Charles "Big Chuck" Schodowski (born June 28, 1934) and "Lil' John" Rinaldi (born January 19, 1946) – together commonly known as Big Chuck and Lil' John – are a duo of entertainers who served as late-night

horror host A horror host is a person who acts as the host or presenter of a program where horror films and low-budget B movies are shown on television or the Internet. Usually the host assumes a horror-themed persona, often a campy or humorous one. General ...

s of ''The Big Chuck and Lil' John Show'' on television station WJW in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

from 1963 to 2008. In addition to hosting a movie with a live audience, they also performed original

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

routines. At the end of each sketch was a very distinctive laugh (see external links section below) voiced by comedian/actor Jay Lawrence, who was a disc jockey for KYW radio in Cleveland during the early 1960s. On September 10, 2011, WJW began airing a weekly half-hour program – simply titled ''Big Chuck and Lil' John'' – featuring classic show skits along with limited new production.

History

Chuck Schodowski (b. June 28, 1934) started as a producer/engineer at WJW-TV (and before that at

KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WPSG (channel 57 ...

), and became a close friend of

Ernie Anderson Ernest Earle Anderson (November 12, 1923 – February 6, 1997) was an American radio and television personality, horror host, and announcer. Known for his portrayal of "Ghoulardi", the host of late night horror films on WJW Channel 8 on Cleve ...

. When Anderson's previous sidekick, eventual Hollywood actor

Tim Conway Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway (December 15, 1933 – May 14, 2019) was an American actor, comedian, writer, and director. From 1966 to 2012 he appeared in more than 100 TV shows, TV series and films. Among his more notable roles, he portrayed the ...

, was fired for a fabrication on his résumé, Schodowski was hired as Conway's replacement. Schodowski worked closely with Anderson (as

Ghoulardi Ghoulardi was a fictional character created and portrayed by voice announcer, actor and disc jockey Ernie Anderson as the horror host of ''Shock Theater'' at WJW (TV), WJW-TV, Channel 8 (a.k.a. "TV-8") the CBS Affiliate station in Cleveland, Ohi ...

) on ''Shock Theater'', and was instrumental in bringing in the blend of blues and polka music that helped define the show, adding comic audio drop-ins to enliven the often awful movies, and immortalized

The Rivingtons The Rivingtons were a 1960s doo-wop band, known for their 1962 novelty hit "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow". The members were lead vocalist Carl White (June 21, 1932 - January 7, 1980), tenor Al Frazier (d. November 13, 2005), baritone Sonny Harris, and bas ...

' tune "

Papa Oom Mow Mow "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" is a novelty song, novelty Nonsense, nonsensical doo-wop song by the Rivingtons in 1962. It peaked at number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and number 35 on the ''Cashbox (magazine), Cashbox'' charts. The b ...

" by marrying it to the image of an old man

gurn A gurn or chuck is a distorted facial expression and a verb to describe the action. A typical gurn involves projecting the lower jaw as far forward and up as possible and covering the upper lip with the lower lip. The English Dialect Dictionar ...

ing. When Anderson left Cleveland for California in 1966, his popular Ghoulardi character was retired, and a talent search ensued to find a replacement. Schodowski agreed to help Bob Wells (WJW's "Hoolihan the Weatherman") with his audition, and the management decided they liked the way the two performed together. They became co-hosts of ''The Hoolihan and Big Chuck Show'', which launched on December 23, 1966. In addition to screening horror films, the duo soon started filming comedy skits interspersed within the host segments.BC & LJ memories - Pinterest.com
/ref> After Wells left the show in 1979, John Rinaldi, a jeweler by trade who had already been featured on many of the program's skits, took over as co-host. The show itself was relaunched as ''The Big Chuck and Lil' John Show'', and while effectively a separate and distinct show, the familiar ''Catch As Catch Can'' theme was retained, among other show elements. Moreover, taped skits from the preceding show often would be rerun on ''The Big Chuck and Lil' John Show'' through various "oldies nights". For many years, the show aired at 11:30 p.m. on Friday nights before moving to 11:30 p.m. on Saturday nights starting on October 1, 1988 (to accommodate ''

The Arsenio Hall Show ''The Arsenio Hall Show'' is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Arsenio Hall. There have been two different incarnations of ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. The original series premiered on January 3, 1989, ...

'', which WJW was airing following their weeknight 11 p.m. newscasts), then back to Fridays following WJW's affiliation switch to

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

in 1994. After Fox acquired WJW in 1996, the movies selected for ''The Big Chuck and Lil' John Show'' were no longer done by either host, and began to deviate from the original horror/science fiction genre into more conventional movie fare. In addition, the start time was again moved in 1996 to Saturdays at midnight following ''

Mad TV ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series originally inspired by '' Mad'' magazine. In its initial run, it aired on Fox from 1995 to 2009. After a one-off reunion show in 2015 to celebrate the twentiet ...

'', then after Fox debuted ''

Talkshow with Spike Feresten ''Talkshow with Spike Feresten'' was an American late-night talk show television program on Fox starring Spike Feresten that aired from September 16, 2006 to May 16, 2009. It was the longest-running late night talk show in Fox's history, with thre ...

'' in 2006, the show settled in its final start time of 12:30 a.m. Saturday nights/Sunday mornings. Along with the Saturday night shows, Schodowski and Rinaldi hosted a companion ''Couch Potato Theater'' program airing from 10 a.m. - noon on Saturday mornings, which featured at various times ''

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...

'' shorts, episodes of ''

The Abbott and Costello Show ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', movies, cartoons, or (due to schedule conflicts) an hour long skits only show. In December 2006, Schodowski announced he would retire in June 2007. As part of his farewell, WJW broadcast the hour-long retrospective ''Big Chuck and Lil' John: The End of an Era''. This also marked the end of ''The Big Chuck and Lil' John Show'', with the last regular episode airing the afternoon of June 16, 2007 and again in the early morning of June 17. In October 2008, Schodowski released his autobiography, ''Big Chuck!: My Favorite Stories from 47 Years on Cleveland TV'', co-written by ''

The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

'' media writer Tom Feran. The book debuted at the 2008 ''Ghoulardifest'' convention. During the summer of 2011, it was announced that ''Big Chuck and Lil' John'' would return to TV on WJW every Saturday morning at 11 a.m. (this time, in a 30-minute all skits show similar to the ''Couch Potato Theater'' format). This version of the show began on September 10, 2011. In 2015, the show was moved to Sunday nights at 11:30 p.m. The show moved to Monday mornings at 12:30 a.m. in 2021, and the show has been retitled ''The Best of Big Chuck and Lil' John'' and introductions to the skits have been dropped. Rinaldi made news in December 2014, when after

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

head coach

Marvin Lewis Marvin Ronald Lewis (born September 23, 1958) is an American football coach who is the special advisor to the head coach at Arizona State. Previously, Lewis was the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals in the National Football League (NFL) for 1 ...

referred to

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Johnny Manziel Johnathan Paul Manziel ( ; born December 6, 1992) is an American football quarterback for the FCF Zappers of Fan Controlled Football (FCF). He played two seasons with the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) and was also a mem ...

as a "

midget Midget (from ''midge'', a tiny biting insect) is a term for a person of unusually short stature that is considered by some to be pejorative due to its etymology. While not a medical term like "dwarfism", a medical condition with a number of ca ...

", WJW sent him to Cincinnati to cover Lewis' weekly press conference, and asked the coach some questions. In 2019 the duo reunited with Wells to film the five-episode

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

''Space Ship One''.

Notable sketches and parodies

* ''Ben Crazy'' - a parody of a popular 60's TV medical drama, ''

Ben Casey ''Ben Casey'' is an American medical drama series that aired on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols " ♂, ♀, ✳, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaff ...

'' with Big Chuck as the title character. Originated on ''Hoolihan & Big Chuck'', but had additional sketches filmed throughout the entire run of ''Big Chuck & Lil' John''. * ''The Certain Ethnic _____'' - a play on Big Chuck's Polish heritage featuring Chuck as "Stash Kowalski" – a stereotypical Polish Clevelander (e.g., ''The Certain Ethnic Motorist'', who drives through red traffic lights and stops at green lights). Big Chuck specifically created the term "certain ethnic" as a euphemism for "Polish". * ''The Kielbasa Kid'' - a parody of TV westerns, with Big Chuck as the bumbling hero. Originated on ''Hoolihan & Big Chuck''. * ''Readings By Robert'' - originated on ''Hoolihan & Big Chuck'' as a carbon copy of an

Ernie Kovacs Ernest Edward Kovacs (January 23, 1919 – January 13, 1962) was a Hungarian-American comedian, actor, and writer. Kovacs's visually experimental and often spontaneous comedic style influenced numerous television comedy programs for years afte ...

routine, with Bob Wells in the title role (patterned after Kovacs' "Percy Dovetonsils" character), and Big Chuck as his jazz-ukulele-playing assistant, Carlos. Occasionally rerun throughout the entire run of ''Big Chuck & Lil' John''. * ''

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

Place'' - a parody of the 60's soap-opera '' Peyton Place''. Originated on ''

'' but was continuously rerun throughout the entire course of ''Hoolihan & Big Chuck'' and ''Big Chuck & Lil' John'' * ''Soul Man'' - a parody of ''

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

'' where Big Chuck (as "Ed Tarboosh" – mild mannered TV producer) would – with the help of his "soul pills" – become Soul Man, who was a big, black, and bumbling superhero (played by longtime station cameraman Herb Thomas). Originated on ''Hoolihan & Big Chuck''. * ''Mary Hartski, Mary Hartski'' - a parody of the 70's TV show ''

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman ''Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'' is an American satirical soap opera that aired in daily weeknight syndication from January 1976 to July 1977. The series follows the titular Mary Hartman, an Ohio housewife attempting to cope with various bizarre ...

''. * ''Mariano "Mushmouth" Pacetti'' - king of the weekly "Pizza Fight" during a six-year period on ''Hoolihan & Big Chuck''. * ''Cuyahoga Jones and the Castle of Doom'' - a parody of the ''

Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology, that began in 1981 with the film '' Raiders of the Lost Ark''. In 1984, a prequel, '' Th ...

'' series, with Big Chuck as the title character – and Lil' John as his sidekick "Shortstop" – chronicling their attempts to capture the " Kapusta Diamond". These skits were filmed at

Squire's Castle Squire's Castle is a ruins, shell of a building located in the North Chagrin Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks in Willoughby Hills, Ohio. Construction of the building Feargus B. Squire was an executive with the Standard Oil Company and forme ...

in suburban

Willoughby Hills, Ohio Willoughby Hills is a city in Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 9,485 at the 2010 census. A suburb of Cleveland, it is part of the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan Area. Geography Willoughby Hills is located at (41.588151, - ...

Other cast members

Big Chuck and Lil' John would use some of WJW's personalities, like station meteorologist

Dick Goddard Richard Duane Goddard (February 24, 1931 – August 4, 2020) was an American television meteorologist, author, cartoonist, and animal activist. From 1966 until his retirement in 2016, he was the evening meteorologist at WJW-TV in Cleveland, Ohi ...

, in their skits. A popular Goddard sketch revolved around Goddard's claims that WJW had the best

doppler radar A Doppler radar is a specialized radar that uses the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance. It does this by bouncing a microwave signal off a desired target and analyzing how the object's motion has altered the f ...

in Cleveland. He bragged that WJW's "Super Doppler Google-Plex" was powerful enough to see clearly to a neighborhood, close enough to reveal a woman taking a bath (strategically covered with bubbles) through her bathroom

sunroof A sunroof is a movable panel that opens to uncover a window in an automobile roof, allowing light and fresh air to enter the passenger compartment. Sunroofs can be manually operated or motor driven, and are available in many shapes, sizes and styl ...

, as Goddard sheepishly tried to hide the image with his suit jacket. Goddard would appear in numerous skits through the years, sometimes even playing different characters. Other longtime supporting players were veteran cameraman/technician Art Lofredo, who appeared in many skits through the years (most frequently as "The Old Man") and had several "Art Lofredo Nights" dedicated to him; Herb Thomas, a longtime station cameraman who portrayed "Soul Man", and Mary Allen ("the pride of

Maple Heights Maple Heights is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Cleveland. The population was 23,138 at the 2010 census. History Maple Heights Transit In 1935, the City created Maple Heights Transit to provide connections t ...

"), who was an older lady and was a viewer who had won an auction in the late 70s to appear on a skit. She impressed Big Chuck with her performance so much, she became a regular player on the show until the late 90s, appearing most frequently as Stash Kowalski's wife Stella in "The Certain Ethnic ______" skits. News anchor

Robin Swoboda Robin Swoboda (born December 30, 1958) is an American television news anchor, talk show host, and actress in Cleveland, Ohio, best known for her career on various television and radio stations primarily in Cleveland, as well as hosting national tel ...

was famously featured as the main villain (a Catwoman takeoff) with several

players portraying her henchmen in "Batguy & Rinaldi" (a parody of Batman & Robin), and sportscasters

Casey Coleman Kenneth R. "Casey" Coleman Jr. (March 24, 1951 – November 27, 2006) was a sportscaster and radio personality in the Cleveland area for nearly 30 years. Early life Coleman was born in Cleveland in 1951 to legendary play-by-play announcer K ...

, John Telich and Dan Coughlin were used in sports themed skits. Other later skits featured WJW station announcer Bill Ward announcing introductions to skits or for faux testimonial advertisements in the style of Hoolihan. Owing to the station's long affiliation with the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

television network, CBS stars like

Buddy Ebsen Buddy Ebsen (born Christian Ludolf Ebsen Jr., April 2, 1908 – July 6, 2003), also known as Frank "Buddy" Ebsen, was an American actor and dancer, whose career spanned seven decades. One of his most famous roles was as Jed Clampett in the CBS ...

and

Andy Griffith Andy Samuel Griffith (June 1, 1926 – July 3, 2012) was an American actor, comedian, television producer, southern gospel singer and writer whose career spanned seven decades in music and television. Known for his Southern drawl, his characte ...

made cameos in several skits, as well as

(who like Big Chuck began his career on WJW as a sidekick of Ernie Anderson – though on a separate program) who by then was a star on CBS' ''

The Carol Burnett Show ''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Harvey ...

''. Athletes like

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

Earnie Shavers Earnie Dee Shaver (August 31, 1944 – September 1, 2022), best known as Earnie Shavers, was an American professional boxer who competed between 1969 and 1995. A two-time world heavyweight championship challenger, he is known as one of the harde ...

and Jack Lambert also made guest appearances in skits.

Other show features

Both ''The Hoolihan and Big Chuck Show'' and ''The Big Chuck and Lil' John Show'' also made music video parodies as well, including

Ray Stevens Harold Ray Ragsdale (born January 24, 1939), known professionally as Ray Stevens, is an American country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian, known for his Grammy-winning recordings "Everything Is Beautiful" and "Misty", as well as novelty ...

songs like "

Gitarzan "Gitarzan" is a novelty song released by Ray Stevens in 1969 about a character who lives in a jungle and forms a musical band with his female partner, Jane, and their pet monkey. The song features Tarzan's jungle calls, scat singing, and a funky ...

", "

Indian Love Call "Indian Love Call" (first published as "The Call") is a popular song from ''Rose-Marie'', a 1924 operetta-style Broadway musical with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II. Origi ...

" (the skit was titled "The Audio Engineer" and made extensive use of

chromakey Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a Visual effects, visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues (colorfulness, chroma range). The technique has b ...

), " Along Came Jones", "

The Streak Streak or streaking may refer to: *Streaking, running naked in a public place *Streaking or surfactant leaching in acrylic paints * Streaking (microbiology), a method of purifying micro-organisms *Streak (mineralogy), the color left by a mineral ...

" and "Bridget the Midget" (which was Lil' John's on-air debut on the show back in 1970), plus other songs like Scott McKenzie's "

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Jimmy Castor Bunch James Walter Castor (January 23, 1940 – January 16, 2012) was an American funk, R&B, and soul musician. He is credited with vocals, saxophone and composition. He is best known for songs such as "It's Just Begun", "The Bertha Butt Boogie", and ...

's "

Troglodyte A troglodyte is a human cave dweller, from the Greek 'hole, mouse-hole' and 'go in, dive in'. Troglodyte and derived forms may also refer to: Historiography * ''Troglodytae'' or ''Troglodyti'', an ancient group of people from the African Red ...

", and

Larry Groce Larry Groce (born April 22, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and radio host. From 1983 until 2021, Groce served as the host and artistic director of '' Mountain Stage'', a two-hour live music radio program produced by West Virginia Public ...

's "

Junk Food Junkie "Junk Food Junkie" is a 1976 novelty song by Larry Groce. It spent 15 weeks on the U.S. charts, reaching #9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It was Groce's only song to chart. "Junk Food Junkie" spent two weeks at #31 in Canada, and it was also a ...

." Both shows occasionally would feature a "New Talent Time" sketch where Cleveland area performers, usually performing some sort of offbeat stunt, would be featured. One week featured songwriter Robert McGuire performing his original song "Moon Over Parma", a song that mentioned a journey through the suburbs of Cleveland; the song would later become the theme song for the first season of ''

The Drew Carey Show ''The Drew Carey Show'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995 to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized ...

''.

Awards and honors

Big Chuck

*29-time

Lower Great Lakes Emmy Awards The NATAS Lower Great Lakes Chapter is one of 19 regional chapters of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The Lower Great Lakes Chapter (formerly Cleveland Chapter) was founded in 1969. In addition to granting Emmy® Awards to pro ...

recipient *1994 Silver Circle Award, presented by Local Great Lakes Emmy Awards chapterBC & LJ win Silver Circle Award - NATAS LGL.org
/ref> *Ohio Broadcasters Hall of Fame Inductee (class of 1991)
*Cleveland Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame (class of 1999)
/ref>

Lil' John

*1995 Silver Circle Award, presented by Local Great Lakes Emmy Awards chapter *2001

Lower Great Lakes Emmy Award The NATAS Lower Great Lakes Chapter is one of 19 regional chapters of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The Lower Great Lakes Chapter (formerly Cleveland Chapter) was founded in 1969. In addition to granting Emmy® Awards to pro ...

recipient (as co-host of ''The Big Chuck and Lil' John Show'') - Regularly Scheduled Entertainment ProgramLil John's Emmy - NATAS LGL.org
/ref> *Ohio Broadcasters Hall of Fame Inductee (class of 1996) *Cleveland Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame (class of 1999)

References

External links

Official Big Chuck and Lil' John Fan Web site
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110707133130/http://www.americanscary.com/bios.html AmericanScary.com: Host Biographiesbr> E-gor's Chamber of TV Horror Hosts: Hoolihan and Big Chuck and Lil' John''Hoolihan, Big Chuck & Lil John Show Archives''
American television personalities American comedy duos Television in Cleveland Horror hosts Local comedy television series in the United States Local motion picture television series 1960s American satirical television series 1970s American satirical television series 1980s American satirical television series 1990s American satirical television series 2000s American satirical television series 1960s American sketch comedy television series 1970s American sketch comedy television series 1980s American sketch comedy television series 1990s American sketch comedy television series 2000s American sketch comedy television series 1966 American television series debuts 2007 American television series endings