Pee Wee Herman Talks About Crack Cocaine - PSA
This just got serious.
In 1991, Paul Reubens, a comic actor known for his famous Pee-wee Herman character, was arrested for indecent exposure after masturbating in a movie theater. In short, it leads to him spending 75 hours (close to 3 days) in community service, during which he starred in an animated public service announcement featuring his Playhouse character Penny. Though mostly forgotten at the time, many members of the public would then uncover the open secret that this had actually been his second time forcefully advertising against drugs, leading to the rediscovery of this gem of a PSA.
Synopsis[]
In the beginning, a narrator loudly reads out the bold lettered title shown on screen, "A SPECIAL SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT", before cutting to black. Two spotlights then turn on in a dark area, focusing on Reubens, who is sat in the middle of the room, camera equipment seen in plain sight. Seconds later, Reubens talks to you: "This, is crack", holding up a small ampoule of crack rocks. He goes on to state the following:
"It isn't glamorous, or cool, or kids stuff, it is the most addictive kind of cocaine, and it can kill you. What's really bad, is nobody knows how much it takes. So every time you use it, you risk dying. It isn't worth it. Look, everybody wants to be cool. But doing it with crack isn't just wrong... it could be dead wrong."
After, there is a transition to a card depicting a knocked over drug bottle, with an increasingly quickening heartbeat accompanying it. The pulse abruptly comes to a halt and a caption appears, "Don't even try it", then changing to "The thrill can kill".
Why It's Cursed[]
Unarguably, the PSA is emotional and very serious, unlike others. You can really tell how serious the typically comedic Pee-wee is. However, since he is a comedian, after all, and still wearing his iconic Pee-wee Herman outfit, some can't help but laugh at this, especially with his line "This... is crack." Reubens' minor, but noticeable case of rhotacism, also known as Elmer Fudd syndrome, does not help in the matter, making many of the words containing "r" come out in an unintentionally muddled up tone, akin to one of Reubens' cartoon characters. There is also the fact that he produces the vial of cocaine straight out of his own pocket, something that has obvious implications connected with it. An alert viewer may be lead to two possible conclusions, ignoring the staged nature of the PSA:
A: Reubens just carries around a handy flask of coke on him, for educational purposes or otherwise.
B: As could be expected from a multitude of celebrities, what he presented was sourced from his own private stash of the stuff, something that's not too outworldly to imagine, given his previous antics and extensive record.
Furthermore, Reubens himself is no stranger to drug usage and also got in trouble back in 1971 for possessing marijuana.
Scare Factor: None to high.
Trivia[]
- The PSA was part of the Reagan administration's "War on Drugs" campaign, which also featured other celebrities, including Kiss bassist Gene Simmons and actor Clint Eastwood, whose appearances were generally considered more convincing and grim in their delivery of the anti-narcotics message. A similarly cringe-inducing participant was actor Corey Feldman, at the time known as the poster child of drug abuse. All of these were aired from the mid 80's up until the 90's, primarily on children's channels and can still be found online.
- Contrary to popular belief, the commercial preceded the theater incident, having been sometime in the early eighties. It did however renew interest in Reubens, in turn leading to the popularization the now infamous video.
- The video was included at the beginnning of the 2023 horror comedy Cocaine Bear.