‘Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure’ Star Paul Reubens Revealed That the Alamo Actually Has a Basement

Actor/comedian Paul Reubens, famously known as Pee-Wee Herman mused about how the film Pee Wee’s Big Adventure referred to the Texas Alamo as having no basement.

In a quest to find his stolen bicycle, Pee-Wee heads to Texas, believing that his bike is in the basement of the Alamo. But after an endlessly boring tour, Pee-Wee is mocked by the tour guide who says, “There’s no basement in the Alamo!”

But there actually is a basement, something Reubens commented on in an interview in 2016.

Yes Pee-Wee, there is a basement in the Alamo

“This is a basement in the Alamo but it’s very misleading. When I wrote Big Adventure and we were looking up the Alamo in the World Book Encyclopedia,” Reubens told Texas Standard. “The World Book at that time said, ‘no basement in the Alamo.’”

“The whole complex [inside] the Alamo and there are basements there,” he continued. “But the actual building that everybody looks at and goes, ‘That’s the Alamo,’ does not have a basement.”

Paul Reubens | Warner Brothers/Getty Images

“The Texas Film Commission met us … we were like nobody. When Tim Burton was 26 years old nobody knew who any of us were. Pee-Wee Herman was unknown and they treated us like we were special.” Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure was Burton’s 1985 directorial debut.

“They met us at the plane and took us to a Tex-Mex restaurant,” he recounted. But the next morning the Tex-Mex hit their stomachs since none of the crew were used to eating Tex-Mex.

“We had a camera on a tripod. I put on my suit, I ran into the Alamo, ran out of the Alamo and we got on a plane and flew away,” he added. “That was it. We were there very briefly.”

Friends and fans fondly remember Paul Reubens

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure launched Reuben’s career, which was sometimes controversial. His friends and fans reflected on his life, after he died on July 31, 2023, at age 70.

“Shocked and saddened,” Burton wrote on Instagram. “I’ll never forget how Paul helped me at the beginning of my career. It would not have happened without his support. He was a great artist. I’ll miss him.”

EG Daily, who played Pee-Wee’s love interest Dottie wrote, “Paul, the Pee Wee to my DottieI am so grateful for getting to do this amazing ride with you. Thoughtful, brilliant, kind and loved. R.I.P My sweet friend. Love you xx EG / Dottie.”

Comedian Randy Rainbow shared a text exchange he had with Reubens, posting about how they stayed in touch over the last year.

“Oh boy, this hurts,” Rainbow shared on Instagram. “Paul reached out to me last year and we stayed in touch ever since. He remembered every holiday (he was just sending me dozens of weird GIFs for my birthday three weeks ago, and my one Christmas card from him is now a prized possession.) He’d randomly text me links to stuff he loved, like an old episode of ‘That Girl’ guest starring Ethel Merman which he was obsessed with. I had no idea he was sick. I never got to be in the same room with him, and I now wish I had thought to say something more profound during our conversations, but I feel so lucky to have gotten to tell him how much he meant to me. Love you, Pee-wee. Thank you for making us laugh and waking up our imaginations with your crazy beautiful art. You were truly egg-salady.