HBO’s new two-part docu-series “Pee-wee as Himself,” streaming Friday, prompts an eye-opening reconsideration of the phenomenon that was Pee-wee Herman, the celebrated children’s host whose shows conquered television, movies and Broadway.

Pee-wee was created and performed by Paul Reubens. Matt Wolf, the documentary director and interviewer, had a dramatic “making of” behind-the-scenes saga that matches the film’s surprise-filled portrait.

Over 10 days Wolf spent 40 hours interviewing Reubens as they struggled over who had control over what was being made. As an artist Reubens had opened his enormous archives — of his performances and various collections — to the filmmaker.

Rare clips and interviews, home movies and history attest to his astounding, expansive popularity which was nearly destroyed by dramatic, seemingly career-ending controversies.

First, when Reubens was arrested in a Florida adults-only cinema for exposing himself.

He successfully resumed his career as an actor in movies like “Buffy the Vampire Killer.” Then he was labeled a pedophile. There was no basis for the accusation.

Wolf covers it all. But Reubens cut off cooperating, just before he would address the harm and hurt he felt from being smeared.

When he finally agreed, the day before that interview Reubens, who had been secretly battling cancer for six years, suddenly died on July 30, 2023. He was 70 and left Wolf a message he recorded that last day.

In a virtual press conference, Wolf, 43, was asked how he hoped Reubens would be remembered.

“Paul understood the value in being complex and I would say this isn’t a ‘legacy project’ because it shows Paul in his full complexity.

“I hope the film positions him as one of the most groundbreaking performance artists of his generation who in a singular way broke through into mainstream pop culture.

“I know that he transformed me. He transformed how I see the world — and where I went as a creative person. And it’s so clear that I am not alone in that feeling.

“People who grew up on Pee-wee or were big fans of Pee-wee, seeing the film, I hope, will help them tap into intangible and specific ways how transformative his work was for them.

“It really is a gift to revisit early seminal experiences you had and to see how they reverberate in you. So to me, this isn’t so much about saying ‘Paul Reubens is a genius.’

“I mean, that’s overly idealizing and I don’t like hero worship. It’s more about understanding why many of us have connected to his work and understanding where he lives within a legacy of performance art, television and also broader pop culture.”

“Pee-wee as Himself” airs Friday on HBO