I KNOW YOU ARE BUT WHAT AM I

My friends and I were OBSESSED with Pee Wee Herman when we were in high school. The mix of queer sensibility and kitsch just enthralled me. We quoted lines from "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" ALL THE TIME.

Some of my favorite Pee Wee isms:

"I don't make monkeys, I just train them."

"Why don't you take a picture, it lasts longer."

"Where's the basement?"

"Large Marge sent me."

"I know you are but what am I."

Whatever Paul Reubens did or didn't do to himself in the dark of a porno theater really should not have brought Pee Wee and Reubens pariah status. In today's world, the incident probably wouldn't make a lasting blip. After a nearly 20 year absence, it's great to have Pee Wee back!

Here's a very funny clip of him on the new Jay Leno Show.