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. 

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💬 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. 

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“Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special” © 1988 Paul Reubens. 

Find us at adventcalendar.house. 

#s2 #1980s