The Late Paul Ruebens Makes Surprise Cameo in Awkwafina and Sandra Oh’s Comedy ‘Quiz Lady’

The crowd at the world premiere of Jessica Yu’s hilarious and heartwarming new film Quiz Lady knew they'd be watching Awkwafina and Sandra Oh, but no one expected to see the late Paul Reubens as part of a gag at the end of the picture. His appearance was met with gasps, “awwwwww's and applause. 

The extremely entertaining and zany film follows two sisters Anne (Awkwafina) and Jenny (Oh) on a quest to raise a ridiculous amount of cash to pay their mother’s gambling debt and get their dog back from a criminal mob. (It makes sense when you see it.) The big finale is set on a Jeopardy! type game show on a Los Angeles studio lot. 

Joining them on the quest is Holland Taylor, Anne’s grumpy neighbor. The cynical battle-axe loves one thing in life and one thing only: Alan Cumming. But she sometimes gets confused and thinks Paul Reubens — the actor best known for playing Pee-wee Herman — and Cumming are the same guy. No, this doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but they do kinda-sorta look alike.

Anyway, the big surprise comes at nearly the end of the picture, where Reubens is seen driving a golf cart through the Paramount lot. Taylor’s character thinks it is Cumming and, after Anne pleads with Reubens to play along, he does. It’s the one time we see the old crank smile. 

And everyone in the audience smiled, too. Reubens only has one or maybe two lines, but the moment in which he lets what he thinks is a dying woman live out her dream is quite touching. And he also does a Scottish accent.

This is quite possibly the last role Reubens filmed before he passed away in July, though the documentarian Matt Wolf announced in 2021 that he was working on a two-part documentary about the actor, produced by the Safdie Brothers for HBO.