Which Comedians Are Your "Primary Colors?"

Pee Wee Herman was not just a character, but a genre

I watched the excellent documentary “Pee Wee Herman As Himself.” It’s a long interview with Paul Rubens (Pee Wee Herman), mixed with tons of archival footage, telling the story of his rise to fame.

I’m not a massive fan of Pee Wee. I like him a lot, it’s just I’m the wrong age for him to have dominated my imagination. But I was captivated by this documentary.

It shows a hugely talented comedic actor who found great success but also struggled with needing to control the perception of him. He was a closeted gay man in a time when careers would end if someone admitted they were gay. He was unfairly charged with harmless/nonexistent crimes twice that weirdly forced him to speak publicly about a personal life he tried to avoid —- that 1980s America would probably have preferred he ignored!

It’s a kind, thoughtful look at Rubens — his talent, his desire to control his own public narrative, his influences. You see him be so effortlessly funny and smart in the interviews and realize how much he COULD control the attention of a room, a conversation, a meeting.

Pee Wee Herman Is A Genre

It also made me appreciate something that is likely old news to most comedy fans: that Pee Wee Herman is not just a character. He’s a performance style. He’s a genre.

PEE WEE HERMAN’s whole deal is a primary color of comedic performance. Like he is one of the ingredients many folks who came later used to make THEIR comedies.

Pee Wee’s “primary color” is something like: earnestness. Selective breaking the fourth wall. Mischief. Sweetness. The art design.

Like, take Pee Wee talking to Miss Yvonne on the phone. It’s a mixture of a Mister Rogers-talking-to-the-children-at-home sweetness, but also snark. It’s like he’s both winking to the audience AND being genuine.

So Earnest It’s A Parody

I see a lot of this vibe in this early sketch from the folks from A Kiss From Daddy (UCB sketch team). I love this sketch — and it’s more than just the premise of “guy is obsessed with telling people he’s giving his cat a bath.” It’s Neil Campbell’s naive business man vibe. It’s Pee-Wee-ish.

Now watch this Mike Hanford “Grinch diss.” I think this video is one of the funniest things. And when I first saw it, I was like - What IS this I’m laughing at? Is it Hanford’s childlike vibe? Is it the bad singing?

And while watching the Rubens documentary I realized - It’s Pee Wee. This is a Pee Wee video in modern times. Being aware of the camera. Childlike energy. On-purpose-awkward-dancing, but also a really precise performance.

Credit where credit is due: it was my girlfriend, watching the Pee Wee documentary with me, who first noticed that Pee Wee’s energy was something I’d described in sketches before.

Letterman: Another Primary Color

It’s a fun game to try to distill a comedy piece into its influences — its “primary colors.”

Speaking of things that have Pee Wee DNA in them, see this moment of Comedy Bang Bang (TV show version).

Clearly, there’s the Pee Wee vibe mixed in this show. But as I watch it, you can also see a lot of David Letterman, especially in Scott’s performance.

So, yeah, David Letterman is ANOTHER primary color. The whole disaffected “Folks, wake the kids, phone the neighbors, you’re gonna want to see this, it’s Brother Theodore!”

Like when Dave asked Bill Gates in 1995 “What’s this whole Internet thing, you heard about that?”

Chris Gethard Show: Letterman + Stern

Let’s keep playing. How about the Chris Gethard show? I’d say the general vibe is a mixture of DAVID LETTERMAN (self-deprecation, smirking at your own silliness) and HOWARD STERN (the calls from listeners, the brutal honesty).

Chris reads this Substack and I could honestly probably just search for an interview because I’m sure he’s probably said what his main influences were, but it’s more fun to guess!

Other Ingredients

What makes a comedian a primary color? I’d say one thing is if regular people try to talk/act like them.

I’d say Jerk-era Steve Martin is a primary color. I’m talking the screaming naive “HE HATES THESE CANS” era Steve.

I feel like lots of REGULAR PEOPLE I KNEW in the 80s would just kinda… talk like Steve Martin when they were being funny. They would literally put on his “Wild and crazy guy” voice and say “Well, look who it is, Will Hines? As I live and breathe?”

Jerry Seinfeld is another one. Right? People just openly talked like Seinfeld for like 10 years in regular conversation.

Please Don’t Destroy: 50% Lonely Island, 50% Pee Wee?

How about Please Don’t Destroy’s bit with Rami Malek? I would say this is 50% Pee Wee and 50% Lonely Island (if that’s fair — all SNL filmed sketches owe something to Lonely Island). Especially when they start calling him “Rami Malek” - first and last name - that’s very Pee Wee to my (dumb) ears.

Others

I feel like SNL’s “Weekend Update” is a primary color. I’m thinking primarily of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler era — but I’d include Fallon and Seth Myers —- that smiling, smart “uh, really? are we kidding, here?” kinda thing.

I’m writing this so fast. Am I making any sense at all?

Primary Color = Very Subjective

Of course, the comedians I’m citing as “primary colors” are ones I know well, and that I grew up with.

I’m sure if you’re writing sketch in the UK these days, you’d have a different list of “primary colors.” Chris Morris? Steve Coogan? Matt Berry? David Mitchell? Hugh Laurie?

If you’re younger you would likely have people I’ve never even heard of. Maybe Conner O’Malley, or Hannah Pilkes or Kate Berlant.

Now my brain is jumping around too much. Is Bernie Mac a genre? Carol Burnett certainly was. Are Bob & Ray too niche to bring up? Mel Brooks?

Anyway, this is fun. Let me know of YOUR personal “primary colors” of comedy.

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Plugs

• The World’s Greatest Improv School: The improv school I run with Jim Woods and Sarah Claspell. We’ve got classes online, in LA and even a few in NYC!

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