| Series Name | |
| Season 2, Episode 7 | |
 | |
| Air date | October 31, 1987 |
| Written by | George McGrath, Paul Reubens, and Max Robert |
| Directed by | Wayne Orr & Paul Reubens |
| Episode Guide | |
| previous Tons of Fun |
next Spring |
School is the 7th episode of Pee-Wee's Playhouse season 2.
Episode Plot[]
Pee-wee reads a book. The Playhouse Gang comes over and have a breakfast snack and watch a cartoon. Creativity with pipe cleaners. Everyone plays school (Pee-wee as the teacher, Magic Screen as Blackboard, Globey as Globe). Pee-wee teaches American history, Mrs. Rene teaches acting, then the gang does a fire drill (with even Globey and Conky evacuating). Pee-wee and the Playhouse Gang talk about jobs that they could have after the commercial break. Pee-Wee and the Gang play in a rock band. Clocky reminds Pee-wee that he and the Gang need to leave the Playhouse as well as end this show.
Characters[]
- Pee Wee Herman
- Chairry
- Dog Chair
- Magic Screen
- Mr. Window
- The New Playhouse Gang
- Rapunzel (last appearance)
- Fabian (last appearance)
- Lil' Punkin (last appearance, does not speak, singing only)
- Conky
- Ants (cameo)
- Fish
- The Dinosaur Family
- Floory (does not speak)
- Dirty Dog (cameo)
- Cool Cat (cameo)
- Chicky Baby (cameo)
- Pterri
- The Food from the Refrigerator
- Flowers
- King of Cartoons
- Randy
- Globey
- Christopher Columbus (stop motion debut)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt (stop motion debut)
- The People of the First Congress (stop motion debut)
- John Hancock (stop motion debut)
- Mrs. Rene
- Romeo (mentioned)
- Juilet (mentioned)
- Knucklehead (last appearance)
- Dentists
- Fireman (mentioned)
- Penny
- Cats
- Ladybugs
- Jambi
- Clocky
Trivia[]
- The Playhouse Gang and Mrs. Rene visit in this episode.
- The gang's rock band resembles that of the band formed by the royal triplets (Sonic, Sonia and Manic) in the cartoon Sonic Underground, which was produced years after Playhouse.
- Pee-wee (playing the role of a schoolteacher) tells the Playhouse Gang (playing the roles of students) to settle down when they scream to the secret word during their game. While this is way more gentle than the instances in Pee Wee Catches a Cold and Love that Story, this is the third instance in which Pee-Wee has requested for the denizens to keep quiet in the Playhouse. The fourth instance is an angry one in Heat Wave when he screams for "order", when everyone screams after Yvonne says the word "hear", one of the secret words of that episode.
- This is the first time that God is mentioned in this series, during the scene where school is played. It is said during the bit where everyone is saying the Pledge of Allegiance. America the Beautiful can be heard in the background but no one is heard singing to it also.
- Last appearance of Rapunzel, Fabian, Lil' Punkin, and Knucklehead. To this day, the actors for the three Playhouse Gang members have not come forward in interviews explaining the reasons for the character departures.
- Pee-wee makes a dinosaur out of pipe cleaners, while the dinosaur kids make a Pee-wee that does the Pee-wee dance.
- First time Pee-wee doesn't reveal the secret word; Rapunzel does it in this episode, but Pee-wee still gives the instructions.
- The secret word is said once in claymation footage, when Pee-Wee says he and the others can sign the Declaration of Independence with a ballpoint pen which makes writing easy, which makes the People of the First Congress scream when he says the secret word. However, this would have changed history, as ballpoint pens were not invented until centuries later.
- This is the only time Lil' Punkin uses her voice. She sings Stephen Sondheim's "Broadway Baby" from Follies, but has no actual speaking dialogue.
- Feature Cartoon: Pagan Moon(1932)
Notes[]
- Secret word: easy
- Connect-the-dots: none, even though Magic Screen is present
- Game: School
- Snack: Cereal and fresh fruit
- Wish: To play in a rock and roll band