Paul Reubens - Pee-wee Herman

Pee-wee Herman

The character of "Pee-wee Herman" first originated during a 1978 improvisation exercise with The Groundlings, where Reubens came up with the idea of a man who wanted to be a comic, but was so inept at telling jokes that it was obvious to the audience that he would never make it. Fellow Groundling Phil Hartman would afterwards help Reubens develop the character while another Groundling, John Paragon, would help write the show. Despite having been compared to other famous characters, such as Hergé's Tintin and Collodi's Pinocchio, Reubens says that there is no specific source for "Pee-wee" but rather a collection of ideas. Pee-wee's voice originated in 1970 when Reubens appeared in a production of Life with Father, where he was cast as one of the most obnoxious characters in the play, for which Reubens adopted a cartoon-like way of speaking that would become Pee-wee's. Pee-wee's name is a mixture of a one-inch Pee Wee brand harmonica Reubens had as a child while Herman was the surname of an energetic boy Reubens knew from his youth. The first small grey suit Pee-wee ever wore had been handmade for director and founder of the Groundlings Gary Austin, who passed it on to Reubens, while "someone" handed him the "little-kid bow tie" before a show.