Thursday, January 23, 2025

Chuck (is the King)

Aww man - Big Chuck died. 

Chuck Schodowski (on the right) was a Cleveland staple. Well.......for a certain generation. Mine. 

I grew up watching Houlihan & Big Chuck. They showed bad movies starting at 23:30 on Friday or Saturday nights (I'm losing track now) with their own skits in between. 

The 'ski' that ended Big Chuck's name was important in their brand. Parma, where I was actually born due to it being the closest hospital at the time, is notorious for having a high Polish population. 

Of course, they couldn't tell "Polish jokes" on the air, so they became "Certain Ethnic jokes" (and Big Chuck played a "Certain Ethnic Man" (or even the "Certain Ethnic Six Dollar Man"), and the on-going series of the "Kielbasa Kid" or "Mary Hartski Mary Hartski" or "Ben Crazy" (instead of Casey).  And then there was the take off on a Cleveland standard "Polka Varieties" (with Paul Wilcox) with "Polish Varieties" (with Paul Whitesocks).  

Maybe that last one doesn't translate. A Cleveland joke was that all Polish people wore white socks. I'm not sure if that one goes outside city limits. And yes, every Sunday we had a one-hour show on Polka and Polka dancing.

I'd say, for a 10 year old, Houlihan and Big Chuck were HILARIOUS. But since males humour rarely develop after 13, I still found them hilarious as I aged. I can still hear the taped laugh that would end every single skit. And I'm smiling thinking about it. 

Houlihan would eventually leave to be replaced by Lil' John (middle), who would eventually sell 710 and myself our wedding rings. 

Big Chuck (I mean, we can't just call him 'Chuck') was funny. And for a coming of age gay boy, I thought he was handsome. That chin!

The show eventually moved to a Saturday afternoon and then eventually disappeared after UHF and VHF became a thing of the past. 

Big Chuck was 90. Even USA Today called him a Cleveland icon.  

He'll be missed. 



Song by: Eddy Grant

2 comments:

anonymous said...

Yep. Sure remember growing up with Big Chuck and Lil' John.
Before that Ghoulardi!! Their skits were better than those lousy movies they showed...but, they had their charm, too. What happened to Lil' John? I remember he owned a jewelry store. Is he still around? Ghoulardi got famous in Hollywood as did his son. Lots of Cleveland memories.
John in Ohio

Travel said...

90 is a good long life.