Big Chuck and Lil' John

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Big Chuck and Little John

Big Chuck and Lil' John (aka Charles "Big Chuck" Schodowski and "Lil' John" Rinaldi) were late-night hosts on television station WJW in Cleveland, Ohio, United States from 1979 to 2007. In addition to hosting a movie with a live audience, they also performed original sketch comedy routines. At the end of each sketch is a very distinctive laugh that was voiced by Jay Lawrence.

Schodowski had been a long-time friend of Ernie Anderson, and had worked closely with him on the Ghoulardi show. Schodowski had been instrumental in bringing in the blend of blues and polka music that helped define Ghoulardi's show. He added comic audio drop-ins to enliven the often awful movies, and immortalized The Rivingtons' tune "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" by marrying it to the image of an old man "gurning".

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 & Big Chuck Show.

After Wells left the show in 1979, 4 foot-3 inch (1.3 meter) jeweler Rinaldi, a regular performer on the show, took over as co-host on the renamed Big Chuck & Lil' John Show.

For many years, the show aired at 11:30 p.m. on Friday nights before moving to 12:00 a.m. on Saturday nights in 1993, then back to Fridays following WJW's affiliation switch to Fox before ultimately going back to Saturdays following Mad TV. Its final time slot was at 12:30 a.m. Saturday nights/Sunday mornings, along with a companion Couch Potato Theatre airing at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning (the latter either a movie showing or an all-skits hour show).

On December 2006, Charles Schodowski announced his retirement from the show in June 2007. As part of his farewell, WJW broadcasted the hour-long retrospective Big Chuck and Lil' John: The End of an Era.^[1] This also marked the end of the Big Chuck & Lil' John Show, with the last regular episode being broadcast in the afternoon of June 16, 2007 and again in the early morning of June 17.^[2]^[3]

[edit] Some sketches and parodies

Ben Crazy: a parody on medical drama Ben Casey
The Certain Ethnic: a play on Big Chuck's Polish heritage (e.g., the Certain Ethnic driver who drives through red traffic lights and stops at green lights)
Parma Place: a parody on soap-opera Peyton Place
Soulman: a parody of Superman

Big Chuck and Little John would use some of WJW's personalities, like station meteorologist Dick Goddard, in their skits. One sketch dealt with Cleveland's weather radar, in which Cleveland's meterologists compete to see who had better Doppler. As Goddard claims that WJW has radar that can see clearly to a neighborhood, the image reveals a woman taking a bath (strategically covered with bubbles), and Goddard hides the image with his suit jacket.