Mr. Munch is a purple monster who debuted in 1978 at the second Pizza Time Theatre restaurant. He is the namesake of Munch's Make Believe Band, as the keyboardist and songwriter who loves to eat pizza, and he is also a DJ.
History
PTT Era (1978-1989)
Mr. Munch was the idea of Michael M. Hatcher, the Director of Entertainment of PTT, who wanted a monster character. When Mr. Munch debuted, he was the only main character to not appear in the original restaurant. As part of his original character, he is depicted as having a slower wit in comparison to the rest of the main cast, though this distinction has lessened since his conception. He was originally voiced by Scott Wilson, who gave him a scratchy voice. In his first appearance on the Shelf, Mr. Munch (along with Pasqually) was placed behind a set of double doors. When the balcony stage was introduced, Mr. Munch was placed at the far left of the stage, a place he would hold until the creation of Munch's Make Believe Band.
Tux Era (1989-1999)
Mr. Munch was redeveloped for Concept Unification as the leader of the new at the time "Munch's Make Believe Band" and carried the same strong center stage presence as Fatz Geronimo. His voice also changed, while still being voiced by Scott Wilson, he developed a deeper voice similar to Fatz. Munch also wore a cap and green sneakers in this era. Later on, Duncan Brannan took over Munch's voice after Disney's shows, but previously took over for January 1994.
Avenger Era (1999-2012)
Avenger Mr. Munch is the third iteration of the Munch character, which was extremely similar to the Tux era version. He was first introduced in 2001 and was the current incarnation of Munch until 2013. He was voiced by John Bowen from 1999 to 2014. Unlike the Rockstar Era, Munch sometimes wears no pants.
Rockstar Era (2013-present)
Rockstar Munch hails from the Planet Purple alongside Munch Jr. and the rest of his siblings. While numerous relatives have visited him on Earth, his parents have yet to make an appearance, though his mother made an audio cameo in a Bootacular 2020 spot. Before moving to Earth (as it is custom for Planet Purple residents to set out and explore), Munch spent much of his time practicing keyboard and researching other planets. Upon landing in New York City, he became infatuated with the pizza that he had only seen in his studies and ended up at Chuck E. Cheese. After playing keyboard with the band, he landed a job there shortly thereafter. Mr. Munch also has taken up a hobby in being a DJ, under the alter ego of "DJ Munch", starting in 2021, expanding from a gag first shown in "Trio".
Appearance
PTT Munch had purple and yellow fur and wore no clothing. Munch would however have clothing on stages from time to time, such as during Bandstand, where he was a flower child. This outfit consisted of a dark brown cowboy hat, a light brown fringed vest, a beaded necklace, and daises. Most of the outfit was reused for Country, and the hat would occasionally be used for Jasper.
Tux Munch was largely unclothed like the previous era from time to time, only now wearing a green and white cap and green sneakers with white laces. Starting in 1994, Munch would wear an orange and yellow long-sleeved shirt with an "M" on it, and green shorts in addition to the cap and sneakers. For the Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000 movie, to avoid interfering with the heavy usage of green screening, Munch's hat and shorts were changed to yellow like his shirt sleeves, and his sneakers were changed to red, like Jasper's.
Avenger Munch initially switched to a different outfit, retiring his hat. He now wore a short-sleeved orange shirt with "EAT MORE" in green letters, and a pizza design on the shirt. He also had no pants and wore similar green and white sneakers. Later on, he went back to a similar outfit as Tux Munch, only this time, the orange shirt was short sleeved. His hat was not brought back for this design as well.
Rockstar Munch has a slightly different appearance to the other versions of the character, his hairdo is changed, and on CGI, his nostrils are now black (except for the puppet and some merchandise). His new outfit consists of an orange shirt with the same "M" on it, with yellow rings around the sleeves, collar, and bottom, and green sleeves. He also wears long brown pants, and black sandals with orange straps.
Portrayal
Voice Actors
- Scott Wilson (1978–September 1993)
- Unknown (History of Rock & Roll, 1986)
- Duncan Brannan (January 1994, July 1996-January 1999)
- Doug Teel (April 1994–April 1996)
- Unknown (August 1995, speaking voice only)
- Christopher Sabat (1999, Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000)
- John Bowen (April 1999–April 2014)
- Chris Hill (July 2014–present)
Foreign Voice Actors
- Unknown (1982, Spanish)
- Unknown (2013, Spanish)
- Unknown (2015-2018, Spanish)
Costume Performers
- Chris Cason (1999, Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000; main performer)
- Reny Fulton (1999, Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000; stunt/background performer)
Trivia
- Mr. Munch is the only band member to previously have different color eyes before the characters received individual eye colors in the Rockstar Era.
- Munch is also the only character to have his eye color visible in promotional artwork prior to the Rockstar era.
Gallery
For the gallery of Mr. Munch animatronics, artwork, and walkarounds, see Mr. Munch/Gallery
