TMC
07-24-2025, 08:56 PM
https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/1344
Filmmaker Matt Wolf talks about the serious artist at the core of the beloved children’s entertainer.
Alex Halberstadt, Matt Wolf
Jul 17, 2025
Pee-wee as Himself, Matt Wolf’s surprisingly frank documentary about Paul Reubens, has an unusual goal. “I wanted to make a portrait of Paul as an artist,” Wolf says, “and not to tell the story of the comedian or the media controversies.” The figure who emerges from Wolf’s film is a performer with a broad array of influences ranging from Gary Panter’s underground comics to Frank Capra’s Hollywood films to the art of Andy Warhol. As Pee-wee Herman, his famous character and alter ego, Reubens brought these influences to his singular television show, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, which confounded most expectations of children’s entertainment. As Wolf told me, “Reubens saw Pee-wee Herman as a Conceptual art project.”
I recently spoke to Wolf—whose film has been nominated for five Emmys—about Reubens’s early years, the many artistic influences behind the beloved TV character, and Wolf’s own reasons for making the film. —Alex Halberstadt, Senior Writer, Content and Editorial Team
Filmmaker Matt Wolf talks about the serious artist at the core of the beloved children’s entertainer.
Alex Halberstadt, Matt Wolf
Jul 17, 2025
Pee-wee as Himself, Matt Wolf’s surprisingly frank documentary about Paul Reubens, has an unusual goal. “I wanted to make a portrait of Paul as an artist,” Wolf says, “and not to tell the story of the comedian or the media controversies.” The figure who emerges from Wolf’s film is a performer with a broad array of influences ranging from Gary Panter’s underground comics to Frank Capra’s Hollywood films to the art of Andy Warhol. As Pee-wee Herman, his famous character and alter ego, Reubens brought these influences to his singular television show, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, which confounded most expectations of children’s entertainment. As Wolf told me, “Reubens saw Pee-wee Herman as a Conceptual art project.”
I recently spoke to Wolf—whose film has been nominated for five Emmys—about Reubens’s early years, the many artistic influences behind the beloved TV character, and Wolf’s own reasons for making the film. —Alex Halberstadt, Senior Writer, Content and Editorial Team