Pee-wee Herman: A Life

#1. It all started with The Groundlings and Phil Hartman: Hartman not only co-wrote Big Adventure with Reubens, but he was a big part of developing many of Reubens’ characters and sketches while they were at The Groundings together in the 1970s.

#2. Cowboy Curtis was originally played by Morpheus: Cowboy Curtis was none other than Laurence Fishburne. When Fishburne talked to Yahoo TV about the experience while plugging Black-ish back in 2015, he mentioned how much he loved doing the role and volunteered to suit up again if needed.

#3. Reubens borrowed the infamous grey suit from a fellow Groundling, and he took the name from a harmonica: Reubens created Pee-wee for a 1977 or ’78 Groundlings show where the players were supposed to come up with characters one might find at a comedy show.

#4. Pee-wee made his TV debut on The Dating Game: In order to test his character out in real life, Reubens took Herman onto The Dating Game. He simply attended the audition and filled out the form as Herman and included “going to the library” and “cleaning my room” on the questionnaire as hobbies.

#5. Herman’s big-screen debut was in a Cheech and Chong movie: Reubens appears in a number of Cheech and Chong films, his most memorable being “Howie Hamburger Dude” in Nice Dreams.

#6. Herman really didn’t hit it big until SNL rejected Reubens: Saturday Night Live was going through a re-boot in 1980, and Reubens was invited to audition. He did not get the gig, but guess who did? Gilbert Gottfried. At any rate, Reubens’ rejection led him to immediately create The Pee-wee Herman Show.

#7. Fishburne and Hartman weren’t the only future stars on Playhouse: Here's OITNB junkie Natasha Lyonne. Other future stars included S. Epatha Merkerson of Law & Order fame as Reba the Mail Lady and Jimmy Smits who played Authorized Conky Repairman, Johnny WilsonZ

#8. Cyndi Lauper sang the theme song: She’s credited as Ellen Shaw, but she did later admit to singing the theme song in her best imitation of Betty Boop. She couldn’t release it under her name at the time, because True Colors was about to release, with it’s more serious tone and title track, and she didn’t think people could take both.

#9. Lauper wasn’t the only musical icon to contribute: Others included Mark Mothersbaugh, Todd Rundgren, and Danny Elfman.

#10. He was already taking a break from the show when “the incident” happened: What might have just been a flash in the pan for Hugh Grant, Bill Clinton, or Eddie Murphy was a career crusher for Reubens, and when he talked to Vanity Fair in 1999 it sounds like it really took a toll on him mentally: “Jeffrey Dahmer’s story broke the same time as my story, and for a week I was leading the news, followed by Dahmer eating people, boring holes into their heads and turning them into zombies. It was… just so bizarre.”

#11: While Reubens took a hiatus from playing Herman, he didn’t stop acting: Maybe you caught him in the original Buffy The Vampire Slayer or as the Penguin’s father in Batman Returns, and the memorable Derek Foreal in Blow.

Thank you for the years of childhood Memories Mr. Herman. Original article packed with more info and images: http://didyouknowfacts.com/pee-wee-connected-everything-11-facts/