A Poignant Family Holiday Tradition
'A MATTER OR LAUGH OR DEATH' -- TV Christmas specials are quaint and nostalgic!
In my family, we have a lovely and poignant Christmas tradition. We gather in front of the TV with some hot chocolate and watch our all-time favorite holiday show: “Pee Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special.” If you’re familiar with this work of art, then you know the words “lovely” and “poignant” may not be the best adjectives. “Raucous” and “goofy” might be more appropriate.
If, on the other hand, you are not familiar with the late Paul Reubens’ iconic Pee Wee Herman man-child character and have never seen his Christmas special, there is no way you’ll understand why we find this show so entertaining.
You see, the character Pee Wee Herman is really weird. I mean, the word quirky doesn’t even begin to describe him. His brand of humor would have to stay in school for at least three more years to be considered sophomoric. Fortunately, my daughters and I have similar quirky senses of humor. So, we really enjoy all the goofy antics that occur in the show.
The gags and silly comments are delivered in rapid-fire fashion. In addition to the regular Playhouse characters, a stream of celebrities make appearances, usually for no more than a minute or two each. Here is the list: Laurence Fishburne, Annette Funicello, Frankie Avalon, Charo, Whoopie Goldberg, Cher, Magic Johnson, Grace Jones, k.d. lang, Little Richard, Joan Rivers, Dinah Shore, Oprah Winfrey, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and those world-famous musical geniuses, the Del Rubio Triplets.
As you probably know, humor is subjective. Different people find different things to be funny. (The weekly pile of emails I receive — half saying, “That ain’t funny,” and the other half saying, “You crack me up!” — is strong evidence.) Many people, if forced to watch the entire one-hour Pee Wee Christmas special, might not crack a smile once. Others, like my daughters and me, laugh out loud throughout the show. We also have much of the dialogue memorized, and blurt out key lines in unison.
An interesting twist to our long-standing tradition has been the addition of my two delightful sons-in-law. Neither of them saw the Pee Wee Christmas Special as children, so watching it a few years ago for the very first time as adults was rather interesting. Have you ever seen someone with a tight, forced smile, that clearly sends the message: “I really don’t get it”? That’s how my sons-in-law reacted that first time while watching the show. And they were even more uneasy observing us laughing loudly so frequently. However, I am confident they will come to appreciate the unique genius of Pee Wee Herman with an additional 20 or 50 or 100 forced viewings.
I think the reason my daughters and I enjoy watching Pee Wee’s special together is that it is very nostalgic for us. It brings back memories of over three decades ago when the girls were little, and we would curl up on the couch and watch the VHS tape I recorded when the show first aired in 1988. (It can be seen on YouTube now.) The girls laughed at the childish jokes, and then as the years went by, they began to understand the adult double-entendres contained within some of those jokes.
Pee Wee’s Christmas special is not religious. It’s nothing like the climactic scene towards the end of “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” where Linus recites from Luke’s gospel. That is a moment where the words “lovely” and “poignant” are appropriate. Besides Charlie Brown, there are other holiday specials we enjoy: Frosty, Grinch, Garfield, and Rudolph. (Hmm, that sounds like a law firm.)
Anyway, with the sacred holiday less than a week away, have a very Merry Christmas! And I brought you a present: a fruitcake!
(The column “A Matter of Laugh or Death” appears each week in the Republican-American newspaper, Waterbury, CT.)