Pee-Wee Herman Returns with a Twitter Account...and a Jay Leno Interview

Last night, to the surprise of many, "Pee-wee Herman" began trending on Twitter only a few hours after new account for the character launched on the social network: @PeeWeeHerman (it has just been verified as legit). Earlier this year, Peter posted about a limited engagement at Hollywood's The Music Box in November marking the official return of Pee-wee Herman (actor Paul Reubens) to his subversive stage roots with The Pee-Wee Herman Show. Tickets have long since sold out. But the first real test regarding relevance, nostalgia, and the bottling of curious man-child magic arrived last night. And what worse place for Pee-wee to giggle coyly and crack abstinence jokes than on The Jay Leno Show? His awkward interview with The Prolonged Chin and a few thoughts after the jump...

My first impression is that Jay Leno still looks and sounds like a Dick Tracy villain and needs to be put down. Moreover, Pee-wee is definitely a little creepier with the current age and weight on him. And unlike, say Mike Judge with the recent return of Beavis & Butt-Head, Reubens appears to have a fair amount of trouble hitting Pee-wee's signature, zany high pitched notes. At times, it's as if Reubens is flittering in and out of a once contagious split-personality. Most the childhood stories are confusing and seem unprepared because of this.

That said, it's fitting that Pee-wee would return after fifteen years (...where was he? is a fun game) still wearing his red bow tie but worse for wear amidst an economic depression and multiple wars. Jay Leno's new audience-apparently it doesn't consist of happy children born to Tonight Show staff-sounds middling and uncomfortable, as if they want to laugh more but can't. Probably not unlike Leno's wife. If Reubens is indeed going ahead with Pee-wee's Playhouse: The Movie-still listed on iMDb for a 2011 release-he'll need to be much more convincing. Otherwise, why taint the legacy if Eminem can do the laugh better than the original genius himself?

Laughing Squid has made a video of Pee-wee sending out his first Tweet yesterday at a dotcom launch party. Reubens and his team still seem aware of how to get attention, but I wonder how modern day connectivity will impact his plan to play a Pee-wee that caters to adults as well as the more familiar, sugary version for children.

Featurette on Todd Solondz's Life During Wartime Starring Paul Reubens

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