There were surprisingly few tears shed at Netflix Is a Joke’s 40th anniversary celebration of Pee-wee’s Playhouse on Monday, May 4th, despite the weight of nostalgia and the sad absence of the dearly departed Paul Reubens. Instead, the aim was pure and simple fun, an aim to capture everything about this singular creation of Reubens and his collaborators. The secret word of the night was “fantastic,” host Patton Oswalt and Conky 2000 revealed at the top of the show, and every time it was said, screams rang out in the Greek Theater in Los Angeles all night long. Just the way Pee-wee would have wanted.
Clips from the series were heavily featured, including an opening montage that led into Kate Pierson of the B-52s performing the Pee-wee theme with the house band for the night. Members of that band included DEVO’s Mark Mothersbaugh on multiple instruments — fitting, as Mothersbaugh made his TV scoring debut with Playhouse. Also keeping the beat going on drums was Fred Armisen, who did step away from the band midway through the show to put on a blonde wig and perform a tribute to The Del Rubio Triplets, alongside Pierson and her bandmate Fred Schneider.
On stage, the simple set design featured a few large pieces emulating the show’s original production: Oswalt called out how during rehearsal for the show, every performer was excited to walk through the signature zig-zag padded red door, a portal to childhood that everyone continued to be excited about during the night. The simplicity of the stage’s layout also left room for all of Pee-wee’s iconic puppet friends to be wheeled out for various bits. One sketch, involving Chairry and Pterri meeting Cheri Oteri, maybe ran out of juice once the bit involving their names got played out, but Oteri was charming and game about it.
Both The B-52s and DEVO performed their most famous hits, in a real “they’re here so why not” move: Gerald Casele and Mothersbaugh tossed surprisingly aerodynamic energy domes into the crowd during “Whip It,” and a human-sized lobster came out to dance when The B-52s followed up “Love Shack” with “Rock Lobster.”
They weren’t the only musical acts to perform: Five of the original Playhouse puppeteers also got to show off their talents as performers with a puppet-free number, and Puddles Pity Party (aka Michael Geier) came out in full clown regalia to show off his incredible singing voice (he also guested later with DEVO on “Beautiful World”). Additionally, Danny Elfman led the band in a rousing rendition of his classic theme for Pee-wee’s Big Adventure — his first job composing for the screen — followed by the song “Forbidden Zone,” which Elfman originally wrote for the movie of the same name by his brother Richard Elfman. Before launching into the eerie retro-themed track, he admitted he hadn’t performed it in 47 years.
Natasha Lyonne also appeared alongside Diane Yang Kirk and Shaun Weiss as veteran members of the Playhouse Gang, a moment that was cute but a bit underwhelming. In the most sentimental moment of the night, Bob the Drag Queen delivered a passionate and personal tribute to Playhouse’s Miss Yvonne, played by Lynne Marie Stewart (who passed away in 2025). Bob then did an inspired lip sync to “Whatever Lola Wants,” dancing with a Captain Carl lookalike.
Julio Torres at Pee-wee’s Playhouse 40th Anniversary for Netflix is a Joke Festival at The Greek Theatre on Monday, May 4, 2026 in Los Angeles, CA, photo by Sara Mally/Netflix
It was a night to wear your sparkliest, most sequined jacket — or your favorite grey suit with a red bow tie. If you could affix sequins to your favorite grey suit and bow tie, all the better. Comedian Julio Torres got to show off the best of both worlds with his appearance on stage in a vintage costume once worn by Reubens. He admitted to feeling a bit embarrassed by the fact that the pants a little tight on him, but still pulled off an inspired bit of physical comedy involving a can of Diet Coke.
Amongst the other comedians to perform was the very funny Sheng Wang, whose gentle set featured a lot of reverence for Pee-wee. Less reverent was Patti Harrison, who made things weird in her signature way, first using the day’s secret word as a punchline for a very dark joke, then getting a little scatological with some prop and costume work in a way that really defies description. However, anyone who watched the HBO documentary Pee-wee as Himself knows that Harrison’s mode of comedy was very much in line with Reubens’ own edgy sense of humor.
And Harrison’s wasn’t even the strangest bit of the night, though — the crowd was stunned into reverent silence by Michael Carbonaro, who performed an example of his shaving cream act that began as a moment of novelty and evolved into something truly on the level of art.
It all spoke, appropriately, to the madcap spirit of Pee-wee’s Playhouse, sanitized just enough for kids (there were some in attendance) as it captured the original show’s inherent irreverence. It was a night where silliness was the chiefest of virtues, where the best possible ending was of course a big dance party set to the song “Tequila.” Reubens should have been there. In some ways, he really was.
Pee-wee’s Playhouse 40th Anniversary for Netflix is a Joke Festival at The Greek Theatre on Monday, May 4, 2026 in Los Angeles, CA, photo by Mandee Johnson/Netflix © 2026
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