Former Playhouse Gang member Shaun Weiss wanted to attach the dots.

The actor, maybe finest recognized for taking part in Greg the Goalie in The Mighty Geese, took a current stroll down reminiscence lane on Pod Meets World, the "rewatch" podcast for the Nineties kid-friendly sitcom Boy Meets World, hosted by the present's grown-up stars Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle, and Rider Robust.

Along with a prolonged audit of his 1998 visitor look on Boy Meets World, Weiss mirrored on his audition for the manic kids's selection sequence Pee-wee's Playhouse when he was solely 6, and shared a candy story about assembly Paul Reubens for the primary time that attests to the type of man Reubens was.

"I'm undecided that I actually understood the distinction between actual life and flicks [at that time]," he mentioned.

After Weiss "stayed up all night time" to memorize 5 strains for his audition, his mother "schleps" him in to New York on a three-hour journey along with his mother, then there was "all of the ready," however he didn't care as a result of he was going to do a scene with the lovable, bow-tie-wearing Pee-wee Herman. Or was he?

"So I get into the room, and Paul is there, however he's not in character. He's simply Paul Reubens, and he's obtained a beard, and he has glasses. And I simply didn't consider it was him," he confessed to the hosts.

"I do know I'm solely 6, however don't f— with me, proper? The place's Pee-wee?" Weiss recalled (defiantly) asking.

'Boy Meets World' guest star says he was 'hormonal' in lap dance scene Paul Reubens movies and tv shows beyond Pee-wee Herman

Realizing younger Weiss was confused, Reubens left the room for a short time, and got here again remodeled into the Pee-wee Herman character in full costume.

Upon being launched to Pee-wee, Weiss informed Reubens, "Pee-wee, I simply gotta let you realize earlier than you bought right here, there was some man, and he was telling everyone that he was you."

Desperate to play alongside, Pee-wee responded, "Yeah, that was Paul, he does that to everyone."

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Clearly, the audition labored, as Weiss appeared as the child character Elvis 3 times, alongside fellow season 2 Playhouse Gang member Natasha Lyonne.

Weiss additionally revealed that being on the set of Pee-wee's Playhouse at such a younger age dazzled him with the craftiness of movie-making. He claimed that "there was a man sitting inside Chairry," however, actually, we refuse to consider such poppycock.

Whereas Paul Reubens will at all times be finest remembered for taking part in Pee-wee Herman, the performer, who died at age 70 in July 2023, had his share of further roles, most notably as an FBI agent in Matilda (1996) and because the sickly, inbred Mitteleuropean Prince Gerhardt on one of many finer episodes of 30 Rock (2007).

For curiosity's sake, it is best to take a look at two of his appearances in Cheech & Chong motion pictures — Cheech & Chong's Subsequent Film (1980) and Cheech & Chong's Good Goals (1981). That final one is especially disquieting, as a result of Reubens, doing an early model of "the Pee-wee voice," performs a coke fiend.

Reubens' remaining function was as himself… pretending to be Alan Cumming within the extraordinarily entertaining, Jeopardy-tweaking Awkwafina-Sandra Oh street comedy Quiz Lady.

Along with Boy Meets World, Weiss appeared on Freaks and Geeks, The King of Queens, and Crossing Jordan. He entered rehab in 2018 after a sequence of arrests, however was arrested once more in 2020 for housebreaking whereas reportedly being excessive on meth. In 2022, he introduced he was two years sober, and was quickly after solid within the 2023 faith-based, Kelsey Grammer-led movie Jesus Revolution about Lonnie Frisbee, a frontrunner within the so-called "Jesus Freaks" motion.

Take heed to Weiss' full interview on Pod Meets World under:

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