Big Chuck Schodowski Obituary: What happened to Big Chuck and Lil Johns Chuck Schodowski?

Posted by Abbie Anker on Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Big Chuck Schodowski Obituary: What happened to Big Chuck and Lil’ John’s Chuck Schodowski?

Charles “Big Chuck” Schodowski and “Lil’ John” Rinaldi – 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 1963 to 2008.

Reports of Big Chuck’s passing was shared on social media on Friday, October 6th. However, the news is yet to be confirmed by his family.

Big Chuck was born June 28, 1934.

In addition to hosting a movie with a live audience, they (Big Chuck and Lil’ John) also performed original sketch comedy routines. At the end of each sketch was a very distinctive laugh 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 started as a producer/engineer at WJW-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.

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