Pee-wee, Pterri, Cowboy Curtis, Miss Yvonne, Reba the Mail Lady, Chairry, Penny, and The King of Cartoons have never looked as good as they do in the new Shout! Factory Blu-ray boxed set of Pee-wee's Playhouse: The Complete Series, a painstakingly restored collection that is a boon for fans of the beloved 1986-1990 Saturday morning classic.

In honor of the release, we're dishing up 20 fun facts you may not have known about the Playhouse, from the TV shows that inspired Paul Reubens's creation to the next time you might see Pee-wee on the big screen. These facts are so fun, in fact, that we're sure you're going to love them. So why don't you just go ahead and marry them?

1. Paul Reubens, a member of The Groundlings comedy troupe, created a stage show called The Pee-wee Herman Show in 1980, following a failed audition for Saturday Night Live. HBO taped and aired one of the Herman Show performances in 1981. That led to the 1985 cult-classic Pee-wee's Big Adventure, which led to the debut of CBS's Saturday morning series Pee-wee's Playhouse on Sept. 13, 1986.

2. CBS originally approached Reubens to create a cartoon series, but the actor — a fan of classic live-action series like The Howdy Doody Show and Captain Kangaroo — countered with the idea of a live-action series that would be a less-adult version of The Pee-wee Herman Show.

View photos Laurence Fishburne as Cowboy Curtis and Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman More

3. Several future stars appeared as Pee-wee's Playhouse pals throughout the series' five-season run: future Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Laurence Fishburne played Cowboy Curtis; Golden Globe and Emmy winner S. Epatha Merkerson (Law & Order) was Reba the Mail Lady; Orange Is the New Black star Natasha Lyonne was Playhouse Gang member Opal; Reubens's Groundlings pal Phil Hartman (who also co-wrote Pee-wee's Big Adventure) was Captain Carl; Emmy winner and current Sons of Anarchy star Jimmy Smits played Conky repairman Johnny Wilson; John Paragon — best known outside the Playhouse for playing Cedric, half of the gay couple who menaced Kramer on Seinfeld — was genie Jambi; and Calvert DeForest — aka David Letterman's buddy Larry "Bud" Melman — played Rusty.

View photos Lynne Stewart as Miss Yvonne, Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman, and S.Epatha Merkerson as Reba, the Mail Lady More

4. That is Cyndi Lauper singing the show's theme song, even though one of her backup singers is credited as the performer. Lauper explained the situation in Cyndi Lauper: A Memoir: "[Pee-wee] wanted me to sing the theme song. I told him I would, but I couldn't have it under my name, because I was going to put out True Colors, which had a serious tone. In our superficial world, people couldn't accept both at the same time. So I sang the theme song using the pseudonym 'Ellen Shaw.' And then Paul sent me back a tape that was so hilariously funny, of me singing the theme with him in between saying, 'Oh no! My career is ruined, oh no!' He's a nut. I love him."