Like last year, I’ll periodically attend a session that’s a little more self indulgent (like the Booze and Blogging session I attended last year). This year, it was attending this session. It was an interesting perspective in several ways. I learned about his background a bit, but also a little about what it takes to make it.
Ruebens started with the Groundlings, an improve troupe, and developed the character of Pee Wee because in a performance one night, he had to play a bad comedian. It all came out that night – suit, bowtie, voice (based on an earlier character), behaviors (based on kids he knew). He wrote a play based on the character in 1981. He said he was an up and comer in comedy and missed out on his shot at SNL (to Gilbert Gottfried). So on the way home from the audition, he wrote the show in a bit out of a panic of what to do with his life. He said, “It was a bit of a ‘let me show you.'”
One piece of advice he gave was to learn how to write, as he said that if you a good writer and can tell stories, you can write your future. In fact, he said he had to read a book on screenwriting to write Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. In fact, the storyline followed the guide in the book almost directly.
He also gave some insights on a conversation he had with fellow comedian, Phil Hartman. Hartman felt that Reubens was throwing away other great characters from his Groundlings days to concentrate on this one. However, he said he had a gut feeling about this character.
He fully committed to it, almost never going out in public, except as Pee Wee. To him it was performance art, but others started to see he as being just like the character. He feels that it was what made his arrest an even bigger issue. Since then, he been acting and rewriting his play to include his work from Pee Wee’s playhouse. He’s in the process of shooting an HBO special as well. Early on Pee Wee was sweet, but he got a bit snarkier over time. Snarky Pee Wee was what most people liked, so he’s headed a bit in that direction. He also said he’s working on a new movie with Jud Apatow, but can’t reveal yet what it is – “2011 and the internet has changed everything, you can’t do anything in secret anymore.”
He provided some other insights, such as how Tim Burton became the director of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. The studio approached him with their choice and he didn’t like it. He stuck to his guns and was told he had a week to find someone who was available, affordable, and approvable. He found Tim Burton through a friend on the groundlings, and loved his attention to art direction.
He also said the most fun he had was writing Pee Wee’s playhouse – especially when they would think of something that they knew was successful for a 6 year old – it was the most gratifying for him. The first season of the show, he had 5 writers, working together to write all 13 episodes. After that, he would hire a couple or a duo and together they write the season – putting in long, long days.
Overall, it was interesting to learn a little more about his background and get his perspective on what it took to succeed.
