Pee-wee as Himself

Paul Reubens was a singular artist: a pop comedian, subversive performer, devoted collector, and beloved children’s entertainer. Best known for creating the iconic character Pee-wee Herman, Reubens moved between the underground and the mainstream with unprecedented success. In Pee-wee as Himself, director Matt Wolf methodically traces the roots of Reubens’ creative obsessions and the emergence of Pee-wee as both icon and mask. The film chronicles Reubens’ stratospheric rise to fame and his poignant loss of anonymity. It is an intimate and complex portrait of an intensely private artist, who allowed someone else to tell his story at the end of his life.

Featuring a post-screening Q&A with director Matt Wolf and series programmer Joseph A. Berger