If there’s a se to be ma for nurture vers nature, I’d have to p to Pee-Wee’s Playhoe Christmas Special playg at least a small role my personal ltle gay velopment. The primetime special, ially aired December 1988, is some of the greatt — and gayt — holiday TV of all time. Now, as of this week, the special (along wh the rt of the Pee-Wee’s Playhoe seri) is available on Netflix to light a whole new generatn. For a children’s program, was an credibly unique world, blendg retrofuturist glz wh absurdist humor, a richly diverse st, and a touch of moraly. “I’m jt tryg to illtrate that 's okay to be different — not that 's good, not that 's bad, but that 's all right,” Rbens told Rollg Stone about the seri. “I’m tryg to tell kids to have a good time and to enurage them to be creative and to qutn thgs.” Pee-Wee’s Playhoe Christmas Special, wrten by Pl Rbens and John Paragon, follows Pee-Wee (Rbens) as he preps the playhoe for the holidays. The special don’t fd Pee-Wee vised by ghosts of Christmas past, prent or future, but do feature more gay ins than the last three New Now Next Awards bed. There are appearanc om Ante Funicello, Grace Jon, k.d. lang, Dah Shore, Oprah, Whoopi Goldberg, Cher, and many more alongsi playhoe regulars like Lrence Fishburne (Cowboy Curtis) and S. Epatha Merkerson as Reba. Don your gay apparel and relax wh some of our favore clips, AFTER THE JUMP …
Contents:
- PEE-WEE HERMAN WAS ALWAYS A GAY IN
- THE QUEERG OF PEE-WEE HERMAN: HOW THE GAY IN REF QUEER BOUNDARI BEYOND SEXUALY
- GAY INOGRAPHY: PEE-WEE’S BIG HOLIDAY ADVENTURE
- PEE-WEE'S BIG HOLIDAY
PEE-WEE HERMAN WAS ALWAYS A GAY IN
Pee-wee never had a “gay subtext.” For everyone but the willfully ignorant, was always jt text. * pee wee's big holiday gay love story *
); and he gets a makeover by a gaggle of fabulo hairdrsers led by Darryl Stephens, the oime star of the gay-foced Logo work’s sadly parted seri Noah’s Arc. But for many s-long fans, this one clud, Pee-wee never had a “gay subtext.
But Pee-wee’s edy is more than jt sly gay suggtn.
THE QUEERG OF PEE-WEE HERMAN: HOW THE GAY IN REF QUEER BOUNDARI BEYOND SEXUALY
If the world around this PG hero an R-rated world is fabuloly gay, Pee-wee still hasn’t the slightt clue * pee wee's big holiday gay love story *
His persona actively celebrat mp, particularly the kd of mp that elevat the language and style of the 1950s, when gay love was addrsed evasively, if at all.
And that’s what love looked like to many gay kids like me.
Pee-wee’s Playhoe arrived 1986 as a children’s show, but was so packed wh queer signifiers that beme appotment viewg for many gay men.
GAY INOGRAPHY: PEE-WEE’S BIG HOLIDAY ADVENTURE
Not only do gay ins k. In other words, the only way a viewer uld not see Pee-wee’s Playhoe as “gay” was to actively ignore the pk signifiers lterg s set.
Particularly for gay men who were children the ‘80s, havg Rben’s subversive queer character vamp on Saturday morng TV was a gift, even if we uldn’t have articulated exactly what we were watchg at the time.
PEE-WEE'S BIG HOLIDAY
Pee-wee’s noted lack of tert the fairer sex has long led to speculatn about his sexualy—wh the implitn that he’s gay. The movie never plays down s potential homoerotic elements: Asi om Pee-wee’s clear overexuberance at servg Joe Manganiello a kshake, the character velops somethg of a csh on the hunky actor (and who uld blame him? The film’s overt gayns led many, like BuzzFeed’s Louis Pezman, to clare a “queer romance.
Johnson add that the character has always been gay, even back the days of “Pee-wee’s Playhoe. In Pezman’s say, he refers to homosexualy as the “subtext” of “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, ” but if we’re beg hont, ’s the ntext. “Pee-wee’s Playhoe” might as well take place a gay bar.
The joke is that if the world around him is fabuloly gay, Pee-wee hasn’t the slightt clue.