Entertainment TV Paul Reubens: 'I Never Said I Didn't Want to Be Pee-Wee Herman' "I went out of my way for quite some time to try and make people think that he was a real person and there wasn't an actor behind it all," says Reubens By Patrick Gomez Patrick Gomez Patrick Gomez is the Editor in Chief/General Manager of Entertainment Weekly. Formerly at People magazine and The A.V. Club, the Critics Choice and Television Critics Association member has appeared on 'Today,' 'Extra!,' 'Access Hollywood,' 'E! News,' 'CNN,' and 'Nightline,' and can be seen frequently on 'Good Morning America.' Follow the Texas Native at @PatrickGomezLA wherever your media is social for all things 'For All Mankind' 'Top Chef,' and puppy related. People Editorial Guidelines Published on March 23, 2016 10:35AM EDT Photo: Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP; Glen Wilson/Netflix In the late 1980s, Paul ReubenswasPee-wee Herman. “I went out of my way for quite some time to try and make people think that he was a real person and there wasn’t an actor behind it all,” the actor says in the current issue of PEOPLE of the man-child he created as part of an exercise at the infamous Groundling’s improv studio in the late ’70s. Reubens never imagined his goofy alter ego would be a success. But in 1985, Reubens found himself on the big screen starring in the cult favorite Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. By the following year, his kids’ show Pee Wee’s Playhouse was running on CBS Saturday mornings. In a few years’ time, Reubens was simultaneously preparing his second Pee-wee film, Big Top Pee-wee and working on seasons 4 and 5 of Playhouse. It was too much. • For more on Pee-wee’s big return – including why Joe Manganiello jumped at the opportunity to be a part of Pee-wee’s Big Holiday – pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday “I never said, ‘I don’t want to be Pee-wee anymore.’ I loved what I was doing,” he says. “But I needed a break.” Shortly after Playhouse went off the air in 1990, Reubens found himself back in the spotlight – this time entrenched in a scandal, after being arrested for public indecency at an adult movie theater in Florida. It was years before he worked steadily again, but he also enjoyed the time off. “I traveled. I spent time with family and friends. And I wrote,” he says. In 2010, Reubens revived his original Pee-wee stage production, The Pee-wee Herman Show. During the show’s Broadway run, Reubens was approached by producer Judd Apatow about creating a new Pee-wee adventure. The result is the new film Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, which is currently streaming on Netflix. “I get to do something I love, that I created and that I made all the rules up to,” Reubens says of happily putting Pee-wee’s gray suit and red bow tie back on and resurrecting that infectious giggle. “It’s been fantastic. I couldn’t have asked for a better adventure.”