Beauty Is Embarrassing

Documentary Spotlight
D: Neil Berkeley; with Wayne White

Chances are Wayne White has influenced you and you don’t even know it. Illustrator, musician, cartoonist, property master, painter, puppet master, actor, and, most notably for some, a key creative figure for the beloved Pee-wee’s Playhouse (as well as the creator and voice of the puppets Randy and Dirty Dog), White came up in New York’s infamous, early Eighties East Village tsunami of Warhol et al. before finding his way into chez Pee-wee. Three Emmys and an MTV Award for the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight, Tonight” video later, however, he continued to toil in Hollywood’s CGI salt mines. First-time director Neil Berkeley’s look at White’s everyday life and his perspective on the compromise and contradictions of art and family, as well as testimonials from disciples Mark Mothersbaugh, Matt Groening, Paul Reubens, and Todd Oldham, all make this a future perennial favorite on the order of Crumb.

Wednesday, March 14, 4:45pm, Canon

This article appears in March 16 • 2012.

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