Paul Reubens’ big adventure
Nearly two decades after being charged with masturbating inside an X-rated movie theater, Reubens, better known as Pee-wee Herman, is still trying to rebuild his reputation.
Paul Reubens has survived a great fall, said Bill Zehme in Playboy. Nearly two decades after the actor better known as Pee-wee Herman was charged with masturbating inside an X-rated movie theater in Florida, Reubens, 58, is still trying to rebuild his reputation.
Before his arrest in 1991, he says, most people assumed the nerdy children’s character he created was a real person, which only magnified the furor when his mug shot hit the papers. “I had never been seen out of character before. Suddenly I went from being just Pee-wee Herman to that scary mug shot. Charles Manson-y, somebody called it.” Even his own friends in show business cracked jokes about him as a seedy pervert. “That was really painful. I was shocked people would kick me when I’m down.”
Deeply shamed, Reubens went into a prolonged, self-imposed exile, emerging only recently in order to revive Pee-wee for an upcoming Broadway show. No matter how well it goes over, he knows, “I’m always going to retain this reputation of being a pervert. But it doesn’t matter. Everything happened for a reason. It’s a journey, and I will not accept a s---ty ending.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The secrets of lab-grown chocolate
Under The Radar Chocolate created 'in a Petri dish' could save crisis-hit industry
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK
-
Trade war with China threatens U.S. economy
Feature Trump's tariff battle with China is hitting U.S. businesses hard and raising fears of a global recession
By The Week US
-
Corruption: The road to crony capitalism
Feature Trump's tariff pause sent the stock market soaring — was it insider trading?
By The Week US