The story of Chuck E. Cheese
June 27, 2021 6:42 PM Subscribe
The surprising and horrifying backstory behind Charles Entertainment Cheese. He never had his own birthday, so instead he fills the void by hosting birthday parties for everyone else. "Chuck E. would sleep above the kitchen in a pizzeria run by a friendly Italian chef named Pasqually. Chuck E. loved the smell of pizza," the book reads. "Plus he had plenty of music: Pasqually would listen to, and sing along to, the radio. It was a great place to live."
This is the Ratatouille sequel nobody asked for.
posted by cardioid at 7:49 PM on June 27, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by cardioid at 7:49 PM on June 27, 2021 [10 favorites]
Jacob Shamsian is a senior reporter at Insider covering legal affairs.
posted by glonous keming at 7:51 PM on June 27, 2021 [16 favorites]
posted by glonous keming at 7:51 PM on June 27, 2021 [16 favorites]
Ouch! That smarts, but is very necessary so that I am no longer recognizable as Chuck E. Cheese.
After de-identification, I may be discarded.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:57 PM on June 27, 2021 [10 favorites]
After de-identification, I may be discarded.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:57 PM on June 27, 2021 [10 favorites]
Well, this is pretty fucking dark...
Destroy the Head!
posted by Windopaene at 8:20 PM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
Destroy the Head!
posted by Windopaene at 8:20 PM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
The Decoder Ring episode about Chuck E Cheese and the discarded animatronic characters that preceded him is one of my all-time favorite podcast episodes. Maybe I’ll go re-listen now…
posted by rogerroger at 9:03 PM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by rogerroger at 9:03 PM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
Chuck gnawed a man in Reno just to watch him die.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:16 PM on June 27, 2021 [8 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:16 PM on June 27, 2021 [8 favorites]
You wanna know the real story about Chuckie? That's right, no middle initial, and "Cheese" ain't his last name. We spent a lot of time together on the cell block, Chuckie and me, just shooting the shit to pass the time. He said that he was safer on the inside, after what he did and who he ratted on, until we noticed a couple new fish that looked harder than anyone already there; after a while, you get an instinct for guys that get sent up the river just to take out someone inside. Well, Chuckie had been waiting for that day, and nobody ever figured out how he got out, except maybe that guard who just stopped showing up for work one day. I sure ain't no rat, and I wouldn't even be telling you this, except he owes me for three packs of jack mackerel and my favorite shiv. I'll tell you this, buddy: as far as I'm concerned, from here on out, the "Cheese" stands alone.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:35 PM on June 27, 2021 [41 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:35 PM on June 27, 2021 [41 favorites]
never seen Chuck E. Cheese and Chuck E. Weiss in the same room together
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:10 PM on June 27, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:10 PM on June 27, 2021 [3 favorites]
We were just watching the Yesterworld video on Showbiz Pizza Place and Chuck E Cheese this morning. Now there was a pizza parlor and arcade animatronics arms race.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 10:13 PM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 10:13 PM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
TIL Chuck E Cheese's still exists. And there's one not far from me. Just in time for my birthday tomorrow! (maybe when I arrive it's just full of old fat gen-Xer's waxing nostalgic)
Although Pizza and Pipes was always the preferred destination when I was in elementary school.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 11:55 PM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
Although Pizza and Pipes was always the preferred destination when I was in elementary school.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 11:55 PM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
Pizza and Pipes was always the preferred destination when I was in elementary school
I'm picturing this as a pizza restaurant where all the kids puff away on meerschaums. Have I got that right?
posted by Paul Slade at 12:06 AM on June 28, 2021 [7 favorites]
I'm picturing this as a pizza restaurant where all the kids puff away on meerschaums. Have I got that right?
posted by Paul Slade at 12:06 AM on June 28, 2021 [7 favorites]
It’s actually mediocre pizza inside a really nice organ.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:47 AM on June 28, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:47 AM on June 28, 2021 [6 favorites]
That’s what the radiologist’s note on my abdominal scan said!
posted by nickmark at 5:14 AM on June 28, 2021 [24 favorites]
posted by nickmark at 5:14 AM on June 28, 2021 [24 favorites]
Soon enough, he won a "Pong" video game tournament, which awarded him a cool $50. He used that money to purchase a bus ticket to New York and never looked back.
And here is a video of him soon after his arrival, learning about the subway!
posted by TedW at 5:23 AM on June 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
And here is a video of him soon after his arrival, learning about the subway!
posted by TedW at 5:23 AM on June 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
He loved playing games and music, with a particular passion for "Happy Birthday," a song with only six words.This is technically more or less true, but one of the words changes almost every time it is sung.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:36 AM on June 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
His first performance was a failure, and people started walking out.
Chuck wondered what it was about his experimental dance routine that people disliked. Should he use more fake vomit? More real feces?
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:29 AM on June 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
Chuck wondered what it was about his experimental dance routine that people disliked. Should he use more fake vomit? More real feces?
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:29 AM on June 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
No one ever told Charles how his parents had died, for obvious reasons. (Mother: electrocuted chewing on power cable to a Ms. Pac-Man cabinet; father: crushed in Skee-Ball ball return channel while foraging.)
posted by Spathe Cadet at 8:19 AM on June 28, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by Spathe Cadet at 8:19 AM on June 28, 2021 [6 favorites]
Huh, I grew up with a "Pizza and Pipes" (or rather, "Pizza, Pipes, and Pandemonium" in Groton, CT) and it never occurred to me that it was a national phenomenon (similar to roller-skating rinks or what-have-you). But of course it was. At the time I just imagined it was one person's bizarre idea.
posted by anhedonic at 8:28 AM on June 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by anhedonic at 8:28 AM on June 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
The greatest job I ever had was three years of dressing up like Chuck E. Cheese. Back then we had someone every shift whose only duty was the costumes, and on weekends two of us did it.
A first job - aside from the actual making a little money and being responsible part that is sort of universal across first jobs - seems like one of those inconsequential things. But man it ended up being way more than that.
* I learned that simple little kindnesses/surprises like a few dropped tokens where only a curious kid will discover them, or a game with 10 credits already loaded on, or spotting a little kid 50 or so extra tickets when they are at the prize counter offer an outsized reward for their investment. As a dad now I still try to remind myself of that.
* we figured out that CEC tokens worked at the Tilt arcade in the mall and used to fill our pockets and play full games of 4-on-4 NBA Jam ($16 a game!) and Virtua Racer. We were token millionaires.
* I got hired by a local promoter (how she recognized that the dripping-with-sweat teenager in a ratty Chuck E Cheese t-shirt was the costume guy I'll never know) and ended up doing a ton of other costume work for real money through high school and college days
* Stacy the cashier was the biggest crush I ever had and when she invited me to a party that was only a few doors down from my house I thought it was my big moment. It....definitely wasn't, but that was okay.
* We invented a three-decker veggie-french fry-hot pepper pizza that we made every shift and will never be beat.
* I wrote a pretty decent essay about what the rat taught me and got a baby-sized college scholarship out of the deal.
I'm grateful that Pasqually - equally talented in the kitchen and behind a drumset - saw the potential in the young orphaned rat.
posted by AgentRocket at 9:23 AM on June 28, 2021 [40 favorites]
A first job - aside from the actual making a little money and being responsible part that is sort of universal across first jobs - seems like one of those inconsequential things. But man it ended up being way more than that.
* I learned that simple little kindnesses/surprises like a few dropped tokens where only a curious kid will discover them, or a game with 10 credits already loaded on, or spotting a little kid 50 or so extra tickets when they are at the prize counter offer an outsized reward for their investment. As a dad now I still try to remind myself of that.
* we figured out that CEC tokens worked at the Tilt arcade in the mall and used to fill our pockets and play full games of 4-on-4 NBA Jam ($16 a game!) and Virtua Racer. We were token millionaires.
* I got hired by a local promoter (how she recognized that the dripping-with-sweat teenager in a ratty Chuck E Cheese t-shirt was the costume guy I'll never know) and ended up doing a ton of other costume work for real money through high school and college days
* Stacy the cashier was the biggest crush I ever had and when she invited me to a party that was only a few doors down from my house I thought it was my big moment. It....definitely wasn't, but that was okay.
* We invented a three-decker veggie-french fry-hot pepper pizza that we made every shift and will never be beat.
* I wrote a pretty decent essay about what the rat taught me and got a baby-sized college scholarship out of the deal.
I'm grateful that Pasqually - equally talented in the kitchen and behind a drumset - saw the potential in the young orphaned rat.
posted by AgentRocket at 9:23 AM on June 28, 2021 [40 favorites]
That Chuck E. is a biological organism, rather than a time-traveling robot, is not the head canon I grew up with. But, I probably made that up.
I'm still uncertain if there's any relation to Chuck E. Weiss. I'm also now trying to figure out how to parse "professional bachelor wedding crasher." All possibility are interesting.
posted by eotvos at 9:44 AM on June 28, 2021
I'm still uncertain if there's any relation to Chuck E. Weiss. I'm also now trying to figure out how to parse "professional bachelor wedding crasher." All possibility are interesting.
posted by eotvos at 9:44 AM on June 28, 2021
AgentRocket: "* We invented a three-decker veggie-french fry-hot pepper pizza that we made every shift and will never be beat."
I would totally eat that.
posted by chavenet at 10:53 AM on June 28, 2021
I would totally eat that.
posted by chavenet at 10:53 AM on June 28, 2021
"However, this biography from a 1994 style guide...not only confirms his name actually IS 'Charles Entertainment Cheese,' but claims he was a well-off kid who was apparently like Popeye, only with pizza instead of spinach."And apparently Mr. Cheese is from Rodentville, New Jersey.
Which is also where the Sopranos dispose of "rats."
posted by kirkaracha at 11:26 AM on June 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
I've never set foot inside a Chuck E. Cheese's. They were founded by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell when I was 13, so I was too old. My daughter's nine but has never mentioned it so hopefully I've dodged a bullet there.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:29 AM on June 28, 2021
posted by kirkaracha at 11:29 AM on June 28, 2021
Little known fact, Charles was also the inspiration for Rickie Lee Jones' "Chuck E's in Love," NOT Chuck E. Weiss, who has been claiming for years that the song is about him.
Also, a couple years ago, I held my nose and had my daughter's birthday party at a local Chuck E. Cheese. I have to admit, a good time was had by the pack of three year olds.
posted by Naberius at 11:45 AM on June 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
Also, a couple years ago, I held my nose and had my daughter's birthday party at a local Chuck E. Cheese. I have to admit, a good time was had by the pack of three year olds.
posted by Naberius at 11:45 AM on June 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
Metafilter: Mediocre pizza inside a really nice organ.
posted by Paul Slade at 11:58 AM on June 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Paul Slade at 11:58 AM on June 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
Rickie Lee Jones' "Chuck E's in Love"
The thing I recently learned was that she and Tom Waits were a couple when she wrote that song
posted by thelonius at 12:19 PM on June 28, 2021
The thing I recently learned was that she and Tom Waits were a couple when she wrote that song
posted by thelonius at 12:19 PM on June 28, 2021
Rickie Lee Jones' later collaboration with Public Enemy, 'Chuck D's in Love,' was not nearly as popular.
posted by box at 12:38 PM on June 28, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by box at 12:38 PM on June 28, 2021 [4 favorites]
Yeah, sadly it sank her plans to release a 26-song double album with a Chuck in Love song for every letter of the alphabet.
posted by Naberius at 2:21 PM on June 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Naberius at 2:21 PM on June 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
The project was always doomed, but it really took a turn for the weird when she revealed her plan to use 4 minutes and 32 seconds of various infatuated couples giggling together as the 12th track ("Chuckles in Love").
posted by nickmark at 2:45 PM on June 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by nickmark at 2:45 PM on June 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
Yeah, sadly it sank her plans to release a 26-song double album with a Chuck in Love song for every letter of the alphabet. M
I heard it was the beef between Berry and Barris that scuppered it. I’ll bet you think this song is about you, don’t you, don’t you?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:07 PM on June 28, 2021 [4 favorites]
I heard it was the beef between Berry and Barris that scuppered it. I’ll bet you think this song is about you, don’t you, don’t you?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:07 PM on June 28, 2021 [4 favorites]
My mom's boyfriend worked for the company that manufactured the mascot costumes. You haven't really lived until you've chased one tiny Chuck E. around with your own Chuck E. head on.
posted by lextex at 3:08 PM on June 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by lextex at 3:08 PM on June 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
I heard it was the beef between Berry and Barris that scuppered it.
I thought it was a sample clearance thing, where she couldn't get the rights to voice of the doll from Child's Play.
posted by box at 3:20 PM on June 28, 2021
I thought it was a sample clearance thing, where she couldn't get the rights to voice of the doll from Child's Play.
posted by box at 3:20 PM on June 28, 2021
You haven't really lived until you've chased one tiny Chuck E. around with your own Chuck E. head on.
"Kinky."
posted by kirkaracha at 6:53 PM on June 28, 2021
"Kinky."
posted by kirkaracha at 6:53 PM on June 28, 2021
edit: abusing edit because I'm embarrassed to realize that I just told someone about the joke they already made. *sigh*
posted by eotvos at 9:00 AM on July 1, 2021
posted by eotvos at 9:00 AM on July 1, 2021
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