Herman

For Matt Wolf, the man behind “Pee-wee as Himself,” about Paul Reubens and his alter ego Pee-wee Herman, it was important to craft a nuanced portrait.

Developing his comedy stylings at the Groundlings, Reubens is shown making a beeline towards fame, achieving it when “The Pee-wee Herman Show” became a hit on stage, then through a TV series and movies.

It is also joyful and delightful in a way that needs no explanation because it is full of Pee-wee Herman, knocked down to rise again.

The carefully constructed boundary between Paul Reubens and Pee-wee Herman was all but annihilated when Reubens was arrested for indecent exposure in 1991 at an adult movie theater in Sarasota, Fla., where his parents lived.

Herman broke many barriers in her prolific career, and the outpouring of praise since her death suggests how she empowered others to do the same.