly an accomplishment. Above all, Reubens says he's doing the film to clear a few things up. In the end, the full portrait of Reubens — including all his playful, self-deprecating charm in front of the camera — add up to a much-needed retort to some of the misunderstandings about Reubens. The day before he died, Reubens called Wolf to say one last thing: 'I wanted to let people know who I really was and see how painful it was to be labeled as something I wasn't.' 'Pee-wee as Himself,' a Warner Bros. release is unrated by the Motion Picture Association. Running time: 205 minutes. Three stars out of four.
