Pee-wee Herman Collection on Letterman, 1982-85
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- Опубликовано: 15 май 2018
- Paul Reubens was another inspired weirdo who found national attention and an artistic home on Late Night. A cult performer in Los Angeles, he developed the character Pee-wee Herman, a giddy juvenile in a suit and bow tie with the irreverent innocence of a character cut from a 1950s sit-com. Reubens had heard from an agent that Johnny Carson was “uncomfortable with the Pee-wee character,” but he proved popular with David Letterman, appearing frequently in long segments filled with silly jokes, prop humor and quips designed to throw the host off guard. “He made fun of me, but he really did seem to genuinely like me as well,” Reubens said.
-- Jason Zinoman, Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night, p. 88.
Dave: "What makes me laugh . . . is that [Pee-wee] has the external structure of a bratty little precocious kid, but you know it's being controlled by the incubus -- the manifestation of evil itself."
-- Peter Boyer, "Pee-wee Readies Playhouse," NY Times, September 4, 1986, p. C22.
The appearances:
1. September 22, 1982
2. November 18, 1982
3. March 4, 1983
4. May 17, 1983
5. July 5, 1983
6. September 8, 1983
7. October 31, 1983
8. January 3, 1984 (plus cold close with Joe Theisman)*
9. May 24, 1984
10. October 31, 1984
11. July 30, 1985**
*The Coca-Cola ad with Mean Joe Green and the kid comes from stiggerpao's upload here: • Coca-Cola Classic ad: ...
**Clip from "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" edited out due to copyright caution.
I usually hate loud and slapstick humour but Pee Wee is one of a kind and always gets me in stitches
That “face rings a bell” joke was brilliant. Comedy is all about timing.
Man, he is brilliant!! 🤣😅 I love it when he reads a letter and reads something embarrassing or when no one gets his joke, the expression he makes 😂🤣😅😆
I just love Paul Reubens and his character Pee wee Herman. Paul is a brilliant actor and director.He is a fabulous person and an outstanding children's entertainer and author I highly recommend his books.Thank you so much Paul for all that you do for us fans,,Love you always
Sad day to be a peewee fan. I am so saddened by the news. I was just watching him a few days ago. And I remember how excited I was when he had a comeback in 2016 can't believe it's been seven years since then.
I love❤
❤❤
Bless you Don! I forgot how much Letterman loved Reubens and just went along with whatever he was doing.
I will never forget seeing Pee-wee Herman on TV for the first time back in 1981. I was living in my future in-laws upstairs Guest Room, recuperating from a serious head injury that kept me in the hospital for 10 days. Still on heavy duty prescriptiion drugs, l watched as the original Pee-wee Herman Show prjemiered on HBO. I was mesmerized! When Pee-wee brought out Jambi in a box, I thought I was having an acid flashback. My fiancee, a "Fine Arts" major, was watching the program with me. What can I say? We were gobsmacked & hooked on Pee-wee Herman for life! 💙
One of the BEST! The confidence to do that shtick on a late night show was next level. And on Letterman no less :)
He was a brilliant comedian... Thanks for sharing.
Pee Wee is the best! I still have my talking Pee Wee doll.ARGHHHH!!!!
He was VERY tame in his first appearance. You can tell that his character's mannerisms and voices hadn't yet been fully formed. He was almost more of a straight comedian telling jokes at that point and seeing if he would get a reaction from the crowd after every joke.
Thank you for the laughs and memories Pee Wee. 😢😢😢
In my mid-70s and I still freaking love Pee-wee Herman.
I’m nearly 50 and I still masturbate in theatres.
Awesome 😎👍
I would like to testify but I distinctly remember my father hardly waking me up on this very night and as my eyes opened and my brain click on all I heard was David Letterman saying we have Pee Wee Herman air tonight and I almost knocked my old man down running to the living room
Thanks for everything, Paul. You were a special talent, rest easy.
This is so interesting to watch. I'm really seeing the connection with Andy Kaufman far more than I ever did back then. Does anybody even do this kind of absurdist humor anymore? I miss it, and I miss Dave's show so much. The third segment is particularly hysterical with the "playing doctor" skit. This guy was such a comic genius. I'm not sure I really knew how great he was, tbh. Rest in peace, Paul, you were something special.
I am pretty sad about Pee Wee Herman , a fantastic human being..
“You are one peculiar S.O.B.” - that is the highest of compliments from Dave.
Pee-wee Herman was HILARIOUS! I used to watch Pee-wee's Playhouse every Saturday. A lot of talented people on and behind that show. Funny that Laurence Fishburn played Cowboy Curtis. Phil Hartman, RIP, was Captain Carl. And there was some guy named Paul Reubens somewhere in the show. (hehe)
Chairey!
I love how Dave is both put off and genuinely amused by Pee Wee, almost as if he's laughing against his better judgement. :D I always looked forward to his segments, but I think the first one had me laughing the hardest---I still remember a lot of it after all these years, from the toy penguins to his constant "Day-vid Lett-er-maaaan" as he shakes the can of nuts in his face. Such an original person.....who looks a lot like Jim Parsons!
Performers like Sasha B Cohen, Andy Kaufman, and Paul Reubens are the ones to be admired, pulling off characters full time. Few performers can do this. They're so good at it that when they do other characters it's almost a surprise. You forget that it is just a character. Amazing talent.
Coppercab is the master
Cohen is a sell out fuck him
I think it helps to be Jewish also.
@Frankencensed Very true indeed. As a child when Pee Wee's Saturday morning show first started, I didnt ever think he was acting . I don't remember when I realized he was not Pee Wee away from the show. Naive, yes. Convincing acting as an over the top character........... Absolutely
80's Letterman is/was peak absurdist comedy. It's crazy to find the series on YT and realize its fingerprints are on all the comedy I loved growing up.
Thanks for this Don. Rest well Paul.
They both have great chemistry. Pee Wee is a Genius 💜💜💜
This video is a TREASURE!!!!!!! THANK YOU!
He was just wonderful. Such a unique and talented man.
"Do you like Devo?" Mark Mothersbaugh would later create music for Pee Wee's Playhouse. He scored more episodes than any other that worked on the show. The Residents did some episodes, as well.
Thanks for saying this. I will now go deep into Pee Wee
He did music for the rug rats cartoons! And Danny elfman scored pee wees big adventure and he did oingo boingo too. Also can I suggest watching a little film called the forbidden zone? Omg it's so wacky weird and campy. It's got oingo boingo herve villachaize, mink stole...it's about these "kids" (played by adults) who find a warp tunnel to a satanic like underground planet. It's a musical.
It's so funny watching all his dance moves individually on each Letterman show that became his awesome "Tequila" dance!
I love PeeWee so much! ♥️
It's fun to see how the performances get more polished. Thanks!
I have a *_Late Night BRUSH WITH GREATNESS_* associated with *Pee Wee's Great Adventure* movie. So here goes...
When I was a student at Musicians Institute in Hollywood in 1984-85, my two friends and I were riding the RTD city bus one night. We got to talking with a younger passenger who said he was just at Pee Wee's Big Adventure premier around the corner at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. He said he met Quiet Riot guitarist Carlos Cavazo and Carlos invited him to his house. I think he could see our excitement over such a prospect and so very generously he invited us to go with him. "Oh' hell yes!"...but then we realized that in Hollywood you ever know, but he was so genuine and kind. He was young and a little shy even. Certainly I could identify.
So we switched buses and made our way toward Cavazo's house As we are getting acquainted he introduces himself as "Ennis, or you can call me William...I'm William Cosby Jr.. Bill Cosby is my Dad." In that short period after just meeting Ennis we realized he was just a 17 year old kid looking for his own excitement and didn't put on any fronts, which is so so common in L.A.. He was as real people as we were. In fact more real than one of my two friends who were with me that night.
All in all it was a really great night! We arrived at Carlos's house and had a very relaxed hang out talking with each other about music and just general stuff. Carlos had a girlfriend who was super nice and intelligent. She knew we were still young and green about life. She was a good host and started conversations with us. She liked that we were polite and well mannered. We drank a little bit, but we were beaming from our meeting a fellow musician who had great success.
Like Ennis, Carlos was just a regular down to earth person. For us young wanna be rock stars we couldn't have have met a cooler person! I was really taken by how much Carlos, the elder of the group that evening, was thrilled to meet the son of Bill Cosby, but didn't put Ennis in the uncomfortable position of being a mouthpiece for his famous father. Carlos even brought up that it must be difficult living in a shadow, when Innis said, " Sometimes I feel invisible.". Innis spoke of being able to go about any place he wanted to go because he had a chauffeur, but at 17 he wanted to go around on his own and discover life.
We stayed for a good two hours. Carlos had a small walk in closet that had all his toys from childhood. Including his first little guitar. I faintly recalling him mentioning a Sears Silvertone guitar. We were on the back patio talking and I recall Carlos saying he read on a cereal box the Ohio was the Heavy Metal capitol of the United States. Of course it didn't cross my mind until years later that seeing something written on a cereal box could have been metaphorical. I still don't know...that whole night has been a metaphor.
Carlos showed us pictures of their Japan tour and showed us the first portable Sony CD Walkman. It was made of metal, weighed a lot, ad it had L/R red, and white RCA jacks. He had it hooked to his stereo. Gee I wish I could remember more. The house was beautiful! High ceilings, gigantic orange'ish finished oak trim everywhere The big guest bathroom had darker marble everywhere. They had a guest house outback that Carlos said he spent lots of time in because it's size felt more familiar to him than the main house.
My friends and I stayed about a half hour longer than Ennis. He called his chauffeur to pick him up. Ennis was 17 and I could sense the chauffeur's concern on the other end of the phone. Ennis was a beautiful soul, a gift! It infuriates me that someone took his life.
Well, I've written much and probably said not so much. To be honest, that evening I was still a very shy 19 year old and I spoke very little. I just listened, smiled, and said 'cool' and 'killer' a lot. Not much has changed.😁
That's a wonderful story. Thanks for posting it!
I love❤
Good God....Pee Wee and Devo appeared on Letterman on the same night?!!! Yes!
Yes whip it! Heheh
Yes! I was a high school freshman and saw the guest lineup in TV Guide and knew I had to stay up late on a Thursday night for that one. Devo's performance of "That's Good" is also on RUclips.
I know right???
Devo went on to do a soundtrack for his last movie.
devo is def the pee wee of music
Wow-your collection is great! thanks for combining all the this great wackiness into 1 video!!!
My face is hurting from laughing so much! I love PeeWee!
For those people who never attended a taping, the band was terrific.
There’s so much Andy Kauffman in Pee wee it’s hilarious.
I miss the NBC Letterman days. Classic late night stuff.
Pee Wee was an original in his own right. Another part of my 1980's childhood is gone.
So interesting to see both Dave and Pee Wee still figuring out their style in that first appearance.
Dave was better in his first appearance than he was in his second appearance.
David started his show with Pee Wee as a first guest?
@@lbks16 Bill Murray was the first guest. I meant the first appearance by Pee Wee on Letterman.
It must be insanely challenging to stay in character constantly. His scuba antics are funny and pretty clever.
@Don Giller, thank you so much for putting all these collections together.
The bell ringer joke😂😂😂
Afuckingmazing. I knew Peewee was going to be a big star since Saturday night live. A true genius. One of the greatest movies I've ever seen. Love the upload. Thanks!
Always a fan of PeeWee and his Playhouse, I sat here and watched this for over 2 hrs and laughed til it hurt. I even named my dog after him lol.
Speck
@@komitkazi7520 naw not Speck, my dog was Chef PeeWee Herman, collected lots of PWHerman memorabilia, a watch, purse etc LOL
Watching utube Pee Wee on Letterman,is the first true bunch of belly laughs in 2 years, since my man of 30 yrs died .......Thank Utube....Paul Reubens -the Hottest fun!
These are great. Thanks so much for putting this collection together ! Well done
“The guy who designed the set for the Pee Wee movie” - that guy would be Phil Hartman.
Wayne White did most of the art work for Pee Wee. He has a studio in Chattanooga Tennessee. My family and I got to tour it. There was all kids of Pee Wee giant set stuff there including "Randy" and "Terry".
Phil was a writer and co-creator of the show.
Maybe it was Rob Zombie
Lots of connections to funny people in all his stuff. Hell Lawrence Fishburn and Howie Mandell were both Cowboy Curtis
@@1962dude and Captain Carl ..all pre SNL
not only love the character Pee-Wee Herman.. but huge props to Don Giller for cutting the out and in music flawlessly on the commercials
Thanks for everything, P. Wee
Thanks so much! I've been waiting for a Pee-wee compilation forever!
His last appearance on Letterman. was when the character was perfected.
Just goes to show it takes years of hard work and practice to perfect a character.
Yep!@@TheColonel1123
I love how dave genuinely cant handle it.
Thank u for this!! Always loved Pee-wee as a child
I was a late comer since I was born in 1986, I watched “playhouse” in reruns in 1991. I fell in love with PeeWee! Been a fan ever since! I even dress as him for convention every now and then!
I do say Letterman gives a great performance much like the odd couple lol
i watched playhouse in 2001 and i bet kids will watch it in 2021
Good on You!
Don, I have to thank you for posting this. I have off and on been looking for my VHS copy of the May 17, 1983 Late Night, because I'm in the audience. While Pee-wee was giving that woman in green a "kiss" at about 44:40, you can see me right over their heads. My date was the girl in the red dress. Thirty-five years, almost to the day! Thanks!!
Excellent!
It looks like everybody in your row all agreed to wear the same beige colored shirts.
Plot twist. Don was the guy that robbed your house in the 90's
I should look up your other comments. I wish you'd leave them on Instagram after Roger Stone posts. (but actually I don't do Instagram...)
awesomeeeeeee
Thanks from a die hard PeeWee fan. I may hold the record for watching his Big Adventure!
Genius movie!!!
Beth as a man who lives for cinema. Thank you for this tip. I took your word and Im in tears.
im thinking about going back and watching it but i dont want it to ruin my memory of it as a child. same thing happened when i went back and watched mac and me
:(
Tell em Large Marge sent ya!
Beth Elle. Large Marge sent me.
the new netflix movie is really good too
This is fantastic and just what we need right now. :)
“Ha ha. I love that story”
"No really, I love it, it's a cool backstory"
Why don't you marry it?
My sister & I were in the audience of the September '83 show. Preshow, Dave actually came up into the audience & talked to us because we were Hoosiers. He was much better looking in person, very tan, blondish streaks in his hair & a gorgeous tan suit. At the end of the show, they brought out a huge birthday cake for Will Lee. I recall searching the TV Guide for that week when it came & squeeling "PeeWee!" when I saw the guest.
Here’s Will Lee’s birthday at the end of the show - ruclips.net/video/1kINlRLgJAw/видео.html
@@dongiller Oh my gosh, thanks so much! I kind of thought the cake was bigger, but that's memories for ya. Totally forgot about Paul being gone & being disappointed, but the band was still great. Was that the only show he missed? You wouldn't happen to have the beginning of the show, would you? It would be so great to see the whole thing again. My sister & I made sure we were back at our hotel in time to watch it as there were no affordable VCRs back then.
Pee Wee was a member of the Groundlings improv troupe in LA. Some of the SNL cast members had performed there too, like Phil Hartman and Will Ferrell.
...as was Elvira. Love the shoutout to her in the 1984 Halloween segment. They're good friends in real life.
1:43:17 is one of my all-time favorite Pee Wee jokes.
Agreed. The joke at 1:13:15 is awesome too
Man Peewee really just hijacks the show, especially with the colorful pants
I will always love Pee-wee he's an original.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching this.
wow, so Pee Wee's dance existed before the movie...ya learn something new everyday
Dude, he had a show called the Peewee Herman show from 1981-1984, where he did the dance all the time. The movie came out in 1985 and he had been popular for years by that point. In fact, his character had been around since 1978.
This guy was soooo gifted!!
I will love Paul Reubens forever!!!
Dave had the toughest job in the business n Hollywood was never the same after Pee Wee left us I miss the good ol days❤❤❤😂😂😂gotta Love IT
Thank you for sharing! Pee-wee is the best inspiration!! Love him!!!!
Turns out, Pee Wee's Big Adventure WAS better than ET.
My favourite line is probably:
"You don't want to get mixed up with someone like me, Dotty.
I'm a loner. A rebel." 😂
@@drewlovelyhell4892" tell em Large Marge sent you!"
theres a song by the get up kids called im a loner dotty a rebel...check it out
yeah to bad he was a pedophile tho :'(
@@crunchybutter2889 This was never true. Once the cops took a look at the collection, they realized there was zero child porn and the charges were dropped. He had vintage kitsch and erotica, some over 100 years old. This poor man has been humiliated time and time again when he never hurt a soul and simply made a poor judgment call 30 years ago while he was far from Hollywood and looked completely different from the character he hadn't played in over a year. The public was just never able to parse the difference between his childlike character and the real-life grown man he is.
The one with just his head at 1:04:30 still makes me laugh! I've been looking on YT for a long time for this! Wow, last time I saw this was back in the 80's!!
OK! Amazing collection - thanks for this. Paul's appearances were top shelf. OK!
I mean, DEVO and Pee-wee on the same show (2nd appearance) - now that's bad-ass!
I've come back to this collection many times - this is gold. Paul Reubens was and is a genious of standup clubs - pulling off his 1-of-a-kind creation to discerning club crowds is a feat. Luckily, I met him for 1 second, backstage, at an Oingo Boingo concert. Cheers to Pee-wee and Mr. Letterman for all the entertainment - and cheers to you, Don for all the amazing comps.
1:43:00 This is my FAVORITE joke that Pee Wee Herman ever told!!!
Peewee was such awesome tv to grow up watching
The death scene at the end of the original Buffy The Vampire Slayer movie was fantastic.
Dave clearly loved the big underpants bit, as it involved one of his favourite words: pants.
Wasn’t Worldwide Pants his production company?
RIP, Pee-Wee. I pray you & Phil Hartman are making each other laugh somewhere.
Don Giller, thanks for all the vids. I got into Dave in 1987 when I was 20, loved him, but missed a lot of stuff for various reasons. I've been binge watching your Dave clips!
Pee-wee H and Andy Kaufman were American comedy geniuses.
*penises
@@Catholicophobia Are you 12?
@@1962dude 12 and 1/2.
Add Steve Martin to that list - he did stuff that Pee Wee must have seen and said - I can do that and go way over board with the absurd. Steve used props and stuff, of course, and did minimalist, absurd funny stuff that nobody else could ever pull off. Carlin did too - in a different way. And Cheech and Chong.
Looks like the Letterman show in the eighties was a very, very cool and entertaining one.
Oh my God, yes. Letterman was the best on NBC from 81-90. Was right up there with Steve Allen.
Was the best show on TV back then and he could do things and have guests on that you couldn't, he used to have a lot of Andy Kaufman too, Sam Kinison, etc. I saw the first show the first night he was on, you could tell it was going to be different and it was.
I was born in 82, and I remember being really young when I saw Dave in the Velcro suit. I was hooked!
true that - not like the VOMIT-LIKE CRAP that passes for tv these days...
I'll never forget the John Paragon (Jambi) cable special in the 80s. Very talented. Loved His Ramone Ortega character!
This is a gem of early 80s awesomeness. Thanks so much for posting.
I watched this whole thing lol
Very interesting to watch someone like pee wee hone his craft over time.
Thank you for putting this Masterpiece of One of the Best Comics of my Lifetime. I Love Peewee 💘
Love Pee Wee. I was wondering if there was a comp yet.
Look at 41:48. Bob Costas was always Daves mini-me.
Its interesting to see Pee Wee's progression. The audience ends up loving him after a year or so but that second clip the audience seldom laughs and at times sound like they might wanna lynch him. Well he had the last laugh a few years later when he was everywhere.
By posting this compilation you've done Joel Schumacher a great service.
Now he can just point to this video and say "See! I didn't invent the Bat credit card! It existed long before Batman and Robin!"
Pee Wee had it long before George Clooney did😁
( seriously, I can't believe there actually WAS a Bat credit card)
I love Pee-Wee, I was a kid when I first saw his HBO show, been a fan ever since.
PeeWee Herman was so funny. My teen daughter & I used to watch him.
At 36:40, Pee-Wee asks Dave to feed him. Paul Reubens was a comic genius. I saw the sketch 35 years ago. I never forgot it, or my astounded, horrified delight.
The bit fell flat. It needed the car that played the record album as the main punchline, so he let it go quickly
all of this has been incorporated in the Playhouse and/or the movies...this guy worked his ass off for a long time!
His all time toy collection is priceless! 😅
Love the wooden Penguin 🐧 & baby. Aaaaaggghhh!
Ironic, really, given that he'd end up being a father to _two_ Penguins (Batman Returns and Gotham). :)
Really freaky: I don’t normally think about Pee Wee Herman but .Friday I watched all these shows with Letterman one after the other on my iPad. Loved them, of course. That Sunday night he died!!!What gives?That was a weird coincidence 😮😮😮
RIP: Pee Wee Herman - what a fantastic creative and clever comedic genius ! July 30th, 2023 - 7:02PM EST - I just found out you passed away - heart breaking
Thanks for the wonderful memories!!!
This was so great! So cool how you kept that classic Coke commercial in there!
Context is everything. :)
This was when watching this late at night was part of what you did when you got home after partying. It did not matter that it was loose and irreverant. It always felt funny because Dave was always mocking a talk show. This feeling has dissapeared from late night broadcast shows.
Really weak political humor has led to their demise. The hosts are pretty lame too.
ive been watchi g some andy kaufman tonight- nothin'! then pee wee comes on wow! i laughed and laughed and laughed . . .
I first became familiar with Pee Wee Herman from his appearances on Letterman so it was strange to me when people came to think of him as a Children's entertainer.
I had no idea who Pee Wee was when I went to his movie "Pee Wee"Big Adventure" with friends. The first half of the movie I was "what in the world am I doing here. By the end of the movie I "got it" He really is a lot funnier then one would expect.
FYI: The Lunchroom Manners video is on youtube and is pretty funny alone. So cool to think that PeeWee already found the humor in it way back in '82.
Reacting to it ala Mystery Science Theater 3000 before there was even such a program. His reaction to the giant piece of cake just cracks me up.
Funny? Oh my, I've been living my life, being influenced by that film, since seeing it, roughly 50 yrs ago.
Love you lots, Pee-wee! x
I just love Pee-wee Herman a brilliant actor he is a outstanding children's Entertainer I'm 37 and I still love flipping Herman from his early days in Pee-wee's Playhouse his iconic movies such as The Nightmare Before Christmas Big Top Pee-wee Batman Returns and with a whole host of others from his role as Peewee Pinocchio from his rise to superstardom on the Netflix series Gotham