Editing Paul Reubens (section)

=== 1981–1984: ''The Pee-wee Herman Show'' ===
{{main|The Pee-wee Herman Show}}

[[File:Paul Reubens 1984.jpg|thumb|upright|Reubens exploring [[Melrose Avenue]] in Los Angeles (1984)]]
Reubens auditioned for the ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' 1980–1981 season on the same day as comedian [[Gilbert Gottfried]]. Reubens told ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' hiring both was not an option because they were "the same type of performer", and he knew immediately Gottfried would get the job.<ref name="twenty" /> He also told the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' he believed that "the fix was in" because Gottfried was friends with one of the producers. Reubens was so angry and bitter that he decided he would borrow money and start his own show in Los Angeles using the character he had been developing during the previous few years, "[[Pee-wee Herman]]".<ref name="happy">{{cite news |first=Peter |last=Hartlaub |work=San Francisco Gate |title=Pee-wee may be heading back to his Playhouse. But for now, he's happy to be Paul Reubens. |date=January 24, 2007 |access-date=October 11, 2008 |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/article?f=/c/a/2007/01/24/PEEWEE.TMP |archive-date=December 9, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209000602/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/article?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2007%2F01%2F24%2FPEEWEE.TMP |url-status=dead }}</ref>

With the help of other Groundlings like John Paragon, Phil Hartman, and [[Lynne Marie Stewart]], Pee-wee acquired a small group of followers, and Reubens took his show to [[the Roxy Theatre]] where ''[[The Pee-wee Herman Show]]'' ran for five sellout months. He performed midnight shows for adults and weekly matinees for children, later entering the mainstream when [[Home Box Office|HBO]] aired ''The Pee-wee Herman Show'' in 1981 as part of their series ''[[On Location (TV series)|On Location]]''.<ref name="creator speaks" /> Reubens also appeared as Pee-wee in the 1980 film ''[[Cheech & Chong's Next Movie]]''.<ref name="perplex" /> He again appeared in 1981's ''[[Cheech & Chong]]'s [[Nice Dreams]]'';<ref name="BFI" /> the end credits of the film billed him as "Hamburger Dude". Reubens's act had mainly positive reactions and quickly acquired a group of fans, despite being described as "bizarre",<ref name="heart">{{cite news |first=Marylynn |last=Uricchio |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |title=Pee-wee pedals his way into your heart |date=August 9, 1985 }}</ref> and Reubens being described as "the weirdest comedian around".<ref>{{cite news |first=Rick |last=Sherwood |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |title=Today in preview |date=May 17, 1983 |access-date=October 10, 2008 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=v00NAAAAIBAJ&dq=pee%20wee%20herman&pg=5827%2C3780669 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Pee-wee was both "corny" and "hip", "retrograde" and "avant-garde".<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Rick |last=Sherwood |magazine=Time |title=The Prince of Prepuberty Grows Up |date=August 1, 1988 |access-date=October 10, 2008 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,968038,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511051739/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,968038,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 11, 2009 }}</ref>

When Pee-wee's fame started growing, Reubens started to move away from the spotlight, keeping his name under wraps and making all his public appearance and interviews in character while billing Pee-wee as playing himself; Reubens was trying to "get the public to think that that was a real person".<ref name="bigger-Hurwitt" /><ref name="creator speaks">{{cite news |first= Stone|last=Phillips |work= NBC News|title= Pee-wee Herman creator speaks out|date= April 5, 2004|access-date=October 10, 2008|url= https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4653913}}</ref> Later on he would even prefer his parents be known only as Honey Herman and Herman Herman.<ref name="local boy" /> In the early and mid-1980s, Reubens made several guest appearances on ''[[Late Night with David Letterman]]'' as Pee-wee Herman which gave Pee-wee an even bigger following.<ref name="heart" /> During the mid-1980s, Reubens traveled the United States with a whole new ''The Pee-wee Herman Show'', playing at the [[Guthrie Theater]] in [[Minneapolis, Minnesota|Minneapolis]], [[Caroline's]] in New York City and, in 1984, in front of a full [[Carnegie Hall]].<ref name="reel" />