You know, I didn’t feel old until I discovered that this year, 2011, represents the 25th anniversary of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. And as part of the celebration around this, the folks at Image Entertainment sent out a copy of The Pee-Wee Herman Show On Broadway for us to review, and if this looks familiar to you, well, you’ve probably recognized it from a variety of previous selections. But we’ll also get plenty of new features too.

Once again, we go back out to the place that can only be described as where we go when we want to go to do what we want–or possibly as a gigantic but largely benign insane asylum–where Pee-Wee Herman, his various friends (some old and some new) and various animated chunks of furniture and giant puppets alike, have a variety of adventures and just plain bizarre occurrences.

You might notice some differences, if you’ve been keeping up with Pee-Wee for any length of time. For instance, you might notice that for some reason Cowboy Curtis (played more than ably by Phil Lamaar) is doing most of the lines that would have been done by Captain Carl (formerly done by Phil Hartman), up to and including the subplot in which Miss Yvonne and Cowboy Curtis fall for each other. But much of the original work is still in tact. Yes, all the greatest parts of Pee-Wee Herman lore are still in effect, from the Secret Word (when anyone says the Secret Word, scream real loud) to a Penny cartoon. But there will be some new stuff going on here, like the reaction of Pee-Wee’s various puppet friends to Pee-Wee’s intention to get a computer into the playhouse.

And the combination of old and new mixes surprisingly well into a larger whole that’s pretty much as funny and as thoroughly preposterous as you’d likely expect from a guy who’s been playing an overgrown six year old for the last twenty five years. In fact, it’s amazing that Paul Reubens–still playing Pee-Wee–can still put up a presentation with this kind of energy and sheer vivaciousness even after twenty five years.

But either way, you’re still going to get a thoroughly bang-up time with this one, and a ton of laughs here. Some jokes will fall flat, but some will be an absolute delight. I had a great time with this one, and chances are you will too.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives The Pee-Wee Herman Show On Broadway an eight out of ten for being packed with laughs, even if they are somewhat unoriginal laughs, especially if you’ve been around for a while. But for an unquestioned shot of nostalgia, well, you’ll definitely be in for a great time.