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 played a recurring role on the TV series "Murphy Brown". The role earned him positive reviews and his first and only non-Pee-wee Emmy nomination, for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He appeared six times on the show between 1995 and 1997. Afterward, Reubens began working on an NBC pilot entitled "Meet the Muckles", a show that would be based on "You Can't Take It with You". The project got stuck in development hell, and was later dropped when Reubens' ideas grew too elaborate and expensive, although Philip Rosenthal blamed NBC's negative response on Reubens being on a "blacklist".