Paul Reubens Paul Reubens Paul Reubens (; né Rubenfeld; born August 27, 1952) is an American actor, writer, film producer, game show host, and comedian, best known for his character Pee-wee Herman. Reubens joined the Los Angeles troupe The Groundlings in the 1970s and started his career as an improvisational comedian and stage actor. In 1982, Reubens put up a show about a character he had been developing for years. The show was called "The Pee-wee Herman Show" and it ran for five sold-out months with HBO producing a successful special about it. Pee-wee became an instant cult figure and for the
Paul Reubens $40,940,662 domestically, recouping almost six times its $7 million budget. At the time of release in 1985, the film received mixed reviews, but "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" developed into a cult film. After seeing the success of "Pee-wee's Big Adventure", the CBS network approached Reubens with an ill-received cartoon series proposal. In 1986, CBS agreed to sign Reubens to act, produce, and direct his live-action children's program, "Pee-wee's Playhouse", with a budget of $325,000 per episode, the same price as a prime-time sitcom, and no creative interference from CBS; although CBS did request a few minor changes throughout the years. After