Paul Reubens a chain reaction of national media attention that changed the general public's view of Reubens and Pee-wee. The arrest postponed Reubens' involvement in major projects until 1999 when he appeared in several big-budget projects including "Mystery Men" and "Blow" and started giving interviews as himself rather than as Pee-wee. Since 2006, Reubens has been making cameos and guest appearances in numerous projects, such as "Reno 911!", "30 Rock", "Dirt", "Pushing Daisies", and "The Blacklist". Since the 1990s, he has worked on two possible Pee-wee films: one dark and adult, dubbed "The Pee-wee Herman Story", and one a family-friendly epic adventure
Paul Reubens in the role of Pee-Wee, the end credits of the movie billed him as "Hamburger Dude". Reubens' act had mainly positive reactions and quickly acquired a group of fans, despite being described as "bizarre", and Reubens being described as "the weirdest comedian around". Pee-wee was both "corny" and "hip", "retrograde" and "avant-garde". 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