Dust off the old red bow tie! Paul Reubens finally confirmed what has been rumored for years — a new Pee-wee Herman movie is in the works! The actor and comedian shared the exciting news during The Tonight Show on Wednesday, Oct. 29.
“There is going to be one and I was hoping I could make this huge announcement tonight, but it’s a week away, I think, from being announced,” Reubens, 62, told host Jimmy Fallon.
“Judd Apatow is producing it still,” he continued. “This was all leaked three years ago.”
After the big reveal, the Blacklist actor brought back the beloved Pee-wee Herman dance during the Today show on Thursday. “I’m proud of that show,” he said. “We took it very seriously that we were affecting young minds. I’m excited that a whole new generation of kids may find it now.”
Reubens created the wacky grown-up boy character in the late ’70s while working with the L.A. troupe, the Groundlings. He introduced the lighthearted and quirky character in the 1981 TV movie, The Pee-wee Herman Show, and continued entertaining audiences from all ages in films Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985), Big Top Pee-wee (1988), and the Saturday morning TV series Pee-wee’s Playhouse, which ran from 1986 to 1990.
Reubens retired the character for several years in the ’90s after he was arrested in 1991 for masturbating in an adult theater in Florida. He came back as Herman on Broadway in 2010.
For more on Reubens — his earlier days as a comic and that one time he appeared as a contestant on The Dating Game — watch the video above!
