Santa Claus
Santa Claus was another guest character that was briefly featured alongside the Rock-afire Explosion. He appeared in late 1983 in a special themed showtape which used a collection of classic Rock-afire Christmas songs (including special variant tracks with the Sun and Moon in place of the absent Rolfe and Earl), along with new special skits and the exclusive finale segments where Santa appeared onstage.
Santa Claus was a cosmetically retrofitted Uncle Klunk, giving him the unique ability to pick up a telephone - which he used to call his head elf "Norman" back at the North Pole. Burt "Sal" Wilson was the voice actor behind Santa, who sounded quite similar to Fatz with the exception being that the style of speaking was adjusted to fit Santa's character. As a special nod to the fact that Santa was a retrofitted Klunk bot, the showtape he appeared on was even titled "Uncle Santa"1.
During the showtape segments leading up to Santa's arrival, the band was beaming with excitement, and Looney Bird was attempting to track Santa's movement using his "Super Santa Scanner" between shows. The segments that actually involved Santa Claus had him singing along with the band, answering questions, and telling a long story about what his routine is like delivering presents around the world every Christmas. Although his stay was intended to be brief, the Rock-afire characters "persuaded" him into staying through another show. Only after a call to a frantic elf with a handful of problems back at the North Pole was Santa able to finally leave ShowBiz.
Having Santa Claus actually appear onstage at ShowBiz was a very unique and fun idea, however it was disappointingly short lived having occured at a time when budgetary issues were mounting. ShowBiz was facing some difficult financial times following the absorption of Pizza Time Theatre in early 1985. The restructuring period that ensued brought upon some major budget cuts - including many involving the presentation of the shows2. Santa Claus ultimately became the final character from Creative Engineering to ever appear at ShowBiz. Although other guest characters would appear at the restaurant chain in the years to come, all of them were produced by other animatronic companies that were contracted by ShowBiz Pizza Time.
References
1 - ShowBizPizza.com Showtape Review - Uncle Santa
2 - History of Chuck E. Cheese Overview
