The Boston Globe

‘Pee-wee as Himself’ is a bittersweet look at the price of fame

The two-part HBO documentary series, “Pee-wee as Himself” follows in the footsteps of “Faye,” “Sly,” and “Martha”; that is, it’s a film where the subject speaks for himself in interviews conducted by ...
NPR

'Pee-wee as Himself' is a portrait of a private man and his public alter ego

Pee-wee As Himself tells the story of how a kid who grew up adoring The Little Rascals and I Love Lucy went on to revolutionize sketch comedy and children's television. In 1986, one of the most ...
The Hollywood Reporter

A Tense Dynamic With Paul Reubens Led to The Moving ‘Pee-wee as Himself’

Pee-wee Herman was director Matt Wolf’s dream subject for a documentary, he says. By Matthew Jacobs thrnews@thr.com Streaming services are teeming with celebrity documentaries, but few of those movies ...
Salon

“Pee-wee as Himself” director says working with Paul Reubens was “contentious” and “thrilling”

Even as Reubens wanted to impact kids with TV the way it impacted him, he lost part of himself by having his alter ego pass as a real person. Director Matt Wolf shrewdly recounts Reubens’ life and his ...
Los Angeles Times

‘Pee-wee as Himself’ gives Paul Reubens the final word on his identity

“I was born in 1938 in a little house on the edge of the Mississippi River; my father worked on a steamboat and his name was Steamboat Milton,” says Paul Reubens by way of misdirection in Matt Wolf’s ...
IndieWire

Making ‘Pee-wee as Himself’ Nearly Broke Director Matt Wolf

Inside the year Paul Reubens effectively shelved the Emmy-nominated documentary, and how it changed Wolf as a filmmaker and person. Wolf’s introduction to Reubens came through Josh and Benny Safdie, ...