The History of Charles Entertainment Cheese (Chuck E Cheese) | Horror History

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- Charles Entertainment Cheese was likely born sometime in the early 1970s in the northeast United States. We don't know exactly when his date of birth was, in fact, nobody does. Because his parents passed away when he was young and his earliest recorded history was when he was first moved into St. Marinara's orphanage as an infant. Charles resented being an orphan because he never got to celebrate his own birthday party. And to add insult to injury, there were so many kids at this orphanage that somebody's birthday was being celebrated every week. Despite the bubbling depression building up under this forced smile, the caretakers at the orphanage apparently refused to throw Charles a celebration of any kind. It seems like it would've been easy to just pick the day that he showed up at the orphanage and celebrate that, but I'm guessing that these people had a cruel prejudice against rats. In fact, he seems to be the only rat enrolled at the orphanage. Charles Entertainment, or as he would become known by his contemporaries, Chuck E, was primarily interested in playing games and making music. In a tragic twist of fate, one of his favorite songs was "Happy Birthday." He also had a third passion, albeit a much less healthy one, a passion for pizza. In fact, it seems that this might have been one of the only things that kept him going through the countless birthday parties of others and cruel mistreatment by the orphanage caretakers. But despite Charles' optimistic mindset during a bad situation in his youth, his later years would break him down as he would be hit with bankruptcy, horrifying opponents, potential drug and gambling problems, public health conspiracies, alleged predatory behavior, more bankruptcy and identity scandal, and much, much more during his rise to power. - [Man] A powerful rat named Charles Entertainment Cheese. - [Woman] Chuck E. Cheese is filing for bankruptcy protection. - [Man] Losing over 28 million last year alone. - [Man] The meth must be a hell of a drug. - There is something wrong with Chuck E., guys. - [Man] They've reported losses five of the last six years since the acquisition. - [Man] Vomit, disinfectant. - [Man] I got to experience it. I got to experience the truth. - So I have a theory that I have wanted to talk about for a long time. - [Man] Vomit disinfectant. - [Woman] There is in fact a sex den in every Chuck E. Cheese. - That was like my first introduction to the sound that you hear at the casino. - [Man] He chuckled and responded, don't worry about that, bud, this job is off the books. - [Woman] Those are hand prints on the window. ♪ You just found ♪ ♪ The Chuck E. Cheese ♪ (Chuck E. Cheese screams) (dramatic metal music) - Welcome to "Horror History." I am your professor, apparently a less successful Macaulay Culkin. I mean, he is pretty successful. In today's lesson, I'll be analyzing the entire known history of big pizza's most infamous mascot. Sorry Papa, it's rodent season. - He has no pizza experience. - Chuck is most known as the musically inclined mammal who serves as the figurehead of CEC Entertainment's primary cash cow or... cash rat? Chuck E. Cheese Restaurants. So come on down for some rat pizza at our child casino and join me in covering the entire history of Charles Entertainment Cheese. To fully understand the whiskered wheeler dealer, I'm gonna take it back to his childhood at St. Marinara's orphanage. (dramatic suspenseful music) Charles spent a lot of time playing the game Pong and became very good at it. So he decided to test his skills in a tournaments, where he won a trophy and $50 prize money. He used the money to pay for a bus ticket to New York city. But it's not entirely clear to me why a rat who at this time was smaller than the size of a pizza would need to pay to use the bus. He didn't really think this trip through, I guess because he had nowhere to stay when he got there. So he slept above a pizza kitchen because he was attracted to the smell. It was there that he discovered Pasqually P Pieplate, an Italian pizza chef by day and a drummer by night. Pasqually loved to listen to music while he worked. So being an aspiring musician himself, Chuck E. felt right at home. That is until one treacherous evening in 1977. After Pasqually went home for the night, Charles liked to come down and explore the kitchen and making him very similar to other media rats like Remy from Ratatouille or Chef Marcel Toing from Ratatoing. (laughing) What are they doing? What is this, what is this? Only on this occasion, Pasqually had not actually left yet and Charles was discovered. Mouse, screamed Pasqually, incorrectly identifying him. Pasqually grabbed a rolling pin and savagely chased Chuck E. around with the intention of murdering him. Eventually Chuck E. was cornered and with no nowhere to go, he just accepted the ferocious blood bath that was about to ensue. To calm his nerves in his final moments, Chuck E. decided to sing and Pasqually was so shocked that he dropped his rolling pin and said, "A mouse that can sing. My restaurant is a saved, I'm going to make you a star." It's not entirely clear to me if anthropomorphic rats are commonplace in the Chuck E. Cheese canon, because nobody up to this point seemed all that shocked by Charles living at an orphanage, winning a video game tournament or paying bus fair. But I guess Pasqually just really thought this was something special. It's also worth noting that Mr. Cheese would eventually end up playing in a band with a performing dog, bird and whatever this guy is. So take that as you will. But whatever the case may be, dollar signs lit up in Pasqually's eyes. And the two brokered an agreement. Pasqually would let his furry little intruder live in exchange for free labor. To prepare for the arrival of the singing mouse, Pasqually changed the name of his restaurant to Chuck E. Cheese's, home of the world's famous singing mouse which was inaccurate considering he wasn't famous at all yet because the restaurant had yet to open and as I mentioned earlier, Charles is clearly a rat. On opening night in May 1977, the place was packed as Pasqually introduced Chuck E. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome a Chuck E. Cheese. (laughs) Okay dude, I can't anymore with the Italian accent. However, when it was time to perform Chuck E. got stage fright. So the crowd just started booing because they saw this rat sitting on a stool not doing anything. Understandably, they probably wanted their money back and everyone just started leaving. And as they hit the streets, Charles just watched them out the window. That's when he noticed a little boy in a birthday crown and almost instinctively started singing happy birthday. At this time, the song was owned by the estate of Mildred and Patty Hill. And Mildred just came outta the shadows and just 360, choke slammed the little Chuck E. with a lawsuit. Okay, that didn't happen. But what did happen was the kid ended up having his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. And that's basically what they became known for. However, much to Charles chagrin that would not become all they became known for as the expansion of the chain led to the coverup of a slew of dark secrets. (dramatic suspenseful music) (bright upbeat music) As Chuck E's restaurant blew up in popularity, he would also blow up in size. Eventually becoming larger than Pasqually himself, gaining a ton of weight and towering over his young restaurant patrons. I imagine his obsession with pizza contributed to his rapid obesification. But this major growth spurt would not stop him from doing what he loved, making music. The popularity of Chuck E. and Pasqually's musical performances led them to expand this part of the business by bringing in additional performers to form an in restaurant band. They would call themselves, The Pizza Time Players. - Pizza time. - And the original lineup consisted of Chuck E. on vocals, Pasqually seemingly also a vocalist. ♪ Halaa, you know I'm here to make it a pizza ♪ A banjo playing hound, dog named Jasper T Jowls and a feline named Crusty the Cat who didn't seem to have an instrument other than this baseball bat. He may have just been there to intimidate audience members. There were also three backup vocalists known as the Warblettes, and the band was often joined by a female guest performer. It was at this time that Chuck E. took up smoking and it seems that being the front man or front rat of the band gave him a considerable ego as he would often berate his fellow band mates while performing on stage. - That's 'cause it's not your birthday, nitwit. Geez folks, I gotta tell you it's a tough way to make a living sitting up here plugged in to the same computer as that (beep) dog. - This verbal abuse may have been part of the reason that Crusty left the band in November 1978 and was replaced by Mr. Munch, who can only be described as a horrifying purple monster who played the keyboard. Like Chuck E., Mr. Munch loved pizza. And I think the two boned. (laughs) I accidentally wrote the two boned. Like Chuck E., Mr. Munch loved pizza and I think the two bonded over this passion. They seemed to jive better than Charles and Crusty did. Unfortunately it would appear that Mr. Munch's love did not stop with pizza. ♪ You were 16 ♪ ♪ Not seven, but six ♪ ♪ My pizza queen ♪ ♪ Not the king but the queen ♪ Yike. In 1981, Pasqually went public with the company. And a couple years later, Charles would find the missing piece of the band that he'd been searching for. Helen Henny was one of the previous guest musicians who cycled into the band in the late 70s. So they brought her on full time to play guitar. I'm guessing Pasqually had some kind of requirement for all of the other band members to be some kind of giant talking animal or monster. He probably had more faith in the novelty of giant humanoid creatures attracting customers than their actual musical ability. (disturbing scream) Yeah, I can see why. The lineup of Charles, Pasqually, Jasper, Munch and Helen would become the core lineup for years and years to come. There were other characters who filled small roles over the years, like a giant disco singing skunk named Sally Sashay. A suggestive blues piano playing hippo named Dolly Dimples and my personal favorite, Building, a high rise building who provided backup vocals with a horrifying human mouth. The band thrived into the 1980s, but the company was not just based on music. There was also an arcade, which is one of the main draws for kids because it allowed them to partake in legal gambling. - Come on, come on, come on, come on. Ah, dang it. - To this day, I still don't understand why you have to be 21 years old to gamble in a casino where you exchange money for chips that represent monetary value, but children of all ages can gamble at an arcade like Chuck E. Cheese or Dave & Busters. Where you exchange money for tokens that represent monetary value. I guess the main difference is that at a casino, you can cash your chips back in for well, cash. And at Chuck E. Cheese's, you win tickets that can only be exchanged for really sh**ty prizes except for the a disco ball, that thing was awesome. - I got a blue monster. - But if the point of a gambling age is because gambling is recognized as an addictive behavior akin to drugs or alcohol, you're still gambling your money even if it is in the form of tokens. So if you're a kid, you're still wiring your brain with that behavior. It would be like if they said it was okay for kids to drink alcohol, as long as they buy it with tokens. - Chuck E. Cheese, you know the place where a kid could be a kid, the place with a giant rat that loves pizza and beer. Imagine that, a kid-friendly establishment serving beer. - But anyways, games were a big part of Chuck E. Cheese's. And the 1980s saw gamers migrating from the arcade into the living room, thanks to the popularity of home consoles like the Atari 2600 and the Nintendo Entertainment System. - Zelda!! (native battle cry and pig squeal) - Which meant you could get your hands on plenty of high, but mostly low quality titles without visiting Chuck E. Cheese, which was not good news for this overgrown rat conglomerate. Chuck and Pasqually were forced to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 28th, 1984. With losses upward of $15 million. - He need the cash. - Hang in there, Howie. - [Zac] The rat was in a trap and to make matters worse, they were feeling pressure from their competitors. One Chuck E. Cheese imitator known as Showbiz Pizza had their own band of disturbing humanoid animal performers known as The Rock-a-fire Explosion. As the sound of the name would imply, this band was heavier, buffer and holy sh*t, who the f*ck thought it would be a good idea for these things to entertain five to 10 year old children? Chuck E. and the gang were about to be in for the fights of their lives. (dramatic suspenseful music) - [Tommy NC] I've been looking at this honestly. So please tell me that this is not frightening. It blinks, it talks, it's a robot. But tell me that's not frightening. It may be Chuck E. Cheese, but that's frightening. - The early to mid 80s were a very trying time for Charles and his band of misfits. At one point, they were in such dire financial straits that Mr. Munch actually resorted to eating trash, a haunting telltale sign of things to come. (jazz music) After two difficult years following the great video game crash of 1983, ShowBiz Pizza Time Incorporated made a deal to purchase Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theater in May of 1985. Lucky for Chuck E, he had made a name for himself over the last eight years. And despite the failing company, was more of an icon than his arch rival, Billy Bob Brockali, the front man for The Rockafire Explosion. So the business decision was made to make Charles the face of the unified franchise. Now this is just speculation, but it seems like Chuck E. might have been afraid of Billy and his goons, and it's not hard to understand why. We don't exactly know what went on behind the scenes between these two bands but we do know that Chuck E's life continued to spiral. It's speculated that Charles became a victim of his own environment and began to deal with drug and alcohol issues. It would appear that it got so bad that he lost control of his own band and Mr. Munch became the face of the act. In 1989, they rebranded to Munch's Make Believe band. Not that make believe. It was also around this time that Pasqually switched from playing the accordion to the drums. Although it seems like he may have possibly also been on drugs as well. (upbeat music) Over the next decade, Chuck E. Cheese did recover from the financial strain, but this would not be without new new problems arising. Look at this horrifying birthday party footage from December of 1993. (suspenseful music) (group chattering) But in reality, the '90's and 2000s would be some of Charles' peak years. This era is considered the golden era of the company. And he even took up skateboarding as a hobby and began to lose some weight. - It is extremely important to keep in the best physical shape possible at all times. - You got that right. - I'm not just saying this because this was the era when I was of Chuck E. Cheese going age. Chuck was thriving, healthier than ever, and on top of everything, it seems like he was having a lot of success with the ladies. - You can just ask him. ♪ Chuck yeah! ♪ - Oh yeah, this is also the time when he started using the catchphrase, Chuck yeah. ♪ Chuck yeah ♪ - You the man. - His popularity was at an all time high and in 1999, he even starred in a movie. Even the title is a testament to how overzealous Charles was during this time. Many movies around the turn of the millennium utilized the number 2000 in their title. Like "Pokemon 2000," Blues Brothers 2000," "Heavy Metal 2000," "Godzilla 2000," "Fantasia 2000" and "Dracula 2000." Charles Entertainment Cheese was apparently not satisfied with simply one upping these titles, instead opting to call his movie, "Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000." The movie begins with the gang meeting in an unnamed restaurant that is cleaner than any Chuck E. Cheese that I've ever seen. A kid named Charlie asked them for $50,000 to replace his aunt and uncle's broken tractor. So they enter in an interplanetary race with hopes of winning the prize money. - [Announcer] "The Galaxy 5000" is an interplanetary race on the planet Orion. The race loops of the crystal canyons region, ending back the Mach 7 gateway where the race begins. - Ooh, wow. - Apparently Pasqually just has like a racing ship from the old days and he just gives it to them to compete with. I don't know why they don't just sell the space ship to get the $50,000, but whatever. - Wait a second guys. (sniffs) What's that smell? (all sniffing) (crying sniffle) (crying sniffle) (crying sniffle) (crying sniffle) (crying sniffle) (crying sniffle) (coughs) - I'm going to hell for that cut. So they all go to the race planet... other than Pasqually, the one person with racing experience. And they meet these Hanz and Franz wanna be's named Peter and Ivan, who start hitting on Helen. - Hey look at the pretty chicky. - Yeah. Hey chicky, how would you like to roost at our pad. - Some guy named Dr. Zoom saves Chuck E from getting his *** kicked and the gang meets Pasquallys's old mechanic. - Me and him, we go way back. That's him in that picture there. (60s music) That is way back. - Okay. A groupie named Astrid comes up and starts hitting on Chuck E. for some reason which basically makes Helen very jealous and causes Chuck E. to friend zone her right then and there so he can score a date with Astrid after the first qualifier race. Helen is pretty upset though, and sings out her feelings that evening. (gentle music) ♪ My ♪ Yeah, don't care. The qualifier round begins, but Chuck E's vehicle doesn't start. So Jasper has to go for a little emergency repair. (man screaming) (electricity sounds) They eventually get underway and immediately catch up to the competition. Near the end of the race, Peter and Ivan kick it into Vega 2 and Chuck E. nearly crashes the ship in a canyon pass. (all screams) - Look out. (screams) - He has to slow down to gain control and they end up coming in dead last. But I guess it's still somehow good enough to qualify for the final the next day. Helen shows up with the Austrian duo, but it's really just a ploy to discover the secret to their success. A substance called zoom gas, which improves your driving skills if you inhale it, but it also makes you dumb. I can't help but wonder if the writers of this movie created zoom gas as an allegory for something. They kidnap her, planning to turn her into zoom gas 'cause apparently the main ingredient is chicken. Meanwhile, Chuck E. with a cave hermit who looks a lot like Pasqually and effectively fills the role of Yoda. (bright upbeat music) (dog barks) Peter and Ivan steal Astrid because she's a shallow b**** and Helen breaks out of prison where she assaults Dr. Zoom with a frying pan and lets all the chickens free, assuring that no zoom gas will be extracted from them. Also none of them look like her. She's the only giant bipedal talking bird. The race arrives and Chuck E. gets lost in a forest and has to kick into Vega 3 speed to come back and win the race. (upbeat music) - No!!! - [Man] Chuck E. Cheese and the team from planet Earth are the winners. - Nooo!!! (upbeat music) - And that's enough of that. If anyone wants to see me do a Things You Missed episode on Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000, I'm gonna need to see like 1000 retweets. The film ended up being pretty divisive if the Letterbox rating is anything to go off of, but the movie was successful with kids and served as a part of Charles' streak of success to cap off the 90's and take him into the new millennium. While there may not have been many scandals on the public record during this time period, there is reason to believe that Chuck E.'s actual experiences during this so-called golden age were not as clean as previously believed. (dramatic suspenseful music) Earlier in this lesson, I mentioned what appeared from the outside to be drug and gambling addictions for Charles in the late '80s. And it's my impression that these personal issues never went away, but rather that Chuck E and the ever expanding corporation behind him got better at covering them up during the 90's and 2000s. However, there was one invention in February of 2005, that would it impossible for a dirty rat to keep its dirty secrets. - Amber's here to show us one of her favorite sites online that lets you upload tag and share your video with the rest of the world or just family and friends if you prefer. - Yes, the site's called youtube.com and that's Y-O-U. - The world was about to find out just what goes on at the center of greasy joysticks and bacteria ridden ball pits like never before. (upbeat music) - [Man] Who's that? (woman screams) - David Levin detected some metallic taste. He thought maybe that the tokens might have been stored in the same bin. I'm sure that's not the case. (upbeat music) (horror music) (dramatic suspenseful music) - Police say they respond to more incidents at this Chuck E. Cheese than any other business in the township. - Began throwing salt and pepper shakers, climbing on tables, pushing children, pushing other adults from what I'm being told, it was just absolute chaos. - 26 Civil disturbances calls at that Chuck E. Cheese. - [Man] Crime scene investigators spent hours taking fingerprints while customers were turned away. (dramatic suspenseful music) - [Man] You're Chuck E, ain't you? Oh, look at him. - [Woman] They were celebrating their two year old son's birthday when they were hauled out of Chuck E. Cheese's in handcuffs. He says it all started because of a long line at the photo booth. - [Man] Police released this surveillance video from a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant. - [Woman] These are live pictures over the Chuck E. Cheese. (suspenseful music) - [Man] Being held on charges of indecent exposure after two incidents at the Chuck E. Cheese. - Aw, (child crying) all on tape too. (suspenseful music) One little girl's crushed hope, priceless. ♪ Chuck E., Chuck E ♪ - Seems like this could have just been talked out, but instead it went outta control. - I don't wanna go to Chuck E. Cheese no more. (suspenseful music) (horror music) - Tonight we take a look at a disturbing phenomenon. - [Man] Type Chuck E. Cheese into YouTube and multiple fights unfold. - GET BACK OVER THERE! - We had about an 18 month period where we were there 17 times. - And the videos are lighting up YouTube. - [Man] They charged eight people with disorderly conduct. - The three year old left all alone when Chuck E. Cheese- (screams of agony) - [Woman] And they're here. - [Man] Oh no! - [Chuck E] Oh, yeah! - Entertainment center for children is shutting down. - Argument between two women. One of them pulled out a handgun. - [Woman] A child actually found a baggie with a white substance. (scream) - [Woman] Birthday party turned into a brawl. - The birthday boy's grandmother was trampled. - [Woman] It was ugly and violent. - Birthday brawl at a Chuck E. (horror music and screams) (group chattering) - [Man] Anything that wasn't bolted to the floor was used. - Two men arrested at Chuck E. (horror music) - [Woman] Gunfire, shattered window. (screams of agony) - Oh! (group chattering) - [Man] Several injured people here. - [Man] Slam dunk, go! - Slam dunk. - [Man] First taken the Chuck E. Cheese. (dramatic suspenseful music) (multiple news reports overlayed) (high pitched ringing) - [Zac] With each and every misstep being magnified and going viral on the internet, Charles Entertainment Cheese was feeling pressure from all directions and retreated from the public eye replacing himself with a younger, thinner mouse character hoping that kids would not notice that this was not the real Charles, much like what happened to Jake from State Farm. But there was one YouTube scandal that would rise far, far above any that had come before it. (musterious music) - Hi there, I just got an idea how to make Chuck E. Cheese's better than ever: brand new pizza! Genius, if I do say so myself. - So I have a theory that I have wanted to talk about for a long time. - [Zac] OG YouTube creator, Shane Dawson and known for his exaggerated character portrayals in the early days of the site had pretty much moved on from short films and vlogs to longer documentary style content. In 2018, Shane was one of the most popular creators on the platform and seemed to have the Internet's full attention whenever he released a new video. On February 11th 2019, Shane released the second in his two-part Conspiracy Series, where he investigated a rumor that Chuck E. Cheese restaurants collect and re-use uneaten pizzas. The rumor derived from the appearance of Chuck E. Cheese pizzas. Oftentimes the slices didn't match up with their neighbors, were not the right size and sometimes didn't even form a full pizza. Shane decided to go to a nearby restaurant to see for himself and he was shocked to discover that his pizza was as disjointed as the ones he had seen on the internet. He tried to reverse engineer the pie at home and came to the conclusion that his pizza was an amalgamation of multiple pizzas. - [Pasqually] Good luck. And remember the proof is in the crust. - [Man] That's a Chuck E. Cheese pizza right there. Look at this. - Mystery still unsolved. - The uproar that this video caused was unbelievable. This video was only the very beginning of the worst two years that this northeast dwelling rodent would ever endure. (suspenseful music) (mysterious music) After the release of Investigating Conspiracies with Shane Dawson, the topic immediately trended on Twitter and YouTube with some of the biggest creators on the site covering the topic. - Shane Dawson seemingly ruined pizza for a lot of people so much so to the point that Chuck E. Cheese even had to release a statement. - [Keemstar] Each pizza is handmade, which means the amount of sauce and cheese and toppings might vary, but it still tastes great. - The real conspiracy is not the pizza. The real conspiracy theory is what the- (censor) is with these mascots? (woman laughing) - Even though this controversy is about the pizza, which Charles Entertainment Cheese has literally no hand in the creation of despite the claims of this Tampa Bay news group, people were still finding a way to drag the company's beloved mascot. Which again, had already been replaced by this younger and more kid friendly mouse who is also instructed to respond to the name Chuck E. I'm pretty sure the purpose of this was to get Charles, who was getting older, he was now approaching 50 away from the kids because as you may have noticed, he was getting pretty creepy as most people do when they age. - Change da world, my final message, goodbye. (Windows 95 startup sound) - However, the new Chuck E, I'll just call him Chuck E. Jr. despite the fact that he's clearly not related to our original Chuck E., who is a rat, not a mouse had only taken over seven years prior in 2012 and was already starting to take the mantle of deranged overgrown rodent. (suspenseful music) Oh my God, nothing says comfortable eating establishment like those eyes just surveying the restaurant for their next prey. Maybe if they had this in the restaurant from the demon child video, he would have actually been scared into behaving. In addition to big channels making videos about this topic, you also had an entire industry of creators popping up overnight, where they would claim to be current or former Chuck E. Cheese employees and expose these so-called truth about the pizza controversy. I'm sure the fact that they are all millennial women who look like they want attention is a total coincidence. Shane Dawson really did a number on CEC Entertainment's bottom line, which I just realized that the name of the company literally stands for Charles Entertainment Cheese Entertainment. I'm like, why do you have to have the word entertainment in there twice? There is one more thing that I wanna highlight about the company's response. When I saw Shane's video, I assumed that they did combine pizzas of different types, but it was probably all done in the kitchen. They were not collecting pizzas from the dining room and reheating them. So essentially if someone orders half cheese, half pepperoni and another table orders half cheese, half mushroom, they might split one full cheese pizza in half to use as the two cheese halves. If there are a lot of orders going on at the same time during rush hour, this might be the most efficient way to serve as many fresh pizzas as possible. The same could be said about singles slices. If a pizza consists of eight slices and seven people order a single slice, they could make use of that last remaining slice by adding it to another pizza before it goes bad. And there's nothing wrong with doing that. However in their response, they don't try to claim that at all. They just start going off about how the pizzas are handmade and they're made in house so they aren't uniform, which literally doesn't address the main concerns that Shane brought up in his video at all. - Why are you the only pizza place that has non-uniform pizzas, just doesn't really make sense. - Excellent point, Shira Lazar. Allegedly they also sent Shane a cease and desist notice. And in true horror movie fashion, Shane even began to fear for his own life. - There's things about this video that actually I have to worry about like getting killed. - Whoa, I guess maybe Pasqually has some mafia connections. - That cash ought to be slashing my fund and kicks in my back. - MatPat in an episode of his show, "Food Theory" did a big investigation into Chuck E. Cheese Pizzas. (suspenseful music) - [Man] This isn't about the fact that Chuck E. Cheese pizzas aren't perfectly round, it's that pizzas don't look cohesive like every other pizza in existence does. All you guys had to do was say, we do not recycle other consumers' pizza. And you didn't do that! - MatPat essentially did disprove the recycled pizzas theory by ordering Chuck E. Cheese pizzas during the COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 when in restaurant dining was closed and still getting disjointed pizzas. However, this could have been 4D chess by chef Pasqually. Maybe he was intentionally making uneven pizzas during the pandemic to convince people that that's just how their pizzas always look. MatPat talked to a supposed current employee at Chuck E. Cheese who claimed that the blade that they used to cut pizzas is essentially very dull because Chuck E. Cheese employees couldn't be trusted with sharp objects apparently. So they have to apply more force, which stretches out the pizza. He also claims that the mismatched pepperoni slices probably just slipped under the crust as a result of this. MatPat was satisfied with this conclusion. However, it doesn't answer one of the mysteries from Shane's video. In the pizza that Shane received, one of the slices didn't go all the way through the pizza as you would expect. So three years later, I still don't feel like we have a satisfying answer to this mystery. After recovering from bankruptcy in the '80s, Chuck E. came back and survived an array of punches from various news outlets and one big punch to the head from one of YouTube's biggest juggernauts. - [Woman] Are you serious? (crying) (scream) (distorted audio) - But the next big hit would once again leave Charles and his gang of oversized animal musicians down for the count. - A dangerous virus is spreading rapidly in China and US officials are very worried that it could come here. - A Washington state resident fell ill after returning from Wuhan, China. - Breaking news tonight, the coronavirus forcing millions more Americans into virtual lockdown. - [Man] It's eerily silent. (dramatic suspenseful music) (lo-fi chill music) - [Zac] In December 2019, a deadly viral outbreak occurred in Wuhan, China and officials were unable to contain its spread. By March 13th, 2020, the United States declared a state of emergency. Restaurants and many other indoor businesses were forced to close their doors. Some restaurants were able to get by, by switching their business model to focus on delivery and curbside pickup. Pasqually and Chuck E. were not so lucky. Let's face it. Nobody was coming to Chuck E. Cheese's because they liked the food, it was always about the games and entertainment. It was a good birthday party of destination for kids dating back to that first rendition of "Happy Birthday" in 1977. But with in-person get togethers suddenly becoming a safety hazard, sending pizzas out was now their only stream of revenue. And fresh off the heels of the recycled pizza conspiracy theory the year before, nobody was rushing to their delivery app of choice to order a Chuck E. Cheese pizza. The company was dying and Chuck E, that is the real Chuck E. was still nowhere to be seen, with Chuck E. Jr still appearing in what limited advertisements were running at the time. On June 25th, 2020, parent company CEC Entertainment once again, filed for bankruptcy. The next day, the company announced 34 restaurant closures, which was very upsetting into its clientele. - [Man] What? - [Boy] It's closed. - Not fair! NOT FAIIRRR!! - At this point, the real Chuck E. has been out of the public eye for years, but he still had one thing to hold onto. The restaurant was still named after him. Many of the locations still had his image on the sign. He had been dragged through an almost unbelievable amount of bad PR, but Chuck E. was still the face of Chuck E. Cheese's. That would all change. The year 2020 saw the fall of many, many things, including the permanent closure of 17% of all restaurants but it also saw the rise of ghost kitchens. What are ghost kitchens? In simplest terms, a ghost kitchen is a commercial kitchen that prepares meals for a virtual restaurant and a virtual restaurant is a restaurant with no physical storefront. AKA it's delivery only. Thanks to the boom in app based delivery services, ghost kitchens exploded in the pandemic era. Most virtual kitchens pay an existing restaurant to use their kitchen as a ghost kitchen, or share a physical ghost kitchen with other virtual restaurants. So restaurants most known for their dining-in experience, whose sales were slumping during this time of delivery only could serve as a ghost kitchen for another brand. How does this all tie into Chuck E. Cheese? Not too many people looking to order a pizza are gonna go with Chuck E. Cheese. So Pasqually quietly introduced a new brand and called it Pasqually's Pizza and Wings. Pasqually's offers Italian style fare, marketed more towards adults and used Chuck E. Cheese restaurants as a ghost kitchen. Most adults probably aren't going to recognize the name Pasqually from their childhood days of watching him perform in Munch's Make Believe Band or for the older adults, The Pizza Time Players. However, it wasn't supposed to be a highly guarded secret. I mean, if you look at the Pasqually's website, it clearly says, brought to you by CEC Entertainment. You're just not gonna see any mouse or rat logo associated with Pasqually's. Somehow this also turned into a controversy, even though there's nothing morally wrong with them doing this. It's honestly just good marketing and other chains like Hooters and Denny's are doing it too and nobody had a problem with that. Chuck E. Cheese actually had to release a statement about it, where they said Pasqually's Pizza and Wings recipes use fresh homemade pizza dough just like Chuck E. Cheese, but it is a different pizza that features a thicker crust, extra sauce and new blends of cheeses and seasonings, giving consumers a more flavorful, more premium pizza experience. So over the past 43 years of Charles involvement with Pasqually. - [Pasqually] Were weren't gay, just for you to know. He has as a girlfriend, okay? I don't want this to sound gay. Am I sounding gay? - Over the past 43 years of Charles involvement with Pasqually, he had gone from being the literal savior and new mascot and figurehead of Pasqually's Pizza or as it would become known: Chuck E. Cheese, to being removed from all marketing and promotional material and the name Pasqually's Pizza being brought back as the primary seller for the parent company, because nobody wanted a pie associated with an overgrown rat unless child gambling could somehow be involved. Is this the end of the once powerful rat known as Charles Entertainment Cheese? Has Chuck E's time in the spotlight finally expired? Maybe. As more restaurants still continue to reopen in 2021 and 2022 thanks to the rollout of COVID 19 vaccines for children, patrons have noticed something missing from many Chuck E. Cheese locations. The stage that once played host to talented musicians like Helen Henny, Jasper Jowls, Pasqually Pieplate, Mr.Munch and Chuck E. Cheese were now gone in place of a light up dance floor and some TV screens. Clearly this is an outrage and another reason the "reject modernity, embrace tradition" mindset is important for our culture. But for Charles Entertainment Cheese, it may be the erasure of the last remnants of a by gone era. We may have reached an age where guests are no longer happy with Chuck E. Cheese being in Chuck E. Cheese. - [Man] Remember every guest leaves happy and our guests always come first. - If you enjoyed this episode of "Horror History," check out that video on the left to see me cover the history of Belle Delphine. And if you're confused about why I covered big pizza's biggest rodent, check out the date of this upload. Remember to subscribe to CZsWorld World for new horrors every week. Ring the death bell for all notifications, and I will see you in the next one assuming we both survive.
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Channel: CZsWorld
Views: 566,461
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: horror, czsworld, horror history, czsworld horror history, charles entertainment cheese, chuck e cheese, chucky cheese, history of charles entertainment cheese, history of chuck e cheese, evolution of chuck e cheese, chuck e cheese explained, the life of chuck e, the decline of chuck e cheese's, chuck e cheese's, failure of chuck e cheese, chuck e cheese shane dawson, investigating conspiracies, controversy, truth behind chuck e cheese, shane dawson pizza, pizza, theory, scary, true
Id: tUMlzXrXHQI
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 35min 4sec (2104 seconds)
Published: Fri Apr 01 2022
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