Paul Reubens (who you know as Pee-Wee Herman) breaks his silence about his public indecency arrest

  Paul Reubens has broken his silence about that fateful night in 1991: Not-Shocking!

The saga of Pee-Wee Herman is not, it would seem, complete.  After years of opting not to discuss the 1991 arrest that led to Pee-Wee's fall from grace, Paul Reubens has finally decided to start talking about what happened that night.  Or, rather, what didn't happen that night.  In an exclusive interview with Playboy, the comedian maintains his innocence and expresses shock and hurt over the fact that his fellow comedians "kicked (him) while (he) was down".  It's good that Reubens is finally addressing this stuff, I suppose, if only to get it off his chest, but is anyone still really outraged by that situation?  Are there still parents seeking to protect their children from Reubens?  In any event, we've got some interesting quotes from the forthcoming review for you below, my gentle Examiner readers...

When I was a kid, Pee-Wee Herman was the bee's knees, and as far as I'm concerned, the dude still knows how to wreck shop.  Not only has Reubens acquitted himself as a comedian, he's also proven to be an adept dramatic actor, popping up in a handful of indie films over the past decade and showing his acting chops.  The guy's kind of brilliant at what he does, and the fact that anyone's still talking about his 1991 arrest for allegedly masturbating in a public porn theater (I know, shocking) seems ridiculous.  That it's Paul Reubens that's doing the talking is...well, kinda strange, but I suppose he had to get it off his chest sooner or later.  In an exclusive interview with Playboy, Paul Reubens finally opens up about the arrest:

Had we gone to trial, we had ready an expert from the Masters and Johnson Institute who was going to testify that in 30 years of research on masturbation the institute had never found one person who masturbated with his or her non-dominant hand,” Reubens divulges in the latest issue of Playboy (which hits newsstands Friday). “I’m right-handed, and the police report said I was jerking off with my left hand. That would have been the end of the case right there, proof it couldn’t have been me.”

Thus spake Reubens on how he would've defended himself in court.  As you might recall, the situation was resolved when Reubens entered a "No Contest" plea, which seems odd in the wake of the revelation that they had a good defense to move forward with.  Perhaps Pee-Wee's lawyers weren't convinced that this Masters and Johnson expert would be enough to win the trial?  Anyway, Reubens goes on to discuss how hurt he was by his fellow comedians mocking his troubles at the time the arrest occurred:

I turned on the TV and saw people I mistakenly and naively thought were my friends making jokes about me. That was really painful. I knew Arsenio Hall, and his guests were Patti LaBelle and Luther Vandross, who were also my friends,” Reubens told the men’s magazine. “I was just sitting there going, ‘Oh, they’re making jokes about me.’ I turned the channel to Jay Leno, who was also saying some snarky things. I get that it’s their job, but I had already said the allegations weren’t true and felt I deserved the benefit of the doubt from them. Make a joke about me but also just say, ‘By the way, he’s been a friend of our show for many years.’ I was shocked people would kick me when I was down.”

As we mentioned above, Reubens has kept himself busy in the years since, and recently rebooted the Pee-Wee franchise with a series of live stage shows in L.A. that were enormously successful.  The last we heard, Reubens and Judd Apatow were teaming up to produce one of two new Pee-Wee screenplays that Reubens has written (we're pulling for that project to come together quickly).  As for the public and their perception of him now, Reubens has this to say:

People said, ‘The public has such a short memory.’ I knew it wasn’t true. The public has a memory like a steel trap…Two years ago I was on a flight back to L.A. from the East Coast and it was one of those newer planes where every seat is equipped with its own little live satellite television screen. … I look over to the bulkhead one row in front of me, and I see a TV monitor there showing my mug shot, which then morphs into a picture of Pee-wee,” Reubens added. “And I realize, ‘Oh my God, they’re showing my E! True Hollywood Story—live!—to every seat in this airplane.’ I felt as though I was going to have to jump off the plane.”

People, stop being mean to Pee-Wee.  This is just depressing.  And buy tickets to his new movie when it opens, for God's sake.  This is the man that gave us the Playhouse: show some respect.

Stay tuned for more funny videos, news, reviews, interviews, recaps, photos, and more from the Comedy Examiner's Office in the near future, folks.  We took a mini-vacation from the world's comedic goings-on this weekend, but we're back with some pretty exciting stuff this week.  Hit the "Subscribe" button up top so that you don't miss out, and check out these other recent Comedy Examiner articles while you're here:

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(photos: top--mtv.com, bottom--loyalkng.com)