"One of them had recently been a contestant on “The Gong Show” (1976-1980) and recruited the young actor, now going by Paul Reubens, to do a routine with her on the show. He agreed, despite the fact that up until this point he considered himself a serious dramatic actor and had not thought about doing comedy. Their routine, “The Hilarious Betty and Eddie,” was a hit with the judges. During the late 1970s, Reubens ended up appearing on the show 15 times, playing various characters and winning four times, but he always expected to be gonged.

The “Gong Show” experience led Reubens to an improvisational group in Los Angeles called The Groundlings, in which members were proactive in writing their own material and developing their own characters. Reubens already had more than a dozen or so characters, but in 1979, introduced a new character named Pee-Wee Herman in a Groundlings sketch that took such children's television icons as Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers one step further. Pee-Wee was a manchild-ish hybrid of Howdy Doody’s appearance and a children’s show host’s sensibilities, only with a slightly more mischievous side."

Gong Show... and serious actor. Who knew?

Not funny. I and my fellow Toledoan Jamie Farr would have gonged them.

i'm pretty sure that's Diane Salinger "Simone" at his side, but I can't find any net verification. Nice how Chuck calls him Paul as they are leaving the stage.

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hrm, a douche bag who got himself banned for two weeks posts what ?



hayyyyy ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

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