Cleveland TV legend “Big Chuck” Schodowski, who entertained generations of late-night viewers on WJW Channel 8 as co-host of the “Hoolihan and Big Chuck Show” and “The Big Chuck & Lil’ John Show,” has died, according to a report on the Fox 8 News website. No cause of death was given. He was 90.
Chuck Mitchell Schodowski was born June 28, 1934, in Cleveland and grew up in a Polish neighborhood at Harvard Avenue and East 71st Street. He joined WJW in 1960. He soon found himself working behind the scenes with local TV mad genius Ernie Anderson, who launched his late-night “Ghoulardi” show on Channel 8 in 1963. The show was a huge ratings success and a cultural phenomenon, too, and Schodowski played a big role in its success, helping behind the scenes and becoming Anderson’s right-hand man.
When Anderson left for Hollywood in 1966, Schodowski took up the mantel of the show, teaming with WJW weatherman Bob Wells (aka Hoolihan) for The “Hoolihan and Big Chuck Show,” which made its premiere in December 1966. From 1966 to 1979, “The Hoolihan & Big Chuck Show” picked up where Ghoulardi left off: showing horror flicks and bad B movies, performing skits such as “The Kielbasy Kid” and making mock videos to songs like “The Streak.”
When Hoolihan became a born-again Christian and left the show in 1979 to work as a Christian radio broadcaster, “Big Chuck” pivoted again, teaming up with John “Lil’ John” Rinaldi, a diminutive sidekick whom he had met in 1969 and who had performed in several popular skits on the “Hoolihan and Big Chuck Show.”
“The Big Chuck & Lil’ John Show” launched that year and was a mainstay of late-night local TV for decades.
Schodowski retired from Channel 8 in 2007, but continued to host a repackaged best-of “Big Chuck and Lil’ John Show” with Rinaldi for years.
The Plain Dealer interviewed Schodowski about his long career in 2016. (at the link)
My favorite skit was the one he did with his dog King.
RIP, Big Chuck. You were an icon. We will always love you.