Pee-Wee Turns 20

IV: THE COMEBACK KID
Other than an appearance at MTV's 1991 Video Music Awards (during which Herman asked the audience, ''Heard any good jokes lately?''), Pee-wee stayed out of sight for most of the '90s. (Reubens hasn't performed as the character since 1992, when he participated in a Grand Ole Opry tribute to Minnie Pearl.) Fox Family Channel aired the show briefly in 1998, DVD and video releases have been successful, and Cartoon Network's nightly airings attract nearly 1.5 million viewers. The series' playful tone and eye-popping visuals have informed everything from kiddie TV like Blue's Clues and Beakman's World to recent videos like OutKast's ''Morris Brown.''

Panter: Half the people in the world hated Pee-wee and half the people in the world loved Pee-wee. [They] still love him. I teach at [New York City's]School of Visual Arts, and all my 22-year-olds grew up loving Pee-wee.

White: It was the last hurrah for kids' shows, a postmodern good-bye to it all. It was an ironic — and sad — look at that era, [which] just doesn't exist anymore.

Reubens is currently at work readying Pee-wee's long-gestating third feature film, which could find Playhouse denizens like Chairry and Globey interacting with the real world.

Reubens: It's not something that I can discuss, [but] I would not be shocked to be in preproduction early next year.

Fishburne: If Paul asked me [to do the new movie], and I read the script, and I thought ''Wow, we could have fun doing that,'' why not? People often tease me about it: ''Oh, you played Cowboy Curtis!'' I'm like, ''That's right! I did!''

Merkerson: As long as they can open some seams in the postwoman's outfit, I would love to [do the movie].

Reubens: Am I nervous about being Pee-wee again? Not really. Not since I found out about digital retouching! The time seems really right. As I've watched all these things from the '80s come back, I think, ''Okay, it's Pee-wee's turn.''