Chuck E. Cheese

Chuck E. Cheese (The E stands for "Entertainment": "Born" in New Jersey, USA), is the anthropomorphic mouse mascot of an American chain of family entertainment centers of the same name.

Although Chuck E. Cheese is currently an anthropomorphic mouse, he was originally a rat before a 1995 facelift. As a rat, the mascot costume used to have a tail, but it was phased out back in the early 1990s due to children constantly wanting to yank and pull it. Chuck E. has been voiced by John Widlock (1977- 1984), Scott Wilson (1984-1993), Jeremy Blaido (1998), Duncan Brannan (1994 - 2012) and, most recently, Jaret Reddick, the lead singer of Bowling for Soup.

Pizza Time Theater era
Chuck E. was originally displayed at Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, a restaurant founded by Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari) in 1977. An animatronic Chuck E. would perform music and shows in picture frames overhead while the customers enjoyed pizza and games.

As more restaurants opened, the amount of animatronics was expanded and the "Pizza Time Players" were formed. This group featured Chuck E. Cheese, Mr. Munch, Jasper T. Jowls, Pasqually, Helen Henny, The Warblettes, and many other characters, most of which have been retired. In the later restaurants, cabaret shows in separate rooms were created, featuring Dolli Dimples, a blues singing hippo, Artie Antlers, The King (who sang Elvis Presley tunes), The Beagles (Beatles) and The Beach Bowsers (Beach Boys).

Showbiz Pizza era
After the acquisition by Showbiz Pizza Inc and subsequent concept unification, the Rock-a-fire Explosion (the animatronic band of Showbiz Pizza) was turned into Chuck E. Cheese characters.

The current incarnation of the characters is called Munch's Make Believe Band, and includes Chuck E. Cheese, Helen Henny, Mr. Munch, Jasper T. Jowls, and Pasqually. In some restaurants, a full animatronic band can be seen, either in one stage or two stages.

The bands that used to be Rock-A-Fire animatronics (prior to concept unification) are known as three-stage shows, but in newer restaurants (or ones that have undergone remodeling) a single Chuck E. Cheese animatronic stage is seen with the other band members in puppet form displayed on a TV screen. This is known as the Studio C Stage, and it is manufactured by Garner Holt Productions.

During customer's birthday parties, Chuck E. Cheese will do come out on the floor and perform a birthday show along with the other employees known as "cast members." In recent promotions, the Chuck E. mascot would come on the floor with a manager and give free tickets away to children.