Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special
Episode description
Tune in as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special the only way we know how: With lots of screaming, lots of fruitcake, and lots more screaming.
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🎙 Guests:
Erin Evans (@mserinmevans).
Lindy Kempe (@ieatvideogames).
Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, Words with Nerds, @ImGonnaDJ24).
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💬 Topics & Tangents:
1. 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.”
2. One commercial break includes a bizarre Pringles commercial starring a young Brad Pitt.
4. 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?
5. A mini ode to the Picture Phone, a giant, stationary Skype machine.
6. The working script and storyboards for this special.
7. Who mailed Grace Jones to the Reagan White House?
8. Pee-wee performing Surfin’ Bird in Back to the Beach.
9. The King of Cartoons’ cartoon: 1936’s Christmas Comes But Once a Year.
10. My feelings about snow mirror this one, particular Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, published 5 days after this special aired.
12. 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.
Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.
Say hi on Twitter @adventcalhouse.
Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.