Say it with me now, in Jambese: “Mekka Lekka Hi! Mekka Hiney Ho!” Your wish is granted! Comedian Paul Reubens is bringing his iconic character Pee-Wee Herman back to life and back to the stage.
“The Pee-Wee Herman Show” will have a limited engagement at The Music Box at Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles beginning Nov. 8.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 8 a.m. PST.
The 17-performance run is a newly “re-imagined production” of Reubens’ original live show which debuted at The Groundlings Theatre in 1981 and was followed by a five-month, sold-out stand at the Roxy Theatre on Sunset Strip.
A taped performance for HBO catapulted the comedian and his bizarre cast of characters into the national eye and led to a string of memorable appearances on “Late Night with David Letterman,” a 22-city run that included a performance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, and two big-screen productions (1985’s “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” and 1988’s “Big Top Pee-Wee”).
A Saturday morning television series, “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse,” aired on CBS from 1986 through 1990, as did a 1988 Christmas special featuring guests like Cher, Charo, Grace Jones and Dinah Shore.
The show has since attained cult status among legions of followers who’ve fallen in love with the adventures of Miss Yvonne, Cowboy Curtis, Jambi the Genie, Chairry, Pterri, Conky, the dinosaur family and the other assorted denizens of Pee-Wee’s world.
In 2006, Cartoon Network aired the series and scored 1.5 million viewers for each of the show’s 45 episodes and in 2007, TV Guide named it among the top 10 cult classics of all time.
When asked to comment on the enormous influence of the series on current shows like “Blue’s Clues” and “SpongeBob Square Pants,” Reubens offered a characteristic retort: “I know you are, but what am I?”
Besides the live version of “The Pee-Wee Herman Show,” Reubens is also reportedly working on a pair of new films – “The Pee-Wee Herman Story” and “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse: The Movie.”