Paul Reubens’ final story unfolds in HBO Max’s Pee-wee as Himself, a revealing documentary shaped after his death by director Matt Wolf.
Paul Reubens never told director Matt Wolf he was dying. That revelation only came when the world learned on July 31, 2023, that the man behind Pee-wee Herman had passed away from a private six-year battle with cancer. For Wolf, who had spent over a year interviewing Reubens for an ambitious two-part documentary and was just one week away from their final session, the shock was immense.
Now streaming on HBO Max, Pee-wee as Himself is the result of that deeply emotional collaboration—one that nearly fell apart in 2023 due to creative control tensions. Reubens, fiercely protective of his image, initially refused to let Wolf direct. “He wanted to direct his own documentary,” Wolf recalled. “He couldn’t fathom why he would cede control of telling his own story.” After over a year of building trust, Reubens relented—but not without resistance.
“He was the most resistant interview subject I’ve ever encountered,” Wolf admitted. Their phone conversations, which they began recording early on, captured a dynamic that revealed Reubens’ wit, stubbornness, and hesitation. “He was rebelling against the process—procrastinating, teasing, being adversarial in a funny, wink-wink way,” Wolf said. What seemed like roadblocks became part of the story. “This was showing Paul’s discomfort and uncertainty about really showing and sharing himself.”
When Reubens died, Wolf was left with over 40 hours of footage and a monumental task. “I went to work the day after Paul died,” Wolf said. “I was aware that this was an extraordinary situation and that the stakes were the highest I had ever experienced.” Driven by purpose, he immersed himself in the 1,500-page transcript and transformed their work into a tribute—not a puff piece, but an honest, emotionally complex portrait of a man both public and private.
Pee-wee as Himself explores Reubens’ childhood, his early improvisational theater roots, his Saturday Night Live rejection, and how these shaped his total commitment to the Pee-wee Herman character. It also confronts deeply personal topics, including Reubens’ sexuality. In the film, he speaks candidly about living openly as a gay man before later retreating back into the closet. “He had always intended to come out,” said Wolf, who felt a generational responsibility as a fellow gay artist to help Reubens tell that story with nuance.
Of course, no look at Reubens’ life would be complete without addressing the controversies that derailed his career. The second part of the documentary covers his 1991 arrest for indecent exposure in an adult theater, and a 2001 charge of child pornography possession—later reduced to an obscenity charge and probation. “He wanted to set the record straight,” Wolf said. “But that, to me, felt like the least interesting part of the film. The art was always more important.”
Wolf, whose previous documentaries spotlighted figures like Arthur Russell and Marion Stokes, brought the same unflinching curiosity and compassion to Pee-wee as Himself. “I didn’t want a celebrity biopic with platitudes,” he said. “I wanted to make a portrait of an artist.”
Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Pee-wee as Himself drew emotional responses from audiences, whether they were lifelong fans or simply curious about the man behind the bowtie. “I wanted a film with a big range of emotions—from joy and delight to tragedy and sorrow,” Wolf said. “Paul contained all of that. And I wanted the viewer to feel it.”
Ultimately, Pee-wee as Himself isn’t just about Pee-wee Herman. It’s about Paul Reubens—the artist, the icon, and the man few truly knew. Now, thanks to this poignant, deeply human documentary, we all get a little closer.
