Greek Theater Audience Loves ‘Pee-wee’s Playhouse 40th Anniversary’ Show So Much, They Want to Marry It

Danny Elfman, Devo and the B-52s were among the guests joining host Patton Oswalt at the opening night of the Netflix Is a Joke festival.

By Chris Willman

Chris Willman

Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

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It was an “I know you’re bittersweet, but what am I?” evening. The annual Netflix Is a Joke festival kicked off Monday night at L.A.’s Greek Theatre with a “Pee-wee’s Playhouse 40th Anniversary” show , featuring comics and musicians paying tribute to a Saturday morning kids’ show — or was it — that they grew up on or, in some cases, worked on.

The main musical attractions were the B-52s, Devo, Danny Elfman and Puddles Pity Party, taking turns fronting a 10-piece big band led by Mark Mothersbaugh — and with Fred Armisen on drums — that nimbly navigated between exotica and some fairly fierce garage-rock. The comics performing, many of whom skewed toward the younger side of the Netflix-comedy-special scale, included Sheng Wang, Michael Carbonaro, Julio Torres and Patti Harrison.

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