Character
Peewit (Fr. Pirlouit, commonly called Pee-Wee in English) is a supporting character of the Smurfs cartoon show, who has appeared on the show from Season 2 to Season 8 and in the "non-canonical" Smurf story "The Smurfs And The Magic Flute". His first appearance in any visual media is in the Johan And Peewit story "The Goblin of Rocky Wood". He is a court jester who is a constant companion of Sir Johan and attempts to entertain others with his mandolin and his off-key singing. He usually travels around on a goat named Biquette (called Annie in the English comic book version of "The Smurfs And The Magic Flute").
Appearance
Peewit is short with blond hair, including an oval-shaped head and bulbous nose (similar to the Smurfs). He wears a red hat, green tunic, red tights and shoes. In animated productions, Peewit is seen wearing a blue tunic (though this was proven false in the HBO Max restorations of the 1980s Smurfs cartoon show).
Role
Peewit is meant for humorous purposes, being the complete opposite in terms of personality when compared to his closest friend, Sir Johan. He is jester for the King, but his jokes often don't make sense, are too common, or are too boring. He is not useless, though, offering great help whenever Johan or Princess Sabina are in trouble.
Peewit also works for the king by delivering invitations.
Personality
Peewit is a scaredy-cat, with like of better words. He doesn't like going into danger and prefers staying on the safe side, but he will dive into trouble just to save his friends.
Peewit is a trickster, none the less, and is not afraid to play jokes on unsuspecting people. Peewit is a very loyal person, primarily to Johan and the Smurfs, and also has a good heart.
Interests
Peewit's main interests revolves around two things: Eating and Performing. Peewit adores eating big meals, often eating more than two times his body weight- and that's not even good enough to fill him. Peewit also likes performing for others, even though he's kind of bad at it.
Abilities
Peewit's known performances:
- Juggling
- Telling (Bad) Jokes
- Singing (Badly)
- Puppet Shows
- A few magic tricks
The only time Peewit ever played good music was when he was in the possession of the six-holed magic flute that came from the Smurfs in "The Smurfs And The Magic Flute". He used that for playing pranks on people he happened to pass by in the castle, though he resented having it being used on him by Matthew McCreep when he stole it from him.
Meeting and Relationship with Johan
Peewit showing his singing skills to Johan for the first time.
Their meeting is explained in "The Goblin Of Boulder Woods" in the Smurfs cartoon show, or "The Goblin Of Rocky Wood" in the "Johan And Peewit" comic book, where Peewit was pretending to be a goblin in order to get free food. Johan was able to catch him though. At first, they didn't seem to get along that well, but after they went to save the Princess Sabina together, the two became best friends and got closer as time passed.
Peewit and Johan are seen going on trips to other kingdoms or places together, bringing some Smurfs with them at times. The two make a good team, overall, Johan having the swordsman techniques and brains while Peewit will often act as a distraction of some kind.
Johan and Peewit are really good friends, despite having opposite personalities.
Johan will sometimes get annoyed by Peewit if he keeps on causing trouble, but it may be because he doesn't want his friend to get kicked out because of something stupid he did.
Peyo's original comic designs for the boys.
One running gag between them is that every time Johan says, "Later, Peewit!", Peewit will answer, "Later - always Later!" and sometimes Johan tells him, "Not now, Peewit!".
Appearances
Trivia
One of the rare occasions where Peewit fulfills his official role as Court jester, the king's facial expression says everything about his skill in that.
- When not counting Gargamel and Scruple, Peewit is one of the most commonly seen humans in the Smurfs series.
- Peewit visited the village more frequently, "Baby's First Word" from Season 5 would be the last time that he visited them officially and was the only time he interacted with all four of them. Nat was the only Smurfling that appeared in "The Littlest Viking".
- In "Peewit's Unscrupulous Adventure", Scruple comments that Peewit is no older than he is, meaning that Peewit and Scruple are about the same age (Some might estimate them to be around 11-14). It can also be assumed that Brenda and Melina are the same age as the both of them.
- Peewit also meets Scruple in this episode.
- His character in the cartoon show was voiced by Frank Welker. In the United States English dub of the unconnected movie, he was voiced by Cameron Clarke.
- In the Asterix comics, the village minstrel Assurancetourix (in the English version of the comics he's called "Cacophonix") has his personality and bad musical qualities loosely based on Peewit's. Assurancetourix, however, is a grown man who simply dismisses the others' negative feedback as being "Misunderstood". Similar to Harmony, he sees himself as the only one with true musical skills. Also, the Gaul Villagers will silence or gag Assurancetourix/Cacophonix to stop his bad singing. Whereas Peewit’s friends never attempt to silence him.
- Peewit is referred to as William in the United Kingdom English dub of "The Smurfs And The Magic Flute".
- He is one of the chosen warrior in a Viking tribe in the episode "The Littlest Viking".
- In the Season 5 episode "Baby's First Word", Peewit served under a king that was different from the one he originally served in the Johan And Peewit stories.
- In comic book appearances, Peewit wears a green tunic and red tights, whereas in "The Smurfs And The Magic Flute" animated film, he wears a blue tunic and red tights. The Smurfs cartoon show had him wear a blue tunic and pants over his red tights. Future restorations on HBO Max revealed him wearing his usual green tunic and pants.
- He appears without Johan in the episodes "Petrified Smurfs", "Smurfing For Ghosts", "Baby's First Word", and "The Littlest Viking".
- Although his last appearance in the cartoon was in "Peewit's Unscrupulous Adventure", his head appears in the Season 8 intro in the book Papa Smurf opens along with Scruple, Mother Nature, Homnibus, Balthazar, and Gargamel.
- Johan and Peewit first met the Smurfs in "The Smurfs And The Magic Flute".
- Peewit's personality traits are similar to that of Harmony's musical talent, Jokey's mischievous streak, and Greedy’s appetite.
- Peewit is one of the few humans to meet the Smurflings and Grandpa Smurf, yet Johan doesn't in terms of canon. However, both of them have never met Wild and Nanny Smurf.
- Peewit states that he chooses The King's wine in Les chansons de Johan et Pirlouit.
- Peewit and Johan make brief cameos in the Smurfs: The Village Behind The Wall comic "The Wandering Island".
- Peewit has his name in four episode titles which are "The Prince And The Peewit", "Wolf In Peewit's Clothing", "Peewit Meets Bigmouth", and "Peewit's Unscrupulous Adventure".