It's so strange that we can have such an emotional reaction to the death of a person we've never met before. Paul Reubens died yesterday. In my assessment, he was a brilliant, committed, and innovative comedic actor. In the role of Pee Wee Herman and in any thing else I can recall seeing him in, his commitment to the bit, his attention to detail has always been impressive. Regardless of whether you "get" the concept of Pee Wee Herman, you have to respect that.
In my character work as a performer I always strived to (and never quite achieved) a similar level of commitment. Paul Reubens was the gold standard. Rest easy Pee Wee.