The comedy world was wounded deeply by the death of Paul Reubens, whose signature creation Pee-Wee Herman has entertained fans for decades, and will continue to inspire for many more to come. Despite his long and secretive bout with cancer, the actor still managed to take on a variety of creative projects in the aftermath of Netflix's feature Pee-wee's Big Holiday, from his fun mini-run as The Penguin's dapper daddy on Gotham to his What We Do in the Shadows cameo to a one-off appearance on The Conners. And fans can take comfort in knowing Reubens has at least one more major project on the way thanks to Uncut Gems' directors Benny and Josh Safdie, and there may be more.
As it turns out, Paul Reubens spent the final months of his life putting on quite an effort to take part in TV and film projects, with arguably the most promising one coming via the Safdie brothers and HBO. First announced in 2021, the premium cabler is set to one day unveil a full-length documentary focusing on Reuben’s ground-breaking and generation-spanning character Pee-Wee Herman.
According to TMZ, it’s been confirmed that the directors and others working on the project were able to finish all their interviews with Reubens ahead of his death, and the amount of time he was able to offer the project may both shock and impress audiences. Though the final months of his life jumped from good days to those when he was feeling less equipped to deliver, the Broadway vet was still able to offer something around 40 hours of his time to take part in interviews and other behind-the-scenes footage.
He’s not the only one who’ll be seen on camera, obviously, as it’s reported more than 25 of Reubens’ friends and former co-stars are also involved in the doc’s interviews. One can probably expect to see other iconic members of the Pee-Wee’s Playhouse TV cast, from black-ish vet Laurence Fishburne to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia recurrer Lynne Marie Stewart to Chicago Med’s S. Epatha Merkerson.
Not to mention co-stars from Big Adventures (and perhaps director Tim Burton), Big Top Pee-Wee and the aforementioned Netflix movie. Considering that film’s Joe Manganiello shared a lengthy message following Reuben’s death, he’ll probably be in the mix as well, along with co-writer Paul Rust and producer Judd Apatow, who produced and directed a pair of his own superb documentary projects centered on late comedy legends: The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling and 2022’s George Carlin’s American Dream, with HBO backing both of those as well.
It’s claimed that the Safdie brothers compiled around 1,000 hours of footage to comb through for the HBO documentary. In that respect, going through merely 40 hours just of Reubens’ material doesn’t sound too stressful at all, although it’s definitely still stress-inducing in most other respects.
Beyond the Safdie brothers’ new project, Paul Reubens also reportedly finished a first draft edition of his memoir, which doesn’t seem to have a working title at the moment. Depending on how those writings are posthumously handled, we may get to read about Pee-Wee’s past from the man himself ahead of the TV doc.
It’s unclear when the Pee-Wee-centric HBO documentary will make its way to the small screen and to those with Max subscriptions, but be sure to stay tuned for more release info as it arrives. In the meantime, check out some of the highlights from Reubens’ career, from his superhero duties (teehee) in Mystery Men to his other various DC Comics roles, including his reteaming with Tim Burton for Batman Returns.
