Which Cheech And Chong Movie Has Pee-Wee Herman & Why Is His Role So Different?

You wouldn't think the whimsical world of Paul Reubens and the daffy, slightly more grown-up stoner comedy of Cheech and Chong would somehow collide, but in 1980, the two met and intermarried. "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie" features Reubens playing a smug bellhop who tries to ruin Tommy Chong's day and is nearly punched out and arrested for his troubles. It turns out the bellhop has a night gig doing stand-up comedy as Pee-wee Herman. His act, too, is ruined by Chong and eventually devolves into a bar-wide brawl. The film serves as Pee-wee's very first big-screen appearance. 

Reubens put forth a performance that's both prophetic and frankly foul-mouthed. For every blurted "I know you are, but what am I?" there's a string of F-bombs. As the bellhop, his language is stronger, but even while in character as Pee-wee, Reubens puts up a middle finger in response to Chong's heckling. 

Why is this early version of Pee-wee so risque? One could argue that it's because he's playing the foul-mouthed bellhop who has a gig at night as the more wholesome Pee-wee, and he can get away with much more under that pretext. It's also worth noting that "Pee-wee's Playhouse" didn't start life as an all-ages act, but as a nighttime show put on by Reubens and his fellow Groundlings. Thusly, early iterations of life in the Playhouse occasionally featured blue humor. By the time it became a theatrical sensation, Reubens had ironed out the production's kinks — and Pee-wee became a kiddie show host for real. 

Paul Reubens' lucky break arrived because of Cheech and Chong's determination to use local talent in their film. Both actors wanted collaborators who could keep up with their own improvisational talents. According to the American Film Institute Catalog, quoting the AMPAS library file for "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie," Tommy Chong attended five separate Groundlings shows before deciding who he'd cast in the movie. He also scoured Los Angeles improvisational shows to pick the right supporting players. That resulted in Reubens and fellow Groundlings (and future stars) Edie McClurg and Cassandra Peterson and many other members of the troupe being cast in the film in minor or supporting roles. For Reubens and Peterson, it amounted to some of the first national notices they ever received.

Reubens would later resurface in "Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams," where he would play the drug-addled Howie Hamburger Dude, who steals Cheech and Chong's money, wears pajamas under a blazer, speaks in an unusual voice, and laughs as the comedy duo is carted off by a crowd of leering, unusually dressed people. It's quite a way to introduce a character to the world, and Reubens made an impression that will last an eternity.