Me and Pee-wee
Last week at the 140tc, Pee-wee Herman not only made an appearance, but he made his first tweet. It may not be what launched Paul Reubens‘ comeback as Pee-wee, but it certainly caused a lot of excitement in the social mediasphere.
By the time I saw his first tweet and replied, I was sure it was too late to win, but I wanted to welcome Pee-wee to twitter either way.
Shortly after came his announcement of the winner. He had chosen me! Within minutes I was flooded with messages of people congratulating me and sharing in my excitement.
We arranged to talk to the next day. I don’t usually sleep much, so it was no surprise that that night I laid awake and thought about who Pee-wee Herman was to me and what I’d like to know about Paul Reubens.
Pee-wee Herman was, perhaps, the most iconic character of the 80s. I am sure it is not just me who was delighted with his silly boyishness and could be brought to giggles by his infectious laughter. His show, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, was a childhood favorite and I can’t count the times I’ve watched his movie, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. It’s the one movie I connect with so many family memories. There have been a few calls for Tequila, followed by the reenactment of Pee-wee’s dance to that song at family events.
After five seasons of Pee-wee’s Playhouse and later an appearance at MTV’s Music Awards in 1991, Paul stopped being Pee-wee. In one way it was sad to see this familiar character gone from the TV screen, but on the other, it’s been a pleasure to see other sides of Paul as an actor throughout the years in shows like Murphy Brown, Pushing Daisies, and 30 Rock, and in movies like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Matilda, and Blow, as well as the numerous voices he’s done for cartoons. He remained very active as an actor. Each time I saw him or recognized his voice, I would be happy to see or hear him again, but a piece of me just missed Pee-wee Herman.
Though it had already been announced in early August, that Pee-wee Herman was coming back with a stage show in Hollywood, I wasn’t aware of it till he started using twitter, just as most other people probably didn’t know till that same evening when he showed up as a guest on Jay Leno. Being that I work in social media, I couldn’t be happier that he chose to use twitter to announce it, that in doing so he also offered the chance to call one lucky twitterer, and even more happy that he chose me.
Pee-Wee Herman at 140tc. Image via (CC) Brian Solis. www.briansolis.com
On Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 2:30 p.m. my phone rang. It was Paul Reubens calling to talk to me, not as Pee-wee, but as himself. The conversation was not recorded and I’m glad it wasn’t. This made it possible for us to talk without worrying about things you have to ask or say because others are going to hear it. This way it was not an interview, it was a conversation. Paul genuinely wanted to get to know me as much as I wanted to get to know him. We talked for over half an hour. He asked about my life, my career, my family. He offered me his thoughts and he so openly shared his life with me as well, creating the bonds of friendship.
I asked him what it was like back then not to be Pee-wee Herman anymore, telling him I thought it must be hard to break away from being such a character, who becomes a big part of yourself, knowing that he had worked on the character for years. But, he told me it was surprisingly very easy and that it was much harder to come to the decision of bringing him back. He had made an appearance at the SPIKE Guy’s Choice Awards as Pee-wee in 2007 to present Will Ferrell with an award. Afterward, he was asked to really bring Pee-wee back and he spent a long time going back and forth on whether or not he wanted to do it.
Paul and I talked a lot about our careers and the things we are passionate about. He really is very passionate about theater. The story he told on Leno about falling in love with theater as a kid watching a school production about Native Americans is true. He can still close his eyes and remember the beating of the drum. He shared with me the advice from his father: “You’ve got to find your gimmick.” In Hollywood, there’s thousands of people trying to do the same thing, so he had to find a way to make himself different and stand out. Being Pee-wee Herman certainly made him stand out. And it made me think of my own career and my own search to find what is unique within myself and let it shine. My top two core values are love and truth, which comes through in the way I communicate with others and the genuine essence of me and as tinythoughts. He listened to me go on passionately about social media and felt he understood it better after. Paul encouraged me to use what makes me special in my future career and to be aware of the possibilities.
Paul is a really sweet person. It was interesting to find such similarities and common ground. He asked if he could keep in touch with me and even put me on his Christmas card list. He offered me tickets to come see his show and meet him in person. I promised to do my best to find time to get there and do that. I am sure it will happen. Not only do I not want to miss out on his return as Pee-wee Herman, but I’d like to get to know him face to face as well. I hope that many of you will get the chance to see him in Hollywood at the Music Box and be sure to follow him on twitter.
Thank you, Paul, for taking the time to talk to me, for making my week, and being my new friend.
Links for information and to connect with Pee-wee Herman:
Pee-wee’s Official Page
Pee-wee’s new show
Pee-wee on twitter
Pee-wee on Facebook
Pee-wee makes his first tweet (video by @guykawasaki)
Pee-wee makes hiss first tweet (via @laughingsquid)
Pee-wee’s Playhouse on foursquare (created by me @tinythoughts)
The thoughts and opinions expressed here are all mine and not those pf Paul Reubens or Mister Wong.
Thank you Mister Wong for allowing me to post this here :-)
November 18th, 2009 at 07:17
He is funny, but didn’t he expose himself in a movie theater a while back?