Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman) Dies At 70 Of Cancer
If you were in elementary school in the 1980's, Paul Reubens was one of the biggest names in your childhood. Whether it was Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Big Top Pee-Wee or the hit CBS Saturday morning show Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Reubens was everywhere. He even hosted Saturday Night Live. I don't know if any one person on TV made me laugh harder when I was in elementary school than he did.
It's very sad that one of the first things he's remembered for is jacking off in an adult movie theater. It defined his entire career after that. This was part of a weird sting operation where three other guys were also arrested in 1991. Pee-Wee's Playhouse was immediately taken off the air and he was more or less blackballed from work for years. You'd see him pop up now and then in movies like Batman Returns, Blow or Mystery Men but for the most part, you didn't see Ruebens or Pee-Wee for 20 years.
But check out Pee-Wee's Big Adventure again. It's so weird, funny and wildly creative. It was Tim Burton's first full length movie and all of it works. The Danny Elfman score, the strange character of Pee-Wee just reacting to the world but always being himself, Burton's visuals…it's all fantastic. Because it's so odd, the movie remains timeless. I can't say enough about how kids in that time obsessed about characters like Large Marge, Francis or even that the Alamo doesn't have a basement.
It's great that Ruebens lived long enough to see Pee-Wee come back into the public eye. In the 2010's, he started doing a live show as Pee-Wee and even starred in a Netflix movie Pee-Wee's Big Holiday. That's pretty great that he finally got appreciation for being such a giant part of so many kid's lives in the 80's.
It was reported that he had been suffering privately from cancer for the past six years. In that time, he also did a lot of voice work in various cartoons. He sadly never appeared as Pee-Wee Herman in a movie or television after Big Holiday came out in 2016.

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He absolutely was a rebel. Pee-Wee Herman is one of the most unique characters ever. A weird man-child who is very funny but also very comfortable being different. He was happy with who he was and never felt the need to conform. Pee-Wee was a good friend to people who were nice to him but if someone thought he was strange or didn't like them, they could go fuck themselves. Pee-Wee was never going to change. You can give kids a lot worse messaging then it's OK just being themselves.
I hope Paul Reubens didn't feel like he had to be a loner. He never married or had kids but he did seem to have a lot of people in the industry that cared about him. Tim Burton, Judd Apatow, Ben Stiller and Johnny Depp all worked with him after his arrest. It must be tough being a loner when so many people care and appreciate you.
RIP Paul Reubens. You were truly unique.