Band Members
Center Stage
- Fatz Geronimo – keyboards, vocals
He is a silverback gorilla from New Orleans. He is a parody of real-life entertainers Fats Domino and Ray Charles. Unofficial band frontman, Fatz has a tendency to ramble. He introduces the most shows and orders other band members around, leading him and Rolfe DeWolfe into many arguments.
- Beach Bear – guitar, vocals
He is a wisecracking surfer polar bear with a laid-back attitude, who often keeps the peace along with Billy Bob. He was originally less intelligent and more frantic.
- Dook LaRue – drums, vocals
He is a mongrel from New Orleans with a smooth singing voice. He aspires to be an astronaut and wears a homemade space-themed suit. Slightly dimwitted, Dook often loses focus during shows and misses his cues.
- Mitzi Mozzarella – vocals
She is a mouse and a cheerleader. A conventional teenager, Mitzi is considered "loose" by the rest of the Rock-afire Explosion, and is obsessed with gossip, boyfriends, pop music, and Michael Jackson.
Stage Left
- Billy Bob Brockali – bass (sometimes a guitar), vocals
He is a brown bear from Tennessee who wears yellow and red overalls and plays a wooden bass. His stage is themed as a service station, called Smitty's Super Service Station. Sweet and well-liked, Billy Bob is usually a mediator to the band's minor on-stage squabbles. He was the mascot for ShowBiz Pizza Place throughout its existence, and his image was on most of the chain's merchandise.
- Looney Bird – occasional vocals
He is a red tropical bird. Created as Billy Bob's unintelligent sidekick, he was originally addicted to the alcoholic gasoline sold at Smitty's. In the late 1980s, his personality would undergo a drastic change, and he would be portrayed as an inventor and scientific genius; he also became a more prominently featured character. Currently, his personality is neutral. Only Looney Bird's head is seen, as he rises and lowers from an oil drum. Some shows featured a segment where Looney Bird would answer fan mail. For this, the robot was retrofitted to include a pair of hands that held a piece of paper for him to read.
Stage Right
Originally intended to be a stand-up comedy routine performed in between musical sets, they soon became regularly featured alongside the band as vocalists. Rolfe is a wolf, and Earl is his sentient ventriloquist puppet. Rolfe, who rarely sings, is portrayed as arrogant with a tendency to be incredibly rude to both the band and the employees who work at ShowBiz. He has a fondness for disco music and the works of Frank Sinatra. Earl serves to balance out Rolfe, putting him down and calling him out frequently.
Other Characters
The show also consists of several smaller prop characters, many of which do not have speaking roles. These include an animated Sun and Moon that provide background vocals, a birthday-themed spider named Antioch who speaks in gibberish, and a bear cub known as Choo-Choo, who hides in a small tree stump in front of Dook's drums and dances to the band's music. One of the more notable prop characters is Birthday Bird, who is perched on the neck of Billy Bob's guitar.
Disrepair and Maintenance
Billy Bob's Wonderland is one of two last publicly operating animatronic Rock-afire Explosion shows in the United States, with the other being at the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois. [9] [10] Unlike Volo, Billy Bob's is infamous for its animatronics appearing in poor condition, with upkeep fluctuating among individuals who have volunteered to repair the Rock-afire. In 2013, Rock-afire creator Aaron Fechter was brought on to repair the show himself, but was reportedly refused any payment for his offered work and left. [11] Following these events, the show continued to deteriorate until local help fully restored the band in 2021. A "Rock-afire Extravaganza" event was staged in January 2022 to mark the show's return. [12] Due to renewed interest, an annual convention called Billy Con debuted in summer 2022. [1] [13]
