Cheech And Chong Christmas Song

Comic-Con: Fast and funny Pee-Wee Herman invades Hall H

SAN DIEGO - Since Disney decided not to bring "The Muppets" to San Diego to help promote their new movie this fall, my guess is the most direct hit of bottled childhood available to Comic-Con attendees walked out onstage today to thunderous applause in a familiar grey suit and red bowtie.

Ostensibly, Paul Reubens appeared to promote the upcoming home video release of "The Pee-Wee Herman Show On Broadway," which appeared on HBO, but it really felt more like he showed up just to say hello and answer some questions.  They opened the panel with a clip from the show, the opening few minutes of the special, and then Eric "Quint" Vespe walked out to start the panel with no announcement or preamble from anyone else.

That's appropriate.  When I went to see "The Pee-Wee Herman Show" in Los Angeles at LA Live with my wife and my son, Eric was also there that night.  He and another friend flew in expressly to go see the show, and talking afterwards, it was obvious that the night meant quite a bit to him.  To see him sit onstage in Hall H steering the conversation with Pee Wee is a great pleasure, and it came across much better than a more polished promotional thing might have.

When "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" was on TV, I was a senior in high school, and while I was a fan of the character from "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" and the original Groundlings show that HBO aired in the '80s and from his Cheech & Chong work, I did not spend my Saturday mornings watching the series.  I really fell in love with that show when Toshi was about a year and a half old and we started showing him the DVDs of the series, and I have real admiration for what that show was and how it was made.  But Eric, though… he was an original run "Playhouse" kid, and listening to him talk about growing up with the show, it was clear that he was nervous and thrilled in equal measure.

Then Pee-Wee took the stage, and the response was just pure warm embrace, a big wave of excited applause.  Eric brought up the LA show and how much he enjoyed it.  "We changed it a lot after that.  It was different on Broadway."

"Oh, so you're saying I haven't really seen the show, then?" Eric said.

"No.  The HBO show is the final version."  And from there, the conversation jumped to pretty much anything and everything.  Reubens told a story about an April Fool's Day joke he played on an executive at Paramount during the making of "Back To The Beach."  In that film, he showed up for one scene to perform "Surfing Bird," and it was one of the big selling points of the movie.  The week before release, Reubens called the exec and said, "Hey, I'm sorry, but Warner Bros. Records is where I have my record deal, and they just told me that legally I can't perform a song in the movie."  The exec dropped the phone and started shrieking at someone, and Paul couldn't even tell him it was a joke because he wasn't listening anymore.

Robert Pelfrey: Best & Worst Christmas Songs

I attended a gathering at the Abilene Women's Club yesterday for whom I was to be the "entertainment." My lovely wife went with me and we enjoyed a nice brunch with the group, followed by my bit. I was instructed to do some "Christmas" songs, by which was meant tunes appropriate for...well, an Abilene Women's Club brunch. I admit I cringed a bit while weeding through my options--slim pickins to say the least. My final set list was: "O Come, All Ye Faithful," "Blue Christmas," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "O Little Town of Bethlehem," and "Silver Bells." I was not thrilled with this set; and the fact that, after I sang "Blue Christmas" in my best Elvis baritone, a younger-middle-aged woman stood up and shouted out, "Let's see those hips shaking!" is exactly why I feel the set didn't quite convey what Advent is about. But hey, I'm a pastor who likes to have fun, and a good performer has to know his audience. Plus, the tunes I chose were decent, sounded good on my guitar, and got the Christmas-sweatered ladies in the spirit--that is to say, the spirit of shopping and parties and TV specials and Christmas sweaters.

I'm loving the thoughtful contributions here, especially regarding the renditions. "God Rest Ye..." by Garth Brooks, Jason's careful description of "O Holy Night" by a female voice, but NOT over the top--who doesn't know just what he's talking about :>)--and I share Thomas' love for Bono's raspy rendition of "Christmas (Baby Please...)." Good stuff...some new and old required listening for all of us this season.

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