Pee-wee's Playhouse - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Pee-wee's Playhouse is an American children's television program starring Paul Reubens

Paul Reubens

Paul Reubens is an American actor, writer, film producer, and comedian, best known for his character Pee-wee Herman. Reubens joined the Los Angeles troupe The Groundlings in the 1970s and started his career as an improvisational comedian and stage actor...

as the child-like Pee-wee Herman

Pee-wee Herman

Pee-wee Herman is a comic fictional character created and portrayed by American comedian Paul Reubens. He is best known for his two television series and film series during the 1980s. The childlike Pee-wee Herman character developed as a stage act that quickly led to an HBO special in 1981...

. The show was developed from Reubens' popular stage show and the one-off TV special The Pee-wee Herman Show

The Pee-wee Herman Show

The Pee-wee Herman Show is a stage show developed by Paul Reubens in 1980. It marks the first significant appearance of his comedic fictional character, Pee-wee Herman, five years before Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and six years before Pee-wee's Playhouse...

, produced for HBO, which was similar in style but featured much more adult humor.

In 2004 and 2007, Pee-wee's Playhouse was ranked #10 and #12 on TV Guide

TV Guide

TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...

s Top Cult Shows Ever.

On November 1, 2011, in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the show, a book by Caseen Gaines called Inside Pee-wee's Playhouse: The Untold, Unauthorized, and Unpredictable Story of a Pop Phenomenon, was released by ECW Press

ECW Press

ECW Press is a North American small press book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canadian literary magazine named Essays on Canadian Writing. Five years later, ECW published its first books - trade and scholarly titles...

Show creation and format

The Pee-wee Herman character was developed by Reubens into a live stage show entitled The Pee-wee Herman Show

The Pee-wee Herman Show

in 1980. It featured many characters that would go on to appear in Playhouse, including Captain Carl, Jambi the Genie, Miss Yvonne, Pterri the Pterodactyl and Clocky. While enjoying continuous popularity with the show, Reubens teamed with young director Tim Burton

Tim Burton

Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...

in 1985 to make the comedy film Pee-wee's Big Adventure

Pee-wee's Big Adventure

Pee-wee's Big Adventure is a 1985 American adventure comedy film directed by Tim Burton in his full-length debut and starring Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman. Reubens also co-wrote the script with Phil Hartman and Michael Varhol. Supporting roles are played by Elizabeth Daily, Mark Holton, Diane...

. It became one of the year's surprise hits, costing a relatively modest $6 million to make but taking in $45 million at the box office.

After seeing the success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, the CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

network approached Reubens with an ill-received cartoon series

Cartoon series

A cartoon series is a set of regularly presented animated television programs with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same characters and a basic theme...

proposal. In 1986, CBS agreed to sign Reubens to act, produce and direct his own live-action Saturday morning children's program, Pee-wee's Playhouse, with a budget of $325,000 per episode, (comparable to that of a half-hour prime-time sitcom) and full creative control (although CBS did request a few minor changes over the years).

Reubens assembled a supporting troupe that included ex Groundlings and cast members from The Pee-wee Herman Show, including Phil Hartman

Phil Hartman

Philip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10...

, John Paragon, Lynne Marie Stewart

Lynne Marie Stewart

Lynne Marie Stewart is an American film and television actress, best known for her performance as Miss Yvonne, the Most Beautiful Woman in Puppet Land. She originated the role in the 1981 stage show The Pee-wee Herman Show and on the CBS television show Pee Wee's Playhouse...

, Laurence Fishburne

Laurence Fishburne

Laurence John Fishburne III is an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner...

and S. Epatha Merkerson

S. Epatha Merkerson

S. Epatha Merkerson is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has won a Golden Globe, Emmy Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Obie Award and four NAACP Image Awards. She has also received two Tony Award nominations...

. Production began in New York City in the summer of 1986 in a converted loft on Broadway

Broadway (New York City)

Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...

, which one of the show's writers, George McGrath, described as a "sweatshop

Sweatshop

Sweatshop is a negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have...

". Reubens moved the production to Los Angeles for season two in 1987, resulting in a new set and a more relaxed work atmosphere

Playhouse was designed as an educational yet entertaining and artistic show for children, and its conception was greatly influenced by 1950s shows Reubens had watched as a child, like The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show

The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959 to June 28, 1964 on the ABC and NBC television networks...

, The Mickey Mouse Club, Captain Kangaroo

Captain Kangaroo

Captain Kangaroo is a children's television series which aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for nearly 30 years, from October 3, 1955 until December 8, 1984, making it the longest-running children's television program of its day...

and Howdy Doody

Howdy Doody

Howdy Doody is an American children's television program that was created and produced by E. Roger Muir and telecast on NBC in the United States from 1947 until 1960. It was a pioneer in children's television programming and set the pattern for many similar shows...

. The show quickly acquired a dual audience of kids and grownups. Reubens, always trying to make of Pee-wee a positive role model, sought to make a significantly moral show that would teach children the ethics of reciprocity

Ethic of reciprocity

The Golden Rule or ethic of reciprocity is a maxim, ethical code, or moralitythat essentially states either of the following:* : One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself....

. Reubens believed that children liked the Playhouse because it was fast-paced, colorful and "never talked down to them", while parents liked the Playhouse because it reminded them of the past.

Plot

The premise of the show was that host Pee-wee Herman went to play in a fantastic house (situated in Puppetland) known as the Playhouse, which was filled with toys, gadgets, talking furniture and appliances (e.g. Magic Screen and Chairy) and puppet characters such as Conky The Robot, Pterry the baby pterodactyl and Jambi the Genie (John Paragon), a disembodied genie's head who lives in a jewelled box. The Playhouse was also visited by a regular cast of human characters including Miss Yvonne (Lynne Marie Stewart

Lynne Marie Stewart

), Reba The Mail Lady (S. Epatha Merkerson

S. Epatha Merkerson

), Captain Carl (Phil Hartman

Phil Hartman

Philip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10...

), Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne

Laurence Fishburne

) and a small group of children, The Playhouse Gang.

Although primarily a live-action show, each episode included segments featuring puppetry, video animation and prepared sequences using Chroma-key and stock footage (e.g. when Pee-wee jumps into the Magic Screen) as well as inserted clay animation

Clay animation

Clay animation or claymation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually Plasticine clay....

sequences (some made by Peter Lord

Peter Lord

Peter Lord CBE is a British film producer, director and co-founder of the Academy award-winning Aardman Animations studio, an animation firm best known for its clay animated films and shorts, particularly those featuring plasticine duo Wallace & Gromit.-Biography:In cooperation with David...

and Nick Park

Nick Park

Nicholas Wulstan "Nick" Park, CBE is an English filmmaker of stop motion animation best known as the creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep....

, creators of Wallace & Gromit) and excerpts from cartoons from the Golden Age of American animation, usually presented by the character "The King of Cartoons". Each episode also featured specially written soundtrack music by noted rock/pop musicians such as Mark Mothersbaugh

Mark Mothersbaugh

Mark Allen Mothersbaugh is an American musician, composer, singer and painter. He is the co-founder of the new wave band Devo and has been its lead singer since 1972. His other musical projects include work for television series, films, and video games....

(Devo

Devo

Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...

), Todd Rundgren

Todd Rundgren

Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...

, Mitchell Froom

Mitchell Froom

-Career:Froom began his career as a keyboard player in Sonoma County, California. The band Crossfire featured two keyboards players; Mitchell on one side of the stage and brother David on the other with Gary Pihl on guitar...

and The Residents

The Residents

The Residents is an American art collective best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works. The first official release under the name of The Residents was in 1972, and the group has since released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects and ten DVDs....

. The show's theme song was performed by Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper

Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...

, although she is credited under the pseudonym "Ellen Shaw".

Each episode usually contained a running gag particular to that episode, and/or a specific event or dilemma that would send Pee-wee into an emotional frenzy. The show had many recurring gags, themes, and devices – for example at the beginning of each episode, viewers were told the day's "secret word

You Bet Your Life

You Bet Your Life is an American quiz show that aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show debuted on ABC Radio in October 1947, then moved to CBS Radio in September...

" (often issued by Conky the Robot) and were instructed to "scream real loud" every time a character on the show said the word. This always bookended at the end of each episode with Pee Wee accidentally saying the word himself just before he leaves the playhouse.

CBS and Reubens mutually agreed to end the show in 1991 after 5 seasons and 45 episodes. In July 1991, Reubens was arrested for allegedly exposing himself in a Sarasota, Florida adult movie theater, causing CBS to immediately stop airing Playhouse re-runs.

The art of the playhouse

The creative design of the show was concocted by a troop of artists including Gary Panter

Gary Panter

Gary Panter is an illustrator, painter, designer and part-time musician. Panter's work is representative of the post-underground, new wave comics movement that began with the end of Arcade: The Comics Revue and the initiation of RAW, one of the second generation in American underground comix...

(the art director), Craig Bartlett

Craig Bartlett

Craig Michael Bartlett is an animator best known for writing for Rugrats and creating the television series Hey Arnold!.-Career:...

, Richard Goleszowski

Richard Goleszowski

Richard Goleszowski is an English animator.Goleszowski was born in Suffolk and grew up in Ipswich, attending Northgate Grammar School...

, Gregory Harrison, Ric Heitzman, Phil Trumbo, and Wayne White. The first day of production, right as Panter began reading the scripts to find out where everything would be situated, set workers hurriedly asked him, 'Where's the plans? All the carpenters are standing here ready to build everything.' Panter responded, "You just have to give us 15 minutes to design this thing!" When asked about the styles that went into the set design, Panter said, "This was like the hippie dream...It was a show made by artists...We put art history all over the show. It's really like...I think Mike Kelley

Mike Kelley

Mike Kelley is a contemporary American artist. Kelley's work involves found objects, textile banners, drawings, assemblage, collage, performance and video. He often works collaboratively and has done projects with artists Paul McCarthy, Tony Oursler and John Miller...

said, and it's right, that it's kind of like the Googie style – it's like those LA types of coffee shops and stuff but kind of psychedelic, over-the-top." Several different artistic filmmaking styles and techniques were featured on the program including chroma key, stop-motion animation, and claymation.

Soundtracks

The music for the show was provided by a diverse set of musicians, including Mark Mothersbaugh

Mark Mothersbaugh

, The Residents

The Residents

, Todd Rundgren

Todd Rundgren

, Danny Elfman

Danny Elfman

Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...

(who provided the score for both of the Pee-wee movies), Mitchell Froom

Mitchell Froom

, Van Dyke Parks

Van Dyke Parks

Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile....

, George Clinton

George Clinton (funk musician)

George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...

and Dweezil Zappa

Dweezil Zappa

Dweezil Zappa is an American rock guitarist and occasional actor.-Early life:Zappa was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of musician Frank Zappa and Adelaide Gail Sloatman, who worked in business. He is the second of four siblings: his older sister, Moon, younger sister Diva and younger...

.

Mothersbaugh, who later went on to become a fixture in composing music for children's shows like Rugrats

Rugrats

Rugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series premiered on August 11, 1991, and aired its last episode on June 8, 2004....

, joined the show on hiatus from recording with Devo

Devo

:
The opening prelude theme is an interpretation of Les Baxter

Les Baxter

Les Baxter was an American musician and composer.Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles for further studies at Pepperdine College. Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer...

's "Quiet Village

Quiet Village

"Quiet Village" is an exotica instrumental that was originally written and performed by Les Baxter in 1952. In the liner notes to his album, Ritual of the Savage , Baxter described the themes he was conveying in the work: Seven years later, in 1959, Martin Denny added exotic sounds to the song,...

". The theme song, which originally followed the prelude, was performed by Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper

(credited as Ellen Shaw) as an imitation of cartoon character Betty Boop

Betty Boop

Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She has also been featured in...

Cast and crew

Many now-well-known TV and film actors appeared on the show, including Sandra Bernhard

Sandra Bernhard

Sandra Bernhard is an American comedian, singer, actress and author. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy in which she often bitterly critiques celebrity culture and political figures. Bernhard is number 97 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of...

, Laurence Fishburne

Laurence Fishburne

, Phil Hartman

Phil Hartman

Philip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10...

, Steve James

Steve James (actor)

Steve James was an American actor, stuntman and martial artist. He starred mostly in action films such as the American Ninja series, The Delta Force , The Exterminator , and Enter the Game of Death...

, Natasha Lyonne

Natasha Lyonne

-Early life:Lyonne was born Natasha Braunstein in Manhattan, New York City, the daughter of Yvette Lyonne, a product licensing consultant, and Aaron Braunstein, a native of Brooklyn who worked as a boxing promoter. Lyonne grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household...

, S. Epatha Merkerson

S. Epatha Merkerson

, Jimmy Smits

Jimmy Smits

Jimmy Smits is an American actor. Smits is perhaps best known for his roles as attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s legal drama L.A. Law, as NYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the 1990s police drama NYPD Blue, and as Congressman Matt Santos on The West Wing...

, and Lynne Stewart

Lynne Marie Stewart

. Future heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie

Rob Zombie

Rob Zombie is an American musician, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He founded the heavy metal band White Zombie and has been nominated three times as a solo artist for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.Zombie has also established a career as a film director, creating the...

was also a production assistant and future filmmaker John Singleton was also a security guard.

Season 3 (which consisted of only 3 episodes) included an all-star Christmas special featuring the regular cast, with appearances by Annette Funicello

Annette Funicello

Annette Joanne Funicello is an American singer and actress. She was Walt Disney's most popular cast member of the original Mickey Mouse Club, and went on to appear in a series of beach party films.-Early life and early stardom:...

, Frankie Avalon

Frankie Avalon

Frankie Avalon is an American actor, singer, playwright, and former teen idol.-Career:By the time he was 12, Avalon was on U.S. television playing his trumpet. As a teenager he played with Bobby Rydell in Rocco and the Saints...

, Magic Johnson

Magic Johnson

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers...

, Dinah Shore

Dinah Shore

Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...

, Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...

, Zsa Zsa Gabor

Zsa Zsa Gabor

Zsa Zsa Gabor is a Hungarian-born American stage, film and television actress.She acted on stage in Vienna, Austria, in 1932, and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She emigrated to the United States in 1941 and became a sought-after actress with "European flair and style", with a personality that...

, Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

, Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...

, Little Richard

Little Richard

Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...

, Cher

Cher

Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...

, Charo

Charo

María del Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Gutiérrez de los Perales Santa Ana Romanguera y de la Hinojosa Rasten , better known as Charo, is a Spanish-American actress, comedienne, and flamenco guitarist, best known for her flamboyant stage presence, her provocative outfits, and her trademark phrase...

, k.d. lang

K.D. Lang

Kathryn Dawn Lang, OC , known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress...

, the Del Rubio triplets

Del Rubio triplets

The Del Rubio Triplets were an American variety/musical act who rose to notoriety in the 1980s due mostly to their campy style of dress and their goofy interpretations of standards and songs of the era....

and Grace Jones

Grace Jones

Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...

Human characters

Character	Played by	Description
Cowboy Curtis	Laurence Fishburne Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III is an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner...	An African-American "cowboy Cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of... " in the 1950s pop culture sense. He also has his hair in a jheri curl Jheri curl The Jheri curl is a hairstyle that was common and popular in the African American community especially during the 1970s and 1980s . Invented by and named for Jheri Redding, the Jheri curl gave the wearer a glossy, loosely curled look... mullet Mullet (haircut) The mullet is a hairstyle that is short at the front and sides, and long in the back. . The mullet began to appear in popular media in the 1960s and 1970s but did not become generally well-known until the early 1980s... .
Captain Carl (first season)	Phil Hartman Phil Hartman Philip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10...	A gritty, unshaven sea captain with a gruff voice, but a somewhat shy demeanor. He came by the playhouse to show Pee-wee interesting things from the ocean Ocean An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000... . His tolerance for Pee-wee's antics was often tested whenever he stopped by. Captain Carl was more adult-oriented in the HBO special and Miss Yvonne appeared to have deep feelings for him.
Miss Yvonne	Lynne Marie Stewart Lynne Marie Stewart Lynne Marie Stewart is an American film and television actress, best known for her performance as Miss Yvonne, the Most Beautiful Woman in Puppet Land. She originated the role in the 1981 stage show The Pee-wee Herman Show and on the CBS television show Pee Wee's Playhouse...	A woman obsessed with beauty Beauty Beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture... and cosmetics Cosmetics Cosmetics are substances used to enhance the appearance or odor of the human body. Cosmetics include skin-care creams, lotions, powders, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail and toe nail polish, eye and facial makeup, towelettes, permanent waves, colored contact lenses, hair colors, hair sprays and... , who often flirted with Pee-wee and many of the other male characters on the show. She was given the title "the most beautiful woman in Puppetland" by the puppet characters (especially Mr. Window, who would usually introduce her). Yvonne wore a large brown bouffant Bouffant A bouffant is a type of hairstyle characterized by hair piled high on the head and hanging down on the sides.-History:The bouffant was a mainstream hairstyle in the mid-to-late 18th century in western Europe. It was thought to be created for Marie Antoinette, as she had relatively thin hair and... -style wig, gaudy dresses and heels, and her appearance was always accompanied by some sort of theme music. She, like Ricardo, also has a medical background, as evidenced by her nurse get-up and actions in "Pee-wee Catches a Cold". Unlike many regulars, Yvonne appeared in almost every Playhouse episode, and in a few episodes, she even danced with Pee-wee herself. Pee-wee appeared to have a slight crush on Miss Yvonne in some episodes, and most of the time commented on how beautiful she looked upon greeting her.
Reba the Mail Lady	S. Epatha Merkerson S. Epatha Merkerson S. Epatha Merkerson is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has won a Golden Globe, Emmy Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Obie Award and four NAACP Image Awards. She has also received two Tony Award nominations...	An African-American female mail carrier Mail carrier A mail carrier, mailman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman , postman/postwoman , letter carrier or postie is an employee of the post office or postal service, who delivers mail and parcel post to residences and businesses... who was often confused by the rules of the playhouse; over time, she gets really annoyed at having to be screamed at in her ears. At one point in the series, she had a boyfriend named Derek (who was played by martial arts movie actor, Steve James Steve James (actor) Steve James was an American actor, stuntman and martial artist. He starred mostly in action films such as the American Ninja series, The Delta Force , The Exterminator , and Enter the Game of Death... ). She also had a pet dog which Pee-wee recovered when she lost him. Rarely acknowledged the viewing audience.
The King of Cartoons	Gilbert Lewis (first season); William H. Marshall William H. Marshall William Horace Marshall was an American actor, director, and opera singer. He is best known for his title role in the 1972 blaxploitation classic Blacula and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream , as the "King of Cartoons" on the 1980s television show Pee-wee's Playhouse beginning with its second... (subsequent seasons)	He showed a brief cartoon Cartoon A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works... clip during his segment. His catch phrase was "Let the cartoon begin!" The original King of Cartoons used a film projector Movie projector A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:... to show the cartoons (which he would aim at the lens of the camera shooting the actual show). On later seasons, the King would turn on a television Television Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound... set with a remote control Remote control A remote control is a component of an electronics device, most commonly a television set, used for operating the television device wirelessly from a short line-of-sight distance.The remote control is usually contracted to remote... .
Tito (first season only)	Roland Rodriguez	The Latino Latino The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."... playhouse lifeguard Lifeguard A lifeguard supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, or beach. Lifeguards are strong swimmers and trained in first aid, certified in water rescue using a variety of aids and equipment depending on... . He usually came into the house during snack time or during a gathering.
Ricardo	Vic Trevino	A Latino Latino The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."... soccer player with an apparent medical background. He replaced Tito after the first season.
Mrs. Steve (first season only; mentioned in an episode of a later season)	Shirley Stoler Shirley Stoler Shirley Stoler was an American actress best known for her roles in The Honeymoon Killers and Lina Wertmuller's Seven Beauties.-Career:...	A frequent visitor to the playhouse during the first season. Enjoyed eating and "snooping around" when Pee-wee wasn't seen.
Mrs. Renee	Suzanne Kent	A neighbor of Pee-wee's, who replaced Mrs. Steve after the first season. She is the polar opposite of Mrs. Steve, being much more tolerant and fun-loving.
Dixie (first season)	Johann Carlo Johann Carlo -Life and career:Carlo was born in Buffalo, New York. She made her Broadway debut in 1983, appearing alongside Kate Nelligan as Louise in David Hare's Plenty. In 1991, she returned to Broadway for Richard Jones' La Bête. She was commissioned by the Whitney Museum to write, direct and perform in the...	A taxi Taxicab A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice... driver who introduced the King of Cartoons in the first season by playing her trumpet (frequently referring to him as "King Cartoon").
The Playhouse Gang (first season)	Natasha Lyonne Natasha Lyonne -Early life:Lyonne was born Natasha Braunstein in Manhattan, New York City, the daughter of Yvette Lyonne, a product licensing consultant, and Aaron Braunstein, a native of Brooklyn who worked as a boxing promoter. Lyonne grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household... (Opal); Shaun Weiss Shaun Weiss Shaun Weiss is an American television and film actor. Weiss started his acting career as Elvis on Pee-wee's Playhouse. He is best known for his portrayal of Greg Goldberg in The Mighty Ducks films. Shaun also has a cult following for his role as Josh in the Disney film Heavyweights... (Elvis); Diane Yang (Cher)	Three children who interacted with Pee-wee during the first season. They were replaced by three other children for the subsequent second season.
The Playhouse Gang (second season)	Vaughn Tyree Jelks (Fabian); Alisan Porter Alisan Porter Alisan Porter is an American actress, singer and dancer.-Life and career:Porter was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Porter is Jewish. Her maternal grandmother, whose father Joseph Klein was a prominent Worcester rabbi, ran the Charlotte Klein Dance Center in Worcester... (Li'l Punkin); Stephanie Walski (Rapunzel)	Three children who interacted with Pee-wee, but only in two episodes of the second season. Their only notable personality trait is that Li'l Punkin never spoke, instead whispering in Pee-wee's or other characters' ears. She spoke occasionally, but only in unison with the other two, and once she sang a song.

Puppet and object characters

Character	Voiced by	Description
Jambi	John Paragon	A blue-faced (later green) genie Genie Jinn or genies are supernatural creatures in Arab folklore and Islamic teachings that occupy a parallel world to that of mankind. Together, jinn, humans and angels make up the three sentient creations of Allah. Religious sources say barely anything about them; however, the Qur'an mentions that... who lived in a jeweled box. Usually appeared once per show to grant Pee-wee a wish Wish A wish is a hope or desire for something. Fictionally, wishes can be used as plot devices. In folklore, opportunities for "making a wish" or for wishes to "come true" or "be granted" are themes that are sometimes used.-In literature:... , often with unexpected results. Sometimes, he appeared more than once per show or not at all. His catchphrases included "Wish? Did somebody say 'Wish'?", and the magic words "Mecca lecca hi, mecca hiney ho" (which grew more complicated as the show progressed).
Chairry	Alison Mork	A bluish-green armchair Chair A chair is a stable, raised surface used to sit on, commonly for use by one person. Chairs are most often supported by four legs and have a back; however, a chair can have three legs or could have a different shape depending on the criteria of the chair specifications. A chair without a back or... with eyes on the chair back, a mouth between the seat cushions, and armrests that flapped around and occasionally hugged Pee-wee when he sat on her.
Magic Screen	Alison Mork	A screen on wheels that slightly resembled an Etch-A-Sketch, it flashed in an array of colors when not in use; it also showed films, and Pee-wee would frequently jump into the screen itself to interact with a fantasy land inside, usually to "connect the dots" (see below). Magic Screen once mentioned having a relative, Movie Screen. In the Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special, Magic Johnson stated that he and Magic Screen were cousins. Magic Screen is addressed as "she" and "her" in the puppeteers' commentary indicating that Magic Screen is actually female.
Pterri	John Paragon (Seasons 1, 3 — 5); George McGrath (Season 2)	A green pterodactyl and one of Pee-wee's closest friends; he usually acted like a young child. Pterri was afraid of thunderstorms Astraphobia Astraphobia, also known as astrapophobia, brontophobia, keraunophobia, or tonitrophobia, is an abnormal fear of thunder and lightning, a type of specific phobia. It is a treatable phobia that both humans and animals can develop. The term astraphobia derives from the Greek words ἀστραπή and φόβος... (as revealed in "Rainy Day") and was very sensitive. He was often picked on by Randy, and sometimes hung out with Globey. In the HBO special, The Pee-wee Herman Show, he worked for Captain Carl as a sort of "talking parrot" element.
Mr. Window	Ric Heitzman	The window to the left of the playhouse door when inside the playhouse; he had googly eyes and talked by moving his yellow window pane up and down. His role on the show was to introduce other characters (usually Miss Yvonne), and occasionally serve as a means for Pterri to enter and exit the playhouse (though Mr Window would only open up his "mouth" about half to two-thirds of the time).
Clockey	Kevin Carlson	A yellow and red clock Clock A clock is an instrument used to indicate, keep, and co-ordinate time. The word clock is derived ultimately from the Celtic words clagan and clocca meaning "bell". A silent instrument missing such a mechanism has traditionally been known as a timepiece... shaped like a map Map A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes.... of the United States; he often introduced "Penny" cartoons and the like by asking Pee-wee "Do you know what time it is?... Time for a Penny cartoon (etc.)!." He originated in the HBO special acting in a similar manner.
Conky	Gregory Harrison (Season 1); Kevin Carlson (subsequent seasons)	The playhouse robot Robot A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or... , who gave Pee-wee the "secret word" each week and served as a "brain" element in the show. He spoke with a stutter, and was made from various parts of old electronics Electronics Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies... , including an old camera attachments (eyes), a boombox Boombox Boombox is a colloquial expression for a portable cassette or CD player. Other terms known are ghetto blaster, jambox, or radio-cassette. It is a device capable of receiving radio stations and playing recorded music , usually at relatively high volume... (chest), phonograph Phonograph The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds... (torso), and a typewriter Typewriter A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces... with no keys (head)and Vacuum Cleaner Hood as the top skull. The robot referred to himself as "Conky 2000" (after the first season, though he used this in episode #3 in the first season) when Pee-wee turned him on. According to evidence suggested in the episode "Conky's Breakdown", there may be more than one Conky robot.Designed and built by Gregory Harrison, voice created and performed by David Powers and Gregory Harrison season one.
Globey	George McGrath	A spinning globe Globe A globe is a three-dimensional scale model of Earth or other spheroid celestial body such as a planet, star, or moon... with a pair of arms at the base and a large face in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Globey spoke with a French-sounding accent and would often help Pee-wee out with geography, language, astronomy, or history questions. He sometimes hung out with Pterri, and, like Pterri, acted in the manner typical of a young child Child Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority... .
Puppet Band	Wayne White (Dirty Dog); Ric Heitzman (Cool Cat); Alison Mork (Chicky Baby)	Three animal puppets who comprise a 1950s-style jazz Jazz Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th... combo, who live in a corridor of the Playhouse designed to resemble an alley. They normally spoke in rhyme, parodying Beat generation Beat generation The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired... poetry.
Mr. Kite	Wayne White	A pink kite Kite A kite is a tethered aircraft. The necessary lift that makes the kite wing fly is generated when air flows over and under the kite's wing, producing low pressure above the wing and high pressure below it. This deflection also generates horizontal drag along the direction of the wind... that occasionally appeared in one of the playhouse windows. Occasionally, Pee-wee would ask for weather reports and Mr. Kite would tell Pee-wee what the weather was going to be like.
Randy	Wayne White	A red-headed string puppet who served as the playhouse bully, usually making life miserable for Pee-wee and the playhouse characters. Once talked Pee-wee into prank-calling police officer "Daryl" (George McGrath) on the Picturephone, suggesting that he might be a juvenile delinquent.
Billy Baloney	Paul Reubens Paul Reubens Paul Reubens is an American actor, writer, film producer, and comedian, best known for his character Pee-wee Herman. Reubens joined the Los Angeles troupe The Groundlings in the 1970s and started his career as an improvisational comedian and stage actor...	A ventriloquist dummy, slightly resembling Randy in appearance (but blonde), who Pee-wee himself operated on occasion.
Dog Chair	George McGrath	A white chaise longue, which was similar to Chairry but resembling the face of a dog Dog The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in... . He sat next to Chairry, but was used and referred to much less often.
Ant Farm	Miscellaneous.	Occasionally, Pee-wee would check to see what the ants were up to; a short close-up animated sequence would follow depicting the ants engaged in some "human" activity. On one occasion, they actually managed to get out of the farm.
The Dinosaur Family	George McGrath (Red); Alison Mork (Light Blue); Ric Heitzman (Blue); Kevin Carlson (Pink)	A den of miniature, claymation dinosaur Dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of... s who lived in a mouse Mouse A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles... hole in the playhouse. The camera view would frequently zoom in on the dinosaurs to see what they were doing.
Food	Miscellaneous.	The contents of Pee-wee's refrigerator Refrigerator A refrigerator is a common household appliance that consists of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump that transfers heat from the inside of the fridge to its external environment so that the inside of the fridge is cooled to a temperature below the ambient temperature of the room... . Various claymation food items including pizza Pizza Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"... s, vegetables, french fries French fries French fries , chips, fries, or French-fried potatoes are strips of deep-fried potato. North Americans tend to refer to any pieces of deep-fried potatoes as fries or French fries, while in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of deep-fried potatoes are... and others that would dance and juggle to Pee-wee and friends' amusement.
Flower Flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs... s	Ric Heitzman; George McGrath; Wayne White	Three flowers living in a flowerbed in the window to the right of the playhouse door. After Dixie left the show, they introduced the King of Cartoons.
Fish Fish Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...	Ric Heitzman (Purple); George McGrath (Yellow)	The fish lived in the playhouse aquarium Aquarium An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants... . Their trademark was that often when something happened, the purple fish would make a snide remark regarding the situation, which the yellow fish would follow up with a witty comment. Both fish would then cackle, an act reminiscent of Muppets Statler & Waldorf Statler & Waldorf Statler and Waldorf are a pair of Muppet characters. They are two ornery, disagreeable old men who first appeared in the television series The Muppet Show heckling the rest of the cast from their balcony seats. They appeared in every episode of the show, except for one... .
Penny	Anna Seidman	A claymation short featuring a blonde girl with pennies Cent (United States coin) The United States one-cent coin, commonly known as a penny, is a unit of currency equaling one one-hundredth of a United States dollar. The cent's symbol is ¢. Its obverse has featured the profile of President Abraham Lincoln since 1909, the centennial of his birth. From 1959 to 2008, the reverse... for eyes, who described some situations in her life and daily activities. She would reappear later outside the show on public service Public service announcement A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media... commercials. 37 different claymation shorts were featured on this show.
Knucklehead	Gregory Harrison (Season 1); Kevin Carlson (Season 2)	A large image of a side view of a fist Hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered extremity located at the end of an arm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs... , with "googly eyes" and lipstick, who told bad knock-knock joke Knock-knock joke The knock-knock joke is a type of joke, probably the best-known format of the pun, and is a time-honored "call and answer" exercise.It is a role-play exercise, with a punster and a recipient of wit.The standard format has five lines:... s. He had a bit part in the HBO special, The Pee-wee Herman Show, but as a sock puppet who acted and sounded differently.
Cowntess	George McGrath	A life-sized, talking cow that spoke in an elegant accent.
Door-to-Door Salesman	Ric Heitzman	A caricatured salesman, dressed in a tacky suit and a humongous head, who rang the doorbell and shouted "I'm going door to door to make you this incredible offer!" (occasionally he could be heard starting another sentence, "I'm sure by now you have realized-") while a horror movie-style effect played in the background. This caused Pee-wee to slam the door and scream, occasionally frustratedly saying, "Salesman!" This character was retired after the first season. Pee-wee once let him in during a party, saying, "What's your incredible offer?", to which the salesman replied "Free foil!", which Pee-wee gladly accepted for his foil ball.
Floory	Kevin Carlson	A section of the playhouse floor that stood up and talked. For the first season he was covered by Pee-wee's tepee, but after Pee-wee and his friends remodeled the playhouse, he emerged.
Chandelier	Alison Mork	A talking chandelier Chandelier A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light... with a French accent who appeared in later seasons.
Exercise Belt	Ric Heitzman	A vintage vibrating belt exercise machine. Pee-wee would sometimes get on it, turn it on, then get stuck on it. Conky would usually have to get him out.
Toys	Miscellaneous.	Pee-wee's strange toys, that he keeps in a smiley face shaped window, with movable shelves inside. Their space on the wall was taken over by Clocky and were relocated to the back wall of the playhouse behind a door that looked like a tire.
El Hombre	Unknown.	A Spanish language Spanish language Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the... cartoon shown toward the later run of the series. 6 different claymation shorts were featured on this show, and was usually used as a substitute for the penny cartoon, but two episodes ("Miss Yvonne's Visit" and "Mystery") featured both.

One-time characters

Character	Played by	Description
Roger	Voiced by Janine Scherr	A large, green monster Monster A monster is any fictional creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is somewhat hideous and may produce physical harm or mental fear by either its appearance or its actions... that invaded the playhouse. He resembled a giant eyeball, had two mouths and one leg, and spoke in a language incomprehensible to Pee-wee until he wished he could understand the monster (at which point he learned his name in English). During this episode, Roger talked to his mother on the Picturephone; during the conversation, Roger's mother said the Secret Word in their language, at which point they both screamed while a bunch of symbols appeared on the screen. At the end of the episode, Roger left the Playhouse with Pee-wee on the back of Pee-wee's scooter Scooter (motorcycle) A scooter is a motorcycle with step-through frame and a platform for the operator's feet. Elements of scooter design have been present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and motorcycles identifiable as scooters have been made from 1914 or earlier... . Roger made his second and final appearance in the "Pajama Party" episode.
Rusty	Calvert DeForest Calvert DeForest Calvert Grant DeForest , also known by his character Larry "Bud" Melman, was an American actor and comedian, best known for his appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and the Late Show with David Letterman.-Early life:Little has been published about his early life...	A strange old man who hung out with the Playhouse Gang in the first season – and acted exactly like them, if not more childish. Oddly enough, he wears a "Playboy" pin on his hat, among others.
Yvona	Lynne Marie Stewart Lynne Marie Stewart Lynne Marie Stewart is an American film and television actress, best known for her performance as Miss Yvonne, the Most Beautiful Woman in Puppet Land. She originated the role in the 1981 stage show The Pee-wee Herman Show and on the CBS television show Pee Wee's Playhouse...	A female alien, who was captured by Zyzzybalubah and locked in a cage as his personal slave. Bears a striking facial and bodily resemblance to Miss Yvonne and has similar theme music. It is implied by her in "Playhouse in Outer Space" that Zyzzy has kept Yvona as his slave for years (when she says "It's always been like this."). Pee-wee seems to develop feelings for her, probably due to her similarities to Miss Yvonne, whom he also had apparent feelings for.
Zyzzybalubah	George McGrath	A malevolent male alien, who hypnotized Conky into making his own name the secret word and launched the Playhouse into space. He calls anyone he captures his "friends" but Pee-wee sets him straight.
Conky Repairman Johnny Wilson	Jimmy Smits Jimmy Smits Jimmy Smits is an American actor. Smits is perhaps best known for his roles as attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s legal drama L.A. Law, as NYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the 1990s police drama NYPD Blue, and as Congressman Matt Santos on The West Wing...	Fixed problems with Conky, the playhouse robot Robot A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or... .
Rhonda	Sandra Bernhard Sandra Bernhard Sandra Bernhard is an American comedian, singer, actress and author. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy in which she often bitterly critiques celebrity culture and political figures. Bernhard is number 97 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of...	Picturephone operator, who has a crush on Pee-wee.
Derek	Steve James Steve James (actor) Steve James was an American actor, stuntman and martial artist. He starred mostly in action films such as the American Ninja series, The Delta Force , The Exterminator , and Enter the Game of Death...	Reba's boyfriend, a fireman. He was going to take Reba to the firemen's ball, but after it got canceled because of a fire at the ballroom Ballroom A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms... itself, they don't know where else to go. So Pee-wee allows Derek and Reba to have their date right there at the playhouse; they would play drive-in, with Magic Screen as the screen and Pee-wee and Miss Yvonne as Derek and Reba's chaperones (possibly for a double date).

Production

At the start of season two, the show moved from its New York City warehouse studio to facilities at the Hollywood Center Studios

Hollywood Center Studios

Hollywood Center Studios is a company based in Los Angeles, California that provides stage facilities to television and movie production companies. Its sound stages, located at 1040 N. Las Palmas Avenue in Hollywood, California, are steeped in Hollywood history...

, creating changes in personnel and a change to the set that allowed the show to take advantage of the additional space. The show changed production facilities in 1989 during its 4th season, this time at the Culver Studios, also in Los Angeles, California.

Critical praise

As soon as it first aired, Pee-wee's Playhouse fascinated media theorists and commentators, many of whom championed the show as a postmodernist

Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...

hodgepodge of characters and situations which appeared to soar in the face of domineering racist and sexist presumptions. For example, Pee-wee's friends, both human and non, were of diverse cultural and racial origin. In its entire run, Pee-wee's Playhouse won 15 Emmys as well as other awards. Captain Kangaroo

Captain Kangaroo

s Bob Keeshan

Bob Keeshan

Robert James "Bob" Keeshan was an American television producer and actor. He is most notable as the title character of the children's television program Captain Kangaroo, which became an icon for millions of people during its 30-year run from 1955 to 1984.Keeshan also played the original...

hailed the show's "awesome production values." Adding, "with the possible exception of the Muppets

The Muppets

The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson starting in 1954–55. Although the term is often used to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark owned by the Walt Disney Company in reference...

, you can't find such creativity anywhere on TV."

"I'm just trying to illustrate that it's okay to be different — not that it's good, not that it's bad, but that it's all right. I'm trying to tell kids to have a good time and to encourage them to be creative and to question things," Reubens told an interviewer in Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

Golden Age cartoons

During the show's run, many cartoons were shown from the "Golden Age" of animation, usually courtesy of the King of Cartoons. However, they were not featured with their respective titles, nor credited, and generally only brief clips were shown. As Reubens stated in a 2004 radio interview, almost all of the cartoons they obtained were Public Domain.

First Season: 1986	Cartoon Title	Year	Director
1	Fresh Vegetable Mystery	1939	Dave Fleischer Dave Fleischer David "Dave" Fleischer was an American animator film director and film producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his two older brothers Max Fleischer and Lou Fleischer...
2	Ants in the Plants	1940	Dave Fleischer
3	Summertime	1934	Ub Iwerks Ub Iwerks Ub Iwerks, A.S.C. was a two-time Academy Award winning American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, creator of Mickey Mouse, and special effects technician, who was famous for his work for Walt Disney....
4	Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!	1931	Rudolf Ising
5	Old Mother Hubbard	1935	Ub Iwerks
6	The Three Bears	1935	Ub Iwerks Ub Iwerks Ub Iwerks, A.S.C. was a two-time Academy Award winning American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, creator of Mickey Mouse, and special effects technician, who was famous for his work for Walt Disney....
7	Molly Moo-Cow and the Butterflies	1935	Burt Gillett, Tom Palmer Tom Palmer (animator) Anthony "Tony" Pipolo, known professionally as Tom Palmer was an Italian-American animator who was active in the 1930s and worked at several animation studios. He was born with the surname of "Pipolo" but changed his name to Palmer...
8	Flip the Frog: Puddle Pranks	1931	Ub Iwerks
9	Jack Frost Jack Frost Jack Frost is a sprite-like character with roots in Viking lore. There, he is known as Jokul Frosti . In Britain and United States, Jack is a variant of Old Man Winter and is held responsible for frosty weather, for nipping the nose and toes in such weather, coloring the foliage in autumn, and...	1934	Ub Iwerks
10	Mary's Little Lamb	1935	Ub Iwerks
11	Somewhere in Dreamland	1936	Dave Fleischer
12	Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!	1931	Rudolf Ising
13	Bunny Mooning	1937	Dave Fleischer

Second Season: 1987	Cartoon Title	Year	Director
1 / 14	Philips Broadcast	1938	George Pal George Pál George Pal , born György Pál Marczincsak, was a Hungarian-born American animator and film producer, principally associated with the science fiction genre...
2 / 15	To Spring	1936	Bill Hanna
3 / 16	Makin' Em Move	1931	Harry Bailey Harry Bailey Harry Richard Bailey was a controversial Australian psychiatrist. He bore the primary responsibility for treatment of mental patients via Sledge hammers, and other methods, at a Sydney mental hospital. He has been linked with the deaths of a total of 85 patients... , John Foster
4 / 17	The Sunshine Makers (44 sec)	1935	Ted Eshbaugh
5 / 18	Piano Tooners	1932	John Foster, George Rufle
6 / 19	Philips Broadcast	1938	George Pal
7 / 20	Neptune Nonsense	1936	Burt Gillett
8 / 21	Much Ado About Mutton	1947	Isadore Sparber Isadore Sparber Isadore Sparber was an American storyboard artist, writer, director and producer of animated films. He is best known for his work with Fleischer Studios and its successor, Famous Studios. His work appeared with different versions of his name including Izzy Sparber, I...
9 / 22	Ship of the Ether	1934	George Pal
10 / 23	Musical Memories	1935	Dave Fleischer

Third Season: 1988	Cartoon Title	Year	Director
1 / 24	Farm Foolery	1949	Seymour Kneitel Seymour Kneitel Seymour Kneitel was an American animator. He is best known for his work with Fleischer Studios and its successor, Famous Studios.-Early years:...
2 / 25	Christmas Comes but Once a Year	1936	Dave Fleischer Dave Fleischer David "Dave" Fleischer was an American animator film director and film producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his two older brothers Max Fleischer and Lou Fleischer...
3 / 26	An Elephant Never Forgets	1935	Dave Fleischer

Fourth Season: 1989	Cartoon Title	Year	Director
1 / 27	Hunky & Spunky	1938	Dave Fleischer
2 / 28	The Stork Market	1949	Seymour Kneitel Seymour Kneitel Seymour Kneitel was an American animator. He is best known for his work with Fleischer Studios and its successor, Famous Studios.-Early years:...
3 / 29	Spring Song	1949	Isadore Sparber
4 / 30	To Spring	1936	Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising
5 / 31	None
6 / 32	The Kids In the Shoe	1935	Dave Fleischer
7 / 33	The Song of the Birds	1935	Dave Fleischer
8 / 34	None
9 / 35	Little Lambkins	1940	Dave Fleischer
10 / 36	None

Fifth Season: 1990	Cartoon Title	Year	Director
1 / 37	One More Time One More Time (cartoon) One More Time is a 1931 black-and-white Merrie Melodies cartoon short produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising and animated by Friz Freleng and Paul J. Smith. It stars Foxy as a Prohibition-era cop dealing with various miscreants. This was the last Foxy cartoon...	1931	Rudolf Ising
2 / 38	Farm Frolics	1941	Bob Clampett Bob Clampett Robert Emerson "Bob" Clampett was an American animator, producer, director, and puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes animated series from Warner Bros., and the television shows Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil...
3 / 39	The Little Red Hen	1934	Ub Iwerks
4 / 40a*	Freddy the Freshman	1932	Rudolf Ising
4 / 40b*	Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English language nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle and one of the best known in the English-speaking world. He is typically portrayed as an egg and has appeared or been referred to in a large number of works of literature and popular culture...	1935	Ub Iwerks
5 / 41	Fin 'n' Catty	1943	Chuck Jones Chuck Jones Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
6 / 42	Sinkin' in the Bathtub Sinkin' in the Bathtub Sinkin' in the Bathtub was the very first Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon short as well as the very first of the Looney Tunes series.The short was produced and directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, with animation by a very young Friz Freleng...	1930	Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising
7 / 43	Freddy the Freshman	1932	Rudolf Ising
8 / 44a*	Allegretto	1936	Oskar Fischinger Oskar Fischinger Oskar Fischinger was a German-American abstract animator, filmmaker, and painter. He made over 50 short animated films, and painted c. 800 canvases, many of which are in museums, galleries and collections worldwide. Among his film works is Motion Painting No. 1 , which is now listed on the...
8 / 44b*	Balloon Land Balloon Land Balloon Land, also known as The Pincushion Man, is a 1935 animated short film produced by Ub Iwerks as part of the ComiColor Cartoons series. The cartoon is about a place called Balloon Land, whose residents are made entirely out of balloons...	1935	Ub Iwerks
9 / 45	None
10 / 46	None

* These episodes had more than one classic cartoon each

Later airings and home video releases

On August 15, 1998, the show returned to television in reruns on Fox Family Channel
ABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...

, only to go off the air once again the following year.
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

's Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...

programming block began airing the show Monday through Thursday on July 10, 2006. After the first week only the "Quiet Village" part of the opening was shown, leaving out the Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...

vocal. "Quiet Village" was not part of the first week of broadcasts. The newer opening theme and prelude created for the 1990–91 season was left off. Adult Swim originally slated to end airings on the weekdays on October 19, 2006 and move the show to Sundays at 10 PM. In late December 2006, Adult Swim moved the show to Sunday nights, returning it to the schedule at 1:30 AM.
Several episodes were initially released by Hi-Tops Video, the "children's imprint" of Media/Heron Communications, in 1988. They were then reissued on video by MGM/UA Home Entertainment in 1996, along with several episodes that were not released on video the first time. Finally, all 45 episodes were released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

by Image Entertainment
Image Entertainment
Image Entertainment, Inc. is an independent licensee, producer and distributor of home entertainment programming and film & television productions in North America, with approximately 3,000 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 250 exclusive CD titles in domestic release, and approximately 450...

in 2004. It should also be noted that the Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special was released during each of these three times.

VHS and laserdisc releases

Hi-Tops Video releases

Vol. 1 - Ice Cream Soup

Vol. 2 - Luau for Two

Vol. 3 - Rainy Day/Now You See Me, Now You Don't/Cowboy Fun (Just Another Day)

Vol. 4 - Beauty Makeover

Vol. 5 - Restaurant

Vol. 6 - Ants in Your Pants

Vol. 7 - Monster in the Playhouse

Festival of Fun - Monster in the Playhouse/The Cowboy and the Cowntess/Stolen Apples/The Gang's All Here/Party

Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special

Vol. 8 - Open House

Vol. 9 - Puppy in the Playhouse

Vol. 10 - Pajama Party

Vol. 11 - Pee-wee's Store

Vol. 12 - Pee-wee Catches a Colrd

Vol. 13 - Tons of Fun

Vol. 14 - School

Vol. 15 - Why Wasn't I Invited?

Hi-Tops Video laserdisc releases

Fun-o-Rama - Ice Cream Soup/Luau for Two/Rainy Day/Now You See Me, Now You Don't

Potpurri - Just Another Day/Beauty Makeover/The Restaurant/Ants in Your Pants

Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special

MGM/UA Home Video Releases

Vol. 1 - Open House/Pee-wee Catches a Cold

Vol. 2 - I Remember Curtis/Conky's Breakdown

Vol. 3 - Store/Playhouse in Outer Space

Vol. 4 - Pajama Party/To Tell the Tooth

Vol. 5 - The Gang's All Here/Party

Vol. 6 - Luau for Two/Now You See Me, Now You Don't

Vol. 7 - Fire in the Playhouse/Love That Story

Vol. 8 - Sick? Did Somebody Say Sick?/Miss Yvonne's Visit

Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special

Vol. 9 - Dr. Pee-wee and the Del Rubios/Rebarella

Vol. 10 - Let's Play Office/Mystery

Vol. 11 - Front Page Pee-wee/Tango Time

Vol. 12 - Playhouse Day/Accidental Playhouse

Vol. 13 - Ice Cream Soup/Puppy in the Playhouse

Vol. 14 - The Cowboy and the Cowntess/Reba Eats and Pterri Runs

Vol. 15 - Tons of Fun/School

Vol. 16 - Why Wasn't I Invited?/Ants in Your Pants

DVD releases

Image Entertainment

Image Entertainment, Inc. is an independent licensee, producer and distributor of home entertainment programming and film & television productions in North America, with approximately 3,000 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 250 exclusive CD titles in domestic release, and approximately 450...

has released all 45 episodes of Pee-wee's Playhouse on DVD as NTSC

NTSC

NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...

Region 0 discs..

DVD name	Ep #	Release Date	Notes
Pee-wee's Playhouse #1	23	November 16, 2004	Includes all episodes from Seasons 1 and 2
Pee-wee's Playhouse #2	22	November 16, 2004	Includes all episodes from Seasons 3–5
Pee Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special	1	October 19, 2004
Pee Wee's Playhouse - The Complete Collection	45 + 1	October 19, 2010	Includes all episodes from Seasons 1–5 plus the Christmas Special

External links

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