Judd Apatow, Paul Reubens Bring 'Pee-wee's Big Holiday' To SXSW: 'I'm Practically Pee-wee'

Not since Charlie Chaplin has an actor been more inextricable from his most famous character than Paul Reubens is from Pee-wee Herman. Throughout the 80s, all of Reuben’s public appearances were in character as Pee-wee. So it was disorienting to find Reubens arrive for the SxSW screening of his new Netflix Original Movie, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, dressed in a dark suit and burgundy shirt.

Reubens appeared previous to the screening of Pee-wee’s Big Holiday alongside director John Lee, producer Judd Apatow and co-writer (with Reubens), Paul Rust. The group took questions from Twitter, though it soon became clear that so much of the spirit of Pee-wee’s Big Holiday revolves around Reubens and his precise talents as a performer.

While Reubens largely avoided discussing the separation between him and his character, it was clearly a topic that fascinated Apatow and the Big Holiday’s writer and director. “Five years working on this” with Paul Reubens, Apatow said, “And you never did the Pee-wee Herman voice in any meeting.”

Reubens almost seem surprised to have the separation pointed out to him. “Did you want that to happen?” This prompted an extended Apatow fantasy, as he mused on whether or not Reubens would occasionally get up late, go down to the kitchen for leftover potato salad, and do a little Pee-wee laugh to himself in a private expression of delight. Reubens didn’t respond.

Though the production process, with Reubens reserving the character for actual screen tests, suggests that there’s a firm separation between Pee-wee and his creator, Reubens seems to prefer downplaying the difference. “There is no hard part of getting in the Pee-wee character,” Reubens said, “I’m practically Pee-wee.”

Reubens also understates the amount of physical work that goes into Pee-wee. Asked about how he learned to dance so well to “Tequila” in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Reubens played it coy. “Some things you just know,” he said. Pressed by the moderator, Reubens admitted that his fancy footwork had been practiced at length before Pee-wee’s Playhouse, when he was working on a different performance.

Throughout the Q&A leading up to the Pee-wee’s Big Holiday screening, Reubens repeatedly demonstrated his prowess as a performer, cracking jokes and even delivering comedic advice (end boring stories with a droll, “I love that story,” was his single-rule comedy class).

Wherever Paul Reubens ends and Pee-wee Herman begins, Pee-wee’s magic will endure (read our review of Pee-wee’s Big Holiday). Reubens may keep the exact nature of his comedic talent close to the chest, but his passion for the work shines through. “It makes me happy,” he said.

Backing Reubens' sentiment, Rust said, “Liam Neeson can’t do that with Oskar Schindler.”