Mac Tonight was McDonald's moon-headed late-night musician character.
McDonald's introduced Mac Tonight in 1986 as the centerpiece of a campaign aimed at increasing evening business. He wore sunglasses, played a piano, and sang a rewritten version of Bobby Darin's 1959 song “Mack the Knife,” using the repeated phrase “Mack Tonight.”
The character's crescent-moon head made him visually different from Ronald McDonald and the McDonaldland characters. His advertising was especially associated with dinner and late-night restaurant visits rather than children's daytime marketing.
Mac Tonight is sometimes incorrectly grouped with the permanent McDonaldland cast. He was a separate advertising character created for a specific campaign, and McDonald's eventually stopped using him in the United States after a legal dispute involving the Darin song's estate.