Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special

Tune in as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Pee-wee Herman’s Christmas special the only way we know how: With lots of screaming, lots of fruitcake, and lots more screaming.  ️ Erin Evans, Lindy Kempe, and Joey O. call into the Podcast Phone to embrace the wackiest holiday party of 1988.  The “Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special” is available for free on YouTube.  ****  Topics & Tangents:  Magic Johnson recorded his segment hours before playing in — and winning — a Lakers game. We don’t know the precise date, but one win was against the SuperSonics, possibly (but probably not) on Ice Cube’s “Good Day.”  One commercial break includes a bizarre Pringles commercial starring a young Brad Pitt.  “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday.”  When did fruitcake become a punchline? Christmas Past has something of an answer. Or is fruitcake a byproduct of the Joys of Jell-O era? The working script and storyboards for this special.  Who mailed Grace Jones to the Reagan White House?  Pee-wee in “Back to the Beach.”  The King of Cartoons’ cartoon: 1936’s “Christmas Comes But Once a Year.”  My feelings about snow mirror this one, particular Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, published 5 days after this special aired.  The awkward moment when we realize the Dinosaur Family has a pet dinosaur.  ****  “Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special” © 1988 Paul Reubens.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.