“I Know You Are, But What Am I”

Published by Rick on Tagged Uncategorized

That was the most popular catch phrase used by Pee Wee Herman, whom I was working steadily with exactly 40 years ago. There are some things that appeal only to American tastes, and Pee Wee was one of those. I remember telling a British comic about working with Pee Wee, and he asked, “Was he the one caught wanking in a theatre?” Sadly, that’s his legacy across the pond, but 15 years ago, when the original HBO show I was in was reissued on DVD, I was sent a copy. It had been a long time since I’d seen it, so I thought it would be entertaining for my (English) then-wife and stepson. After about two minutes of Pee Wee’s opening antics, which I still found hysterically funny after all these years, my wife said, “Can we fast forward to your part?” It makes it all the more amazing to me that MY humour worked over here.

Forty years ago this month, the show was playing every Monday and Tuesday at the 500-seat Roxy Theatre on Sunset Boulevard, where the HBO special would also be recorded in July. It had moved up from the 99-seat Groundlings Theatre on Melrose, where we performed it every Saturday at 11 pm and it caught on so quickly that by the time we moved to the Roxy in May, there were over 3000 people on the waiting list.

The show itself was based on kids’ TV shows of the 1950’s, but with subtle hints at adult humour interspersed. Pee Wee was originally conceived within the Groundlings as a teenaged nerd attempting stand-up comedy. When I first saw him, it was possibly the hardest I ever laughed at any comedy act, though seeing Rodney Dangerfield (another American act not that well-known outside the US) was a close second. We had met Pee Wee (aka Paul Reubens) when we played LA’s Palomino Club in July of 1979. The Palomino, which opened in the early 1950’s, was mostly known for being a Country Music venue, but by the mid 70’s had stretched their format a bit. We came back to our dressing room, and saw three toy ray-guns waiting for us. Well of course we had to meet the person who had left such amusing gifts. We became instant friends, and about a month later I saw him at The Groundlings.

His act became one of the highlights of the Groundlings’ shows, and a year later, he put together what would become the prototype for the Saturday morning show he would have on CBS TV from 1986 to 1990, and another year in repeats until the “theatre incident” happened, which forced him into hiding for over a decade (It wasn’t well documented that all charges were dropped!). For the original show at the Groundlings, Ruby and I were enlisted to play the singing neighbours, Mr. & Mrs. Jellydonut (no idea where the name came from, it just appeared!), and we created a musical salute to Sly & The Family Stone, whose music also wasn’t that well-known in Britain except for “Dance To The Music,” his only UK top ten single. It provided a funky musical interlude for the show, which Paul was looking for. Sly Stone came to see the show once, and gave his approval. The clip remains on YouTube 40 years later.

It was a different experience for us, doing a theatre show every Saturday instead of working in night clubs, and a nice introduction to our newly found life in Los Angeles. Celebrities started coming to the Groundlings shows, including Steve Martin and Robert De Niro. My partner had to take maternity leave shortly after we had recorded our episode of “Mork & Mindy,” but during the time Ruby was away, Paul paired me with a musician friend of his, Tito Larriva. Tito had local success with a band called The Plugz, and more success later with another Latino-rock band The Cruzados, plus some notable work as a film actor. Together we came up with a tribute to Louis Armstrong, as both of us could do a pretty good impression of him, plus Tito could imitate a trumpet. On the HBO version of the Pee Wee show, in which Ruby was back in the fold, Tito found a role as Pee Wee’s goofy next door neighbour Hammy.

And what a bevy of talent was involved in that show! I had been thinking about writing about this time in my life, but needed more motivation than it just being 40 years ago. I got the impetus last week when I was informed of the passing of one of the cast members. John Paragon played the part of the genie named Jambi (named after Jambi’s, a bakery on Hollywood Boulevard), and it never ceased to amaze me how he kept re-writing his part from week to week and making it funnier each time. He also cracked me up once when I got him involved in one of my musical productions at the Comedy Store. I asked him to sing Andy Williams’ “Music To Watch Girls By.” His crooning ability was unbounded, but he got so wrapped up in it, he forgot the words to the song, and when he needed to rhyme something with “every street in town,” he paused, then sang “shit is brown,” as though they were the original words. I was playing guitar and lost it! Strange that John’s death was only announced last week, yet official records said he had passed away on the 3rd of April.

Even stranger than John’s death was the 1998 death of another main cast member who actually became more successful than Pee Wee. Phil Hartman, who played Pee Wee’s sidekick Captain Carl, was on Saturday Night Live for several years, starred in a popular sitcom called NewsRadio, and voiced several recurring characters in The Simpsons (Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz most notable). It all came crashing down on May 28, 1998, when his soon to be estranged wife shot and killed him while he was asleep, then hours later killed herself. Such a Hollywood story, and such a major talent taken away.

Happily, all the rest of the cast are still alive and well. Pee Wee was forgiven after all his troubles, and the original show was revived on Broadway in 2011, but with me being in UK and Ruby being just generally unavailable, we wouldn’t be a part of that revival. It’s OK, I still get residual checks from the 1981 show.

June 21st, 2021



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