Paul Reubens called "Pee-wee's Playhouse: The Movie". In 2010, he starred on Broadway in "The Pee-wee Herman Show". In 2016, Reubens helped write and starred in the Netflix original film "Pee-wee's Big Holiday", reprising his role as Pee-wee Herman. Reubens was born Paul Rubenfeld in Peekskill, New York, and grew up in Sarasota, Florida, where his parents, Judy (Rosen) and Milton Rubenfeld, owned a lamp store. His mother was a teacher. His father was an automobile salesperson who had flown for Britain's Royal Air Force and for the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, later becoming one of the founding
Paul Reubens Institute of the Arts and moving to California, where he worked in restaurant kitchens and as a Fuller Brush salesman. In the 1970s, Reubens performed at local comedy clubs and made four guest appearances on "The Gong Show" as part of a boy–girl act he had developed with Charlotte McGinnis, called "The Hilarious Betty and Eddie". He soon joined the Los Angeles–based improvisational comedy team The Groundlings and remained a member for six years, working with Bob McClurg, John Paragon, Susan Barnes, and Phil Hartman. Hartman and Reubens became friends, often writing and working on material together. In 1980, he