“Any Good Jokes?” The Second That Saved Paul Reubens’ Profession

By the autumn of 1991, it regarded like the tip of Paul Reubens and his beloved persona, Pee-wee Herman. After his extremely publicized arrest that July on costs of indecent publicity at an grownup movie show in Sarasota, Florida, Reubens had turn out to be a nationwide laughingstock, and the actor had retreated totally from the general public view.

CBS immediately pulled syndicated episodes of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, and refused to air the ultimate 4 episodes of the collection, for which manufacturing had ended the earlier yr. Toys-R-Us removed all Pee-wee toys from their cabinets. Reubens would finally plead no contest to the fees, however within the courtroom of public opinion, many believed his profession was over.

As a substitute, Reubens—who died of cancer on Sunday, at age 70—pulled off one of the crucial unlikely and sudden comebacks in present enterprise historical past. And he did it with 5 phrases: “Heard any good jokes currently?” he requested a cheering crowd after strolling onstage through the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards.

The self-deprecating one-liner drew a standing ovation from the group, obtained glowing media reviews, and helped salvage Reubens’ publish–Pee-wee profession. However the memorable second got here solely after weeks of discussions and deliberations, in addition to Reubens’ personal doubts about whether or not to take the stage in any respect and what to say as soon as he bought there.

MTV’s Pitch

Within the weeks main as much as the VMAs ceremony on September 5, 1991, MTV executives had thought-about a number of attainable concepts to kick off the present, in keeping with Doug Herzog, the community’s senior vice chairman of music programming. “It was a part of common MTV brainstorming,” Herzog said. “We have been sitting round considering of what fascinating issues we might do with the present, and we simply got here up with the concept of Pee-wee opening the present.”

Paul Reuben’s mugshot following his arrest in Sarasota, Florida on July 20, 1991

MTV contacted Bender, Goldman & Helper, the Los Angeles–based mostly publicity agency Reubens employed to handle media relations following his arrest. The agency had already been giving thought to how, if in any respect, Reubens may make his public comeback, they usually rapidly agreed the VMAs have been a wonderful alternative, in keeping with the Orlando Sentinel.

“[Reubens] was involved about what he’ll say and what he’ll do when it comes time to say one thing to the general public,” agency partner Larry Goldman said. “He felt this was step one in that path, to make contact with the general public once more—to get that a part of the comeback out of the way in which. We felt followers ought to see him and know he’s doing OK.”

However Reubens wasn’t so positive at first, according to Entertainment Weekly. He wasn’t satisfied it was the precise time or place to talk. It took an excessive amount of convincing by MTV to influence him, and Reubens insisted it needed to be a shock, in keeping with Salli Frattini, the present’s government producer.

“We saved after him,” Herzog said. “We have been going forwards and backwards for some time. He wanted to get comfy with the concept. When he bought comfy with it, he agreed.”

A Nervous Pee-wee

Goldman mentioned Reubens’ long-standing relationship with MTV, and his excessive regard for the community, was one other consider his choice to take part.

“After the incident, they confirmed their assist, which he appreciated,” Goldman said. “After we began enthusiastic about what we might do to let his followers know he’s nice and doing properly and he’s on his approach again, showing on the MTV awards was a pure. That viewers is his viewers, and he’s comfy with them.”

Nonetheless, Reubens was extraordinarily nervous the day of the present. He was snuck into a personal holding space under the stage by means of a again door, as a result of “if individuals knew about it, he wasn’t going to indicate up,” Frattini said. Solely a small handful of crew members even knew he was there, she mentioned, and one among them noticed him pray earlier than taking the stage, according to the Sentinel.

Reubens’ look wasn’t rehearsed, and it was Reubens and his individuals who wrote his strains, not MTV. “We had given him a couple of concepts of what to say, however these have been actually his phrases,” Frattini said. Because the present started, Reubens took to the stage sporting his full Pee-wee Herman apparel for the primary time in more than a year.

The gang cheered wildly; it proved to be the one spontaneous ovation of the entire present, according to the Los Angeles Times. After thanking the group a number of occasions, Reubens delivered the now-famous “Heard any good jokes currently?” line, adopted by his well-known Pee-wee punchline “So humorous I forgot to giggle,” earlier than introducing the remainder of the present.

The Comeback Begins

After the present, Reubens was “elated” by the enthusiastic crowd response, according to the Sentinel. Critics have been equally effusive. MTV called it “one among VMA historical past’s greatest moments,” and Entertainment Weekly wrote, “Proving he had the gumption to poke enjoyable at himself… Pee-wee had escaped from the stigma of being a punchline.”

“Herman’s was the proper comeback, emotional even in its excessive brevity by the hint of nervousness actor Paul Reubens belied in resurrecting his childlike character,” Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Occasions wrote in a review of the present. “It was a touching and humorous TV second.”

Paul Reubens had a supporting function within the 2001 film Blow following his comeback.

The second kicked off a modest comeback for Reubens, whose profession had been on life assist simply days earlier. He went on to look in a wide range of movies all through the Nineties, together with in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), Batman Returns (1992), The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas (1993), Duston Checks In (1996), Matilda (1996), and Thriller Males (1999).

Reubens earned an Emmy nomination in 1995 for his string of visitor appearances on the tv collection Murphy Brown. He additionally earned rave reviews for his supporting flip as a hairdresser turned drug supplier in Blow (2001), starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz. He even introduced Pee-wee Herman out of retirement, starring on Broadway in The Pee-wee Herman Present in 2010, and the Netflix authentic film Pee-wee’s Big Holiday in 2016.

And it was all made attainable by that one memorable second on the Common Amphitheatre stage in Los Angeles in 1991. As The Atlantic wrote, it was “step one in direction of his profession revival.”

Senior Information Editor, Biography.com

Colin McEvoy joined the Biography.com workers in 2023, and earlier than that had spent 16 years as a journalist, author, and communications skilled. He’s the writer of two true crime books: Love Me or Else and Deadly Jealousy. He’s additionally an avid movie buff, reader, and lover of nice tales.