S. Epatha Merkerson, Jimmy Smits, and Lynne Stewart. Future heavy metal musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie was a production assistant, and future filmmaker John Singleton was a security guard. Season 3 (which consisted of only three episodes) included an all-star Christmas special featuring the regular cast, with appearances by Annette Funicello, Frankie Avalon, Magic Johnson, Dinah Shore, Joan Rivers, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Little Richard, Cher, Charo, k.d. lang, the Del Rubio triplets, and Grace Jones. Humans Puppet and object characters Reception Critical reception As soon as it first aired, Pee-wee's Playhouse fascinated media theorists and commentators, many of whom championed the show as a postmodernist hodgepodge of characters and situations that appeared to thumb its nose at the racist and sexist presumptions of dominant culture. For example, Pee-wee's friends, both human and not, were of diverse cultural and racial origins. In its entire run, Pee-wee's Playhouse won 15 Emmys, as well as other awards. Captain Kangaroo'''s Bob Keeshan hailed the show's "awesome production values," adding, "with the possible exception of the Muppets, you can't find such creativity anywhere on TV." "I'm just trying to illustrate that it's okay to be different — not that it's good, not that it's bad, but that it's all right. I'm trying to tell kids to have a good time and to encourage them to be creative and to question things," Reubens told an interviewer in Rolling Stone. On November 1, 2011, in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the show, a book by Caseen Gaines called Inside Pee-wee's Playhouse: The Untold, Unauthorized, and Unpredictable Story of a Pop Phenomenon, was released by ECW Press.Inside Pee-wee's Playhouse – Book Website Retrieved July 29, 2011 Awards and nominations 14th Daytime Emmy Awards – 1987 Outstanding Makeup – Sharon Ilson (won) Outstanding Hairstyling – Sally Hershberger and Eric Gregg (won) Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design – Gary Panter, Sydney J. Bartholomew Jr., Nancy Deren, Wayne White, and Ric Heitzman (won) Outstanding Film Sound Mixing – Rolf Pardula and Ken Hahn Outstanding Videotape Editing – Paul Dougherty, Doug Jines, Joe Castellano, Les Kaye, and Howard Silver Outstanding Graphics and Title Design – Prudence Fenton and Phil Trumbo (won) 15th Daytime Emmy Awards – 1988 Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design – Gary Panter, Wayne White, Ric Heitzman, Jeremy Railton, James Higginson, and Paul Reubens (won) Outstanding Makeup – Ve Neill (won) Outstanding Videotape Editing –