Big Chuck and Lil' John - Other Cast Members

Other Cast Members

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.

Other longtime supporting players were veteran cameraman/technician Art Lafredo, who appeared in many skits through the years (most frequently as "The Old Man") and had several "Art Lafredo Nights" dedicated to him, and Mary Allen ("the pride of Maple Heights"), who was an older lady and was a viewer who had won a contest 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.