Pee-wee's Playhouse was a half-hour CBS USA TV Saturday morning live-action "children's show" starring Pee-wee Herman (played by Paul Reubens) that aired from 1986 until 1991 and was enormously popular with both children and adults. The show returned in reruns from 1998 to 1999 on Fox Family Channel (now ABC Family).

At the beginning of each show, viewers would learn the day's "secret word" and were instructed to "scream real loud" every time a character on the show said the word, which was given to Pee-wee by his robot friend, Conky. But he often was the sucker for his own tricks, as he accidentally said the secret word and everyone practically screams in his face. Also, throughout the series, Pee-Wee demanded silence (see below).

The show was notorious for its campy undertones and double entendre.

As soon as it first aired, Pee-wee's Playhouse fascinated media theorists and commentators, many of whom championed the show as a postmodernist hodgepodge of queer characters and situations which appeared to soar in the face of domineering racist, sexist, and heterosexist presumptions. In its first season, the show won six Emmys as well as other awards.

"I'm just trying to illustrate that it's okay to be different--not that it's good, not that it's bad, but that it's all right. I'm trying to tell kids to have a good time and to encourage them to be creative and to question things," Reubens told an interviewer in Rolling Stone.

Many now well-known T.V. and Film actors received their major break on the show, including Phil Hartman, as "Kaptain Karl;" Laurence Fishburne, as "Cowboy Curtis;" Jimmy Smits, as "Your authorized conky repairman;" and S. Epatha Merkerson, as "Reba the Mail Lady."

The music for the show was provided by artists such as Mark Mothersbaugh, Todd Rundgren, Danny Elfman and Van Dyke Parks.

The opening prelude theme is an interpolation of Martin Denny's "Quiet Village."

Characters include:

• Miss Yvonne
• Ricardo, the World's Strongest Man
• Mrs. Renee
• Mrs. Steve
• Pterri the Pterodactyl
• Cowboy Curtis
• Chairry
• King of Cartoons
• Tito, the lifeguard
• Jambi, the genie
• Randy
• The Beatniks, Dirty Dog, Cool Cat, and Chicky Baby
• Clocky
• Magic Screen
• Globy , the Globe
• Reba, the Mail lady
• Countess, the cow
• Penny

and of course Pee Wee Herman!

Times where Pee-Wee wanted silence

There were, however, several times where Pee-wee demanded silence, from both the characters, and perhaps the viewers watching the show.

• The first was in the episode "Love That Story" in which the gang was playing library, and Pee-Wee was the librarian. Miss Yvonne played one of the persons reading/studying. When the Playhouse characters, minus Pee-wee and Miss Yvonne, were screaming after Miss Yvonne said the word "End", Pee-Wee got so mad that he shouted "SILENCE!!" and made everyone fall quiet.
• The second time was in "Pee-Wee Catches a Cold". Magic Screen said the word "out", which, as usual, caused everyone to scream. Pee-Wee shouted, "STOP ALL THAT SCREAMING! CAN'T YOU PEOPLE HAVE A LITTLE CONSIDERATION?!" in which everyone fell silent. Miss Yvonne cringed in fear at the anger.