Some flavor of HBO is now running Pee-wee as Himself, a two-part documentary on the life ‘n’ times of Paul Reubens, aka Pee-wee Herman. I have a flurry of e-mails from folks saying things like, “You knew the man and worked with him…is it a fair representation of the guy?”
Here’s my answer as of this moment and it’ll probably be the same after I get around to watching the doc: I dunno.
True, I worked with him and knew him but not that much. I can probably name at least a hundred people I know who spent way more time with Paul than I did. Some of them were “in the trenches” with him on projects where much was at stake in terms of fame, power and/or cash. Such situations can easily bring out one’s best side…or worst side…or both…or neither. My encounters with him were reasonably pleasant and stress-free but as one of my agents once reminded me speaking about someone else, “Even a chronic ax-murderer isn’t murdering someone with an ax every second of the day.”
I’m not suggesting Paul was anywhere near the ax-murderer category but in all the years of my silly existence, I’ve met a few who came close. They could be very nice, friendly sorts when there was no reason for them to go all Mr. Hyde on you. And sometimes, there are very good reasons for them to suppress that tendency. A few Comic-Cons ago, someone asked me about an individual in the comic book industry who has (or maybe had) a terrible reputation as some sort of monster…
WELL-MEANING FAN: I met him once and he was so nice to me and everyone around. Can you explain why people say he’s such a horrible person?
ME: Well, what were the circumstances of you meeting him?
WELL-MEANING FAN: It was at a convention. I was buying an autograph from him and telling him how much I admired his work.
I may have quoted a similar conversation with someone else before on this blog. This happens a lot and I guess it’s taught me not to judge anyone by how they are in any given casual encounter. Another time, I told the same agent I quoted above that I was getting along fine with a certain producer. The agent said, “Well, just wait. He may not have seen a good reason yet to fuck you over.” And a few weeks later, I guess this producer found one and he sure gave it his all.
He was an exception. So were most of the people in my life who caused me to think, “It’ll be better for me to stay away from this person.” My list of Individuals-To-Be-Avoided is very short and it includes some folks who others in my world get (or got) along with just fine. I got along fine with Paul Reubens. I get along fine with most people. But that doesn’t mean that everyone would or even that I would in different circumstances.
Interviews with Matt Wolf, the gent who made the documentary (interviews like this one) show that he spent hundreds of hours talking to Paul about personal things and still can’t sum the guy up in a few short sentences. I spent way less time with Reubens talking about trivia and non-personal matters and whether a certain joke could be made funnier. So do you see why I take the position of “I dunno?”
Which is not to say I won’t watch the documentary Mr. Wolf made. It will doubtlessly show sides of Paul that I never saw…and I guess that’s my main point in this essay: To say that there were sides of the man that I never saw. Maybe that’s a good thing.
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