Earl Schmerle is one of the supporting characters of the Showbiz Pizza Place franchise, having made his debut as an animatronic at
Jacksonville, FL (9820 Atlantic Blvd) .
History
Origins
Earl Schmerle was based off the voice of the Wolfman from the
Wolf Pack 5 . He was originally meant to be a rotating character, and not a permanent member of the cast, much like his puppeteer,
Rolfe Dewolfe . He got his first animatronic in
Jacksonville, FL (9820 Atlantic Blvd) .
Showbiz Pizza Place
Earl originally had a show with Rolfe. This would be called 'The Rolfe and Earl Show', which presented Earl as an angry puppet who liked to insult Rolfe. This was short lived in showtapes, as Rolfe and Earl would be replaced by Uncle Klunk in 1983. Uncle Klunk was a failed concept, which led to most stores reinstalling their Rolfe & Earl animatronic. Earl would only make small appearances later on, usually stopping Rolfes antics. Earl notably sang a few songs, unlike other band members such as
Looney Bird . During
Concept Unification , several Rolfe animatronics would be retrofitted into Chuck E Cheese. Earl was scrapped during this process.
The New Rock-afire Explosion
After
Concept Unification , Creative Engineering wanted to find a new way to bring the Rock-afire Explosion back into the public spotlight. They developed the New Rock-afire Explosion. Rolfe and Earl would be the only characters in the cast to not receive a new animatronic, instead appearing on screens.
Present Day
Several showtapes featuring Earl would be produced over the years by Aaron Fechter. One of these was Eve of Destruction ft Earle Schmerle, which became the most infamous Rock-afire show to this day. Original parts for Earl would start to be reproduced by Creative Engineering's new employees in 2023.
Animatronics
