Calling all loners, all rebels — 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure' is coming to Detroit with Pee-wee creator Paul Reubens

Dec 10, 2019 at 11:00 am
click to enlarge Calling all loners, all rebels — 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure' is coming to Detroit with Pee-wee creator Paul Reubens
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Heard any good jokes lately?

Though he may be funny, this is not a joke: Paul Reubens, aka Pee-wee Herman, is coming to Detroit for yet another adventure.

The creator of the quirky, subversive and, at times, surrealist world his equally offbeat character Pee-wee inhabits, Reubens announced Tuesday that he would be taking his 1985 cult classic film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, on the road to commemorate its 35th anniversary.

The film, which marked the full-length directorial debut for Tim Burton, follows Pee-wee on an adventure in search of his beloved red bicycle, which goes missing after he refuses to sell it to his suspect grubby-handed neighbor (though it is later discovered his bike is being used on the set of a movie).

The film paved the way for Reubens' Saturday morning children's program, Pee-wee's Playhouse, which ran from 1986-1990 and featured appearances by Laurence Fishburne as a Cowboy Curtis, Phil Hartman as Captain Carl, a baby Natasha Lyonne, Oprah Winfrey, and Grace Jones.


The 20-city trek will launch in February on the West Coast and will cycle through Detroit's Fillmore on March 22. The tour will include a screening of the film, as well as an appearance by Reubens, who will dish on behind-the-scenes moments from the film. (Here's hoping he talks about the pet shop rescue scene.)

Reubens' career was notably sidetracked in 1991 after he was arrested for pleasuring himself while in an adult movie theatre in Florida, and again in 2002 when he accepted a plea deal after he was arrested for suspected ownership of child pornography, which was later reduced to an obscenity charge, as Reubens confessed to possessing a massive collection of vintage erotica.

Most recently, the 67-year-old revived his classic character in 2016 for the Netflix movie Pee-wee's Big Holiday.

Tickets go on sale on Friday, Dec. 13, at 10 a.m. and can be purchased by visiting ticketmaster.com. Various ticket packages are offered through Peewee.com, including photo opportunities with the actor and exclusive merch bundles.


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