Большой Чак и Малыш Джон: История культового шоу ужасов из Кливленда

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 hosts of The Big Chuck and Lil' John Show on television station WJW in Cleveland, Ohio 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 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.

Chuck Schodowski (b. June 28, 1934) started as a producer/engineer at WJW TV (and before that at KYW TV), and became a close friend of Ernie Anderson. When Anderson's previous sidekick, eventual Hollywood actor Tim Conway, was fired for a fabrication on his résumé, Schodowski was hired as Conway's replacement. Schodowski worked closely with Anderson (as Ghoulardi) 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' 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 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. 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, which WJW was airing following their weeknight 11 p. m. newscasts), then back to Fridays following WJW's affiliation switch to Fox 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, then after Fox debuted Talkshow with Spike Feresten 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 shorts, episodes of The Abbott and Costello Show, 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 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 as of July 2021 the show has been retitled The Best of Big Chuck and Lil' John and introductions to the skits have been dropped. Lil' John made news in December 2014, after Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis referred to Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel as a "midget". WJW sent the 4'3" Rinaldi to Cincinnati to cover Lewis' weekly press conference, and he asked the coach some questions. In 2019 the duo reunited with Wells to film the five episode web series Space Ship One.

Ben Crazy a parody of a popular 60's TV medical drama, Ben Casey 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 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 Place a parody of the 60's soap opera Peyton Place. Originated on Ghoulardi but was continuously rerun throughout the entire course of Hoolihan & Big Chuck and Big Chuck & Lil' John
Soul Man a parody of Superman 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. 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 series, with Big Chuck as the title character – and Lil' John as his sidekick "Short Stuff" – chronicling their attempts to capture the "Kapusta Diamond". These skits were filmed at Squire's Castle in suburban Willoughby Hills, Ohio.

Big Chuck and Lil' John would use some of WJW's personalities, like station meteorologist Dick Goddard, in their skits. A popular Goddard sketch revolved around Goddard's claims that WJW had the best doppler radar 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, 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. and Mary Allen ("the pride of Maple Heights"), 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 was famously featured as the main villain (a Catwoman takeoff) with several Cleveland Browns players portraying her henchmen in "Batguy & Rinaldi" (a parody of Batman & Robin), and sportscasters Casey Coleman, 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 television network, CBS stars like Buddy Ebsen and Andy Griffith made cameos in several skits, as well as Tim Conway (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. Athletes like Muhammad Ali, Earnie Shavers and Jack Lambert also made guest appearances in skits.