Munch's Make Believe Band logo from Concept Unification demo in 1990
The current Munch's Make Believe Band logo
Munch's Make Believe Band (Chuck E.'s Make Believe Band in some locations or Munch's Party Time Band[1] in at least one version of the 1-Stage) is an animatronic band that have been playing at Chuck E. Cheese's restaurants since 1990.
Development[]
Conceived and debuting in 1990 as a way to phase out The Rock-afire Explosion without removing some of their desirable elements, Munch's Make Believe Band incorporated the Pizza Time Players in a band-style setup through Concept Unification. This setup, called the 3-Stage (or CU Stage) was installed in most ShowBiz Pizza locations, shortly there after, and took one week to complete.[2] While the construction went on, ShowBiz ran "The Rolfe and Earle Show", a compilation showtape hosted by Rolfe and Earl, that informed guests of the Rock-afire's removal, and later conversion. This showtape was the final Rock-afire tape produced for ShowBiz Pizza.
As sales improved at ShowBiz locations with the 3-Stage, ShowBiz Pizza Time (the merged company of ShowBiz and Chuck E. Cheese's) decided to bring Munch's Make Believe Band to Chuck E. Cheese's locations, first with the Road Stage, then with the 1 and 2-Stages.
Nine years after Munch's Make Believe Band debuted, Chuck E. Cheese's attempted to phase the band out ever since the introduction of Studio C in 1997. The reason was because the animatronics were becoming increasingly expensive to maintain and, due to a lack of security, they were (and still are) highly susceptible to vandalism. The CU 1-Stage was introduced to replace 3-Stages in 2010 with it being installed at three locations, which changed the name of the band to Chuck E.'s Make Believe Band.
Chuck E.'s Make Believe Band as seen on the CU 1-Stage
In January 2017, as part of Chuck E. Cheese's 40th anniversary, a remake of the Concept Unification demo skit with the current Chuck E. Cheese puppets and voice actors was produced.
In 2020, a new character was added to Munch's Make Believe Band, Bella B. She was first introduced in the 2018 song "Bailando", but CEC didn't officially add her as a band member until 2020. By the time of her arrival, animatronics were already being phased out, so she was never physically present on any of the MMBB stages. During Bella's parts, the other characters on stage are programmed to look at the TV between Chuck E. and Helen.
Trivia[]
- In March 2018, Chuck E. Cheese announced that "Munch's Make Believe Band" would have their final tour. However, on April 3rd, it was announced that it was an April Fools joke and the band would not be retired. This was heavily thought to be true due to the retirement of the animatronics before April 3rd as Chuck E. Cheese Pizzeria & Games (commonly referred to as 2.0. in the fandom) was starting to be implemented since its debut in August 2017.
Characters[]
- Chuck E. Cheese - lead and backing vocals; electric and acoustic guitar
- Helen Henny – lead and backing vocals; bass and acoustic guitar
- Mr. Munch – lead and backing vocals; keyboards
- Jasper T. Jowls – lead and backing vocals; bass, acoustic, and electric guitars
- Pasqually P. Pieplate – lead and backing vocals; drums, percussion
- Bella Bunny* - lead and backing vocals; tambourine, percussion, acoustic guitar
*not present on any animatronic stages
References[]
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