Paul Reubens, aka Pee-wee Herman, played a guest star role on last night’s episode of the ABC sitcom The Conners.
Reubens played “Lanford’s official historian” Sandy Bitensky on Season 2, Episode 8, titled Lanford, Toilet of Sin. Sandy was researching for an article about the Conner’s eatery, the Lunch Box.
His character was able to help the Conners by writing an article in which he asked the people of Lanford to help Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) re-launch the eatery.
Fans first saw Reubens in a clip of the new episode posted on The Conners’ official Instagram page ahead of the show last night.
“Why yes, that is Paul Reubens!! See him tonight in an all-new episode of #TheConners,” the show announced.
Fans reacted with delight:
“Pee wee love it!”
“Yay, Paul Reubens!”
“This is gonna be good.”
In last night’s episode, Dan discovered mold after opening the wall to do repairs at the Lunch Box. Although the mold did not pose any health risk, Dan realized they would need to make costly repairs to save the building.
Jackie was sad because she couldn’t afford the repairs. But Reubens’ character, Sandy, came to the rescue. He wrote an article appealing to the people of Landford to pitch in to help Jackie.
The community responded to Sandy’s appeal and rallied to help.
Who is Paul Reubens?
Paul Reubens was born in Peekskill, New York, on August 27, 1952, but grew up in Sarasota, Florida. His mother, Judy, was a teacher, and his father, Milton Rubenfeld, was a car salesman.
He attended Sarasota High School and Boston University. He left Boston University to enroll at the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied acting.
Reubens is a comedian best known for portraying the comic fictional character Pee-wee Herman, originally on The Pee-wee Herman Show. HBO produced a special about the show and the character in 1981.
HBO’s special helped to popularize Reuben’s comic character and he starred in the feature film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985), directed by Tim Burton. Big Top Pee-wee was released in 1988.
Reubens also appeared as Pee-wee on CBS’s Emmy Award-winning children’s series Pee-wee’s Playhouse (1986-1991).
Reubens played other roles in Batman Returns and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Netflix released Pee-wee’s Big Holiday in 2016. More recently, he appeared in What We Do in the Shadows (2019) and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (2018-2019).
The Conners airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on ABC.