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Paul Reubens Gave 40 Hours of Candid Interviews for a Pee-wee Herman Doc. He Died One Week Before the Final One

The two-part docuseries 'Pee-wee as Himself', directed by Matt Wolf, premieres May 23 on HBO.

The actor, renowned for his whimsical alter ego Pee-wee Herman, dedicated over 40 hours to a series of deeply personal interviews in 2023 for a documentary that aimed to “set the record straight” on the biggest controversies surrounding him, while also revealing some of the most intimate moments of his life that had never been shared with the public. Making sure his story came across as he intended was of the utmost importance to Reubens, who had been secretly battling lung cancer for six years, unbeknownst to the documentary team. His 1991 arrest for indecent exposure at an adult theater in Sarasota, Fla., became a major footnote in his life, and in 2002 he faced another legal hurdle when police raided his home and seized his collection of vintage homoerotic art, including materials they categorized as child pornography.

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