Pee-wee Herman Stages a Return

Looks like Pee-wee Herman's secret word is "comeback." Actor Paul Reubens, who played the enduring character on Pee-wee's Playhouse, plans to bring him back to life in a stage show early next year.

Reubens spoke with Details magazine about reviving his career in the wake of child pornography and indecent exposure scandals. His plans include a live stage show -- and he hopes to make a new movie.

"Yes, that's right: The 57-year-old actor, best known for embodying the oddball man-child with the puppet friends (and also for two tawdry scrapes with the law), is about to don the skinny suit again to perform as Pee-wee for the first time in 19 years," reports Amy Wallace for Details. "Starting in early January in Los Angeles, Reubens will star in an elaborate live show in which Pee-wee yearns to fly, gets his wish, and then gives it away. For anyone who likes allegories, as Reubens does, this one is a doozy."

Wallace says that Reubens's ultimate goal is to make a film, as he did in 1985 with Pee-wee's Big Adventure.

"That screenplay, in fact, is the main reason Reubens is taking Pee-wee back onstage: He wants -- needs -- to prove to the Hollywood machers that he can still pack a house," reports Wallace. "He doesn't want to do it forever. Just long enough to convince 'five people at five studios' that he's bankable. 'I can't walk into somebody's office with my background and expect they're going to see it, you know?' So he's going to prove it to them. He hopes. 'It's a drag to have tabloid baggage. It's weird to have your career be a footnote to that, especially when you love what you do.' But he's over it, he says. 'I'm not giving people that power anymore.'"