SNY
John Oliver of Last Week Tonight once did an entire episode on the history of the children’s pizza chain Chuck E. Cheese and its various mascots.
The piece, which Oliver produced for people under 35 years old to watch instead of his report on Home Owners Associations since buying a home has become increasingly difficult for our generation, delved into the history of why, exactly, the mascot of a pizza restaurant is a rat (these days he’s a mouse, but still).
The investigation is a fascinating look into the bizarre franchisification of chain restaurants in the 1970s and how they created original characters in order to promote themselves. Hence, Charles Entertainment Cheese, a.k.a. Chuck E. Cheese, was invented in 1977 and has been a staple of strip mall Americana ever since.
This is where our story intersects with McDonald’s, as they, too, created a cast of bizarre characters in the 1970s in order to entice children to beg parents to eat at their restaurants, beginning with the OG Ronald McDonald in 1963.
Eight years later in 1971, further characters were created and added, and eventually, Ronald had a whole posse that included characters such as Hamburglar, Mayor McCheese, Officer Big Mac, Birdie the Early Bird, and Grimace.
Grimace, in particular, has held a fascinating place in culture since its introduction, as its nondescript shape, deep purple tone, and goofy grin make it the most inherently strange member of an already outrageous collection of mascots.
Its origins make Grimace an even more absurd creation as it was originally introduced as a four-armed character named “Evil Grimace” who stole milkshakes from children. A year later, however, two of its arms were removed, as was the word “Evil” from its name, and Grimace was rebranded as being an oafish yet amiable monster.
“The original Grimace was scaly, mean-looking, had four arms, and had no charm whatsoever. He scared kids,” Roy Bergold Jr., the former vice president of advertising at McDonald’s, said in 2012.
None of this actually answers the question of what Grimace actually *is* however. In fact, McDonald’s themselves have seemed undecided over the years, varying between calling Grimace the “embodiment of a milkshake or an “anthropomorphic taste bud.”
Whatever Grimace is, he’s certainly not the last of his kind as he also has an uncle named Uncle O’Grimacy, who used to be rolled out every March to promote to release of McDonald’s famed Shamrock Shakes.
While Grimace’s general silliness has made him a recognizable part of American pop culture, recent years have seen the character achieve true viral fame through both its celebratory berry-flavored birthday shake that was released in the Summer of 2023 and sparked a massive, and hilarious TikTok trend, and its recent encounter with the New York Mets.
So we’ve got the when: the 1970s. We’ve got the what: it’s either a taste bud or a milkshake. But we still don’t have the why. Luckily, the why is the easiest question to answer — Grimace is so popular, so memeable, so inherently humorous because… well, exactly that.
He’s a giant purple blob that was created by a burger corporation that once had four arms and poisoned children’s dreams with nightmares of stolen dairy treats and is now *still* a giant purple blob, albeit just a far goofier one. There’s just something innocent in the hilarity of its stupidity that virtually everyone can find enjoyment in.