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Chuck E. Cheese is the anthropomorphic mouse mascot of the Chuck E. Cheese's chain of family entertainment centers.
Backstory
Chuck's official backstory told by the company is that he grew up an orphaned mouse who does not know his own birthday. To make up for never having a birthday party of his own, he hosts parties for children. After winning a Pong tournament, Chuck moved to New York and started working as a singer at an Italian restaurant, where he also met and befriended a musically-inclined chef named Pasqually as the drummer. Eventually, he moved to California and created his own restaurant franchise, with Pasqually becoming his star chef and later joining his band.[3] The two would go on to find others to join the band, eventually recruiting a talented vocalist Chicken named Helen Henny, a purple keyboardist alien named Mr. Munch (who absolutely loves pizza), and a country music-loving guitarist hound dog named Jasper T. Jowls.
Pizza Time Theatre Era
Chuck E. was originally going to be named “Rick Rat”, but this idea was immediately shot down by the team at Atari. In the first showtape, he had a completely different persona than the rest of the later incarnations. He was a rat down to the heart, and directly made fun of the other characters onstage. Chuck also originally smoked cigars in advertisements, and even on the first few animatronic portrait figures. This was eradicated from the later shows, ads, and with the Cyberamics.
He was known as “The Big C” by the other Pizza Time Players, and even with his harsh actions, he always made it clear that he really cared for his friends onstage. He became softer until Concept Unification, where the character switched to Tux Chuck.
Tuxedo Era
“Tux”, as he is referred to by fans, took a drastic turn from the earlier, harsher Chuck E. Cheese character. He now wore a tuxedo and white gloves (similar to the walkaround version of Mickey Mouse) as opposed to the familiar red vest, and had a much more snappy, upbeat personality. The band itself, now known as Munch’s Make Believe Band, really adopted the whole band dynamic at this point. This era was during the boom era in the 90’s, and though it was short lived, it is arguably one of the most iconic and remembered eras.
In 1993, Showbiz Pizza Time Inc. redesigned Chuck E. Cheese to compete with new family entertainment center Discovery Zone, which resulted in "Tux" being phased out as the primary design and replaced by a new design, "Cool Chuck". By 1997, the design was no longer being used; nevertheless, the "Tux" design was still used in restaurant decor, and "Tux" walkaround costumes were still used in circulation as alternate costumes up through 2004, when CEC Entertainment, Inc. (the renamed Showbiz Pizza Time) retired the design completely at the onset of Phase 4.
Avenger/Cool Chuck Era
The third incarnation of Chuck E. began in 1994 when the showtapes were being made by The Walt Disney Company. He still had the same personality as Tux Chuck E., but an earlier version of the voice Duncan Brannan used later in this era. The Disney phase didn’t last long, and the shows were made by the entertainment part of Showbiz Pizza Time Inc., which would later be named “Department 18 Productions”.
1996 was the start of the Awesome Adventure Machine period, which was a test stage that never made it past the three test locations. Duncan Brannan’s voice was slightly lowered for these shows, and Chuck E. as a character had a slight shift. He invented a machine to take the band wherever they wanted, and this would result in the adventures they would go on. This period was cut short, as the AAM failed and it was back to the drawing board with the new stage concept.
In 1998, Studio C was introduced to the public with a new look, and another Chuck E. shift. Chuck was this time voiced by Jeremy Blaido, who would eventually become the voice ofJasper T. Jowls. Studio C was meant to replicate a news studio, which unfortunately gave Chuck E. a bland personality. After CEC Entertainment couldn’t afford to replace the existing stages with Studio C, they dropped the News Show format and went back to the band dynamic. This is when the modern Chuck E. really started to form. Duncan was hired back on the job of voicing Chuck and he was in that role until 2012.
In the early 2000’s, the Avenger Chuck E. was introduced. He was dressed as a skater in the advertisements, but never had the personality of one. Avenger Chuck went back to the roots of Tux Chuck and became an every man who loved to entertain with his friends. He always tried to keep things in control, though he has lost his temper with the band in a few shows. He was also shy to have Helen’s crush on him, even though in the music videos they’re most always seen holding hands. At the end of the day, he loves his guests and wants to be where they are. Avenger became the most well known Chuck and a favorite amongst fans.
Rockstar Era
Due to a slump in revenue, CEC Entertainment decided to redesign Chuck E. Cheese in order to keep their restaurants contemporary with kids in the 21st century. In early 2012, a silhouette of the the redesigned character appeared on the official Chuck E. Cheese Facebook page, and was officially unveiled in July of that year. Chuck E. had an immediate switch with a new ad campaign for the summer, “Say Cheese it's Funner”. This was the first time the character was presented in CGI in the promotional material, replacing the hand-drawn Avenger ads. The Duncan Brannan voice was switched to Jaret Reddick, the lead singer from the band Bowling For Soup. The redesign was initially met with a mixed response from fans and regular customers of Chuck E. Cheese’s. His personality changed again to be more like a Rockstar, and radical to the current generation of children. In the shows, he’s typically trying to do this his own way, but the other characters stop him from doing so. He always tries to appeal to kids and take birthdays seriously.
