Chuck McCann
Encyclopedia
Chuck McCann is a film actor, television actor, stage actor, and a voice actor from Brooklyn, New York.
metropolitan area during the 1960s, having worked his way up to regional star status by apprenticing on a number of other children's shows like Captain Kangaroo
and Rootie Kazootie
(the show on which he met his one-time puppeteer
and sidekick
, Paul Ashley). The best-selling "The First Family", an early '60s LP record album which lampooned the newly-elected President John F. Kennedy and his family, included McCann among its voices.
On Palm Sunday, 1965, Chuck McCann's cousins were telling their friends that their cousin was Chuck McCann. They didn't believe them so their mother called him and told him that people were calling her children mean things about 'lying'. Chuck McCann said immediately to come over. They did and were put on his show, showing McCann's good character and family relations.
To around 1967, the tall, portly, moon-faced McCann hosted comedy/variety TV puppet shows in the New York
area. McCann (with Ashley) did The Puppet Hotel for WNTA-TV
, Channel 13; then Laurel & Hardy & Chuck, Let's Have Fun and The Chuck McCann Show for WPIX
, Channel 11; and finally, The Chuck McCann Show, The Great Bombo's Magic Cartoon Circus Lunchtime Show and Chuck McCann's Laurel and Hardy
Show for WNEW-TV
, Channel 5. In addition, Chuck was the comedy sidekick on the WPIX
long-running Clay Cole Show
.
McCann's career was burgeoning by the time he left Channel 5, a victim of changing TV trends. By the end of the 1960s, he had appeared to critical acclaim in the 1968 film The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
and performed regularly on CBS
's The Garry Moore Show
and Happy Days (not the later sitcom). He also began a successful cartoon
voice career, doing everything from Bob Kane
's Cool McCool
to Sonny the Cuckoo Bird
("I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs
!") in commercials for General Mills
. He had even been one of the stars of producer George Schlatter
's ill-fated offshoot of Laugh-In
, the one-episode Turn-On
.
In the 1970s, McCann's life and career shifted west, and he relocated to Los Angeles
. He made frequent appearances on network television in everything from Bonanza
to Columbo to The Bob Newhart Show
. He appeared in the 1973 made for TV movie The Girl Most Likely to...
. He had a steadier job as a regular on Norman Lear
's All That Glitters. In addition, he co-starred with Bob Denver
in CBS's Saturday-morning sitcom Far Out Space Nuts
, which he co-created. The 1970s also brought him fame in a long-running series of commercials for Right Guard
anti-perspirant: he was the enthusiastic neighbor with the catch phrase "Hi guy!" who appeared on the other side of a shared medicine cabinet. McCann also impersonated Oliver Hardy
in commercials for various products (teaming with Jim MacGeorge as Stan Laurel
), and for a few years he played the holiday-season recurring role of Kris Kringle on the NBC soap opera Santa Barbara
.
McCann continued voice work for cartoons, playing Jollo, Bookworm, Bump-On-A-Log, and Woof in 1992's King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
and speaking as The Thing
on the The Fantastic Four
and Hulk animated cartoon series. He was also the voice of Leatherneck in the 2nd season of G.I. Joe. Throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium, he has been in commercials—at Christmas
he has played Santa Claus
for one product or another—and TV/movie gigs (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
). He also voices Navarro, and Buck in Random! Cartoons and Dumptruck,Gibber, and Sadie in Disney's Talespin.
, McCann's motion picture career took a turn back into comedy with many supporting roles and a co-starring turn (with Tim Conway
) in They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way
. His most notable post-Hunter films were The Projectionist
, The Comeback Trail
, and Herbie Rides Again
, where he played Loostgarten, president of Loostgarten Wrecking Company. He had a supporting role in the 1988
horror film
Cameron's Closet
.
He also had a brief appearance in Mel Brooks
' 1993
comedy film
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
as a villager.
Tiny TV never reached fruition but LBS Children's Theater was picked up for national syndication in 1983. McCann emcee
d the series alone because Ashley never lived long enough to see the show, having died on September 3, 1984.
Also during the 1980s, Chuck reprised a number of his best sketches from his New York television days as interstitial material for a two-hour presentation of cartoons on KCOP-TV
, Channel 13 in Los Angeles. (He was assisted by Bob Ridgely.)
And in 1989, Chuck returned to daily children's television one more time with Chuck McCann's Funstuff (produced by fellow New York kid show legend Sonny Fox
). Chuck McCann's Funstuff was seen weekday mornings on KHJ (KCAL)
from Monday, September 18, 1989 until Friday, October 13, 1989.
and a regular at the Playboy Mansion
. During the 1980s, McCann appeared as an announcer in various Playboy
videos, including Playboy Playmate Playoffs.
In the 1990s, McCann co-founded and participated in Yarmy's Army, a group of comedian
s and character actor
s of his generation who gathered regularly to cheer up Don Adams
' brother Dick Yarmy, who was dying of cancer
. A group with a massive array of comic talent, its members included Harvey Korman
, Shelley Berman
, Tim Conway
, and many others.
After Yarmy's death, the group stayed together to cheer themselves up since increasing age and health problems made it steadily more difficult for them to get steady work. In addition to having monthly dinners, they performed in various group-directed shows in select venues around the country.
(2003) and Dorf da Bingo King (with his old pal, Tim Conway
). He's supplied voices for The Powerpuff Girls
and Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas
. And he's moved into the field of video games, supplying his talents to True Crime: New York City
.
He makes an important appearance in The Aristocrats
(2005), with an animated rendition of a "clean" version of the "dirty" joke that serves as the movie's subject
In 2006 & 2007 Chuck made appearances on The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd
as Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Floyd's father. He has also made multiple appearances as a judge on Boston Legal
, including the two hour series finale in December 2008.
In 2007, Chuck voiced villain Dalton Kern on the radio drama Adventures in Odyssey
.
Early career
McCann was a comedy giant to a generation of children who grew up watching his children's shows in the New YorkNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
metropolitan area during the 1960s, having worked his way up to regional star status by apprenticing on a number of other children's shows like Captain Kangaroo
Captain Kangaroo
Captain Kangaroo is a children's television series which aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for nearly 30 years, from October 3, 1955 until December 8, 1984, making it the longest-running children's television program of its day...
and Rootie Kazootie
Rootie Kazootie
Rootie Kazootie was the principal character on the 1950s children's television show The Rootie Kazootie Club. The show was the creation of Steve Carlin and featured human actors along with hand puppets.- Characters :...
(the show on which he met his one-time puppeteer
Puppeteer
A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, such as a puppet, in real time to create the illusion of life. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. A puppeteer can operate a puppet indirectly by the use of strings, rods, wires, electronics or directly by his or...
and sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
, Paul Ashley). The best-selling "The First Family", an early '60s LP record album which lampooned the newly-elected President John F. Kennedy and his family, included McCann among its voices.
On Palm Sunday, 1965, Chuck McCann's cousins were telling their friends that their cousin was Chuck McCann. They didn't believe them so their mother called him and told him that people were calling her children mean things about 'lying'. Chuck McCann said immediately to come over. They did and were put on his show, showing McCann's good character and family relations.
To around 1967, the tall, portly, moon-faced McCann hosted comedy/variety TV puppet shows in the New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
area. McCann (with Ashley) did The Puppet Hotel for WNTA-TV
WNET
WNET, channel 13 is a non-commercial educational public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a primary station of the Public Broadcasting Service and a primary provider of PBS programming...
, Channel 13; then Laurel & Hardy & Chuck, Let's Have Fun and The Chuck McCann Show for WPIX
WPIX
WPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WPIX also serves as the flagship station of The CW Television Network...
, Channel 11; and finally, The Chuck McCann Show, The Great Bombo's Magic Cartoon Circus Lunchtime Show and Chuck McCann's Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
Show for WNEW-TV
WNYW
WNYW, virtual channel 5 , is the flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. The station's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and its studio facilities are located in the Yorkville section of Manhattan...
, Channel 5. In addition, Chuck was the comedy sidekick on the WPIX
WPIX
WPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WPIX also serves as the flagship station of The CW Television Network...
long-running Clay Cole Show
Clay Cole Show
The Clay Cole Show was a rock music television show based in New York City, hosted by Clay Cole.First bnroadcast on WNTA-TV in September 1959 as Rate the Records, within two months the format was changed, and an hour-long Saturday-night show was added...
.
McCann's career was burgeoning by the time he left Channel 5, a victim of changing TV trends. By the end of the 1960s, he had appeared to critical acclaim in the 1968 film The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (film)
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is a 1968 film adaptation of the Carson McCullers novel of the same name. It was directed by Robert Ellis Miller. It stars Alan Arkin, Sondra Locke, Laurinda Barrett, Stacy Keach, Percy Rodriguez, Chuck McCann and Cicely Tyson...
and performed regularly on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's The Garry Moore Show
The Garry Moore Show
The Garry Moore Show is the name for several separate American variety series on the CBS television network in the 1950s and 1960s. Hosted by experienced radio performer, Garry Moore, the series helped launch the careers of many comedic talents, such as Don Adams, George Gobel, Carol Burnett, Don...
and Happy Days (not the later sitcom). He also began a successful cartoon
Animated cartoon
An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
voice career, doing everything from Bob Kane
Bob Kane
Bob Kane was an American comic book artist and writer, credited as the creator of the DC Comics superhero Batman...
's Cool McCool
Cool McCool
Cool McCool was an animated series that ran on NBC from September 10, 1966 to August 30, 1969 with two episodes per show, running to 40 episodes in all...
to Sonny the Cuckoo Bird
Sonny the Cuckoo Bird
Sonny the Cuckoo Bird is the cartoon mascot for Cocoa Puffs, a General Mills-produced cereal. He often appears in its television commercials.-History:...
("I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs
Cocoa Puffs
Cocoa Puffs is a brand of chocolate-flavored puffed grain breakfast cereal, manufactured by General Mills. Introduced in 1958, the cereal consists of small orbs of corn, oats and rice that have been flavored with cocoa. Essentially, Cocoa Puffs are Kix cereal with added chocolate flavoring...
!") in commercials for General Mills
General Mills
General Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...
. He had even been one of the stars of producer George Schlatter
George Schlatter
George Schlatter is an American television producer and director, best known for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and founder of the American Comedy Awards....
's ill-fated offshoot of Laugh-In
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In is an American sketch comedy television program which ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to May 14, 1973. It was hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin and was broadcast over NBC...
, the one-episode Turn-On
Turn-On
Turn-On is an American sketch comedy series that aired on ABC in February 1969. Only one episode was shown and the show is considered one of the most infamous flops in TV history....
.
In the 1970s, McCann's life and career shifted west, and he relocated to Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. He made frequent appearances on network television in everything from Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
to Columbo to The Bob Newhart Show
The Bob Newhart Show
The Bob Newhart Show is an American situation comedy produced by MTM Enterprises, which aired 142 original episodes on CBS from September 16, , to April 1, . Comedian Bob Newhart portrayed a psychologist having to deal with his patients and fellow office workers...
. He appeared in the 1973 made for TV movie The Girl Most Likely to...
The Girl Most Likely to...
The Girl Most Likely to... is a black comedy with slight psychological thriller elements written by Joan Rivers and starring Stockard Channing and Edward Asner. The film was released on November 6, 1973 as a made-for-television movie broadcast on the ABC Movie of the Week...
. He had a steadier job as a regular on Norman Lear
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
's All That Glitters. In addition, he co-starred with Bob Denver
Bob Denver
Robert Osbourne "Bob" Denver was an American comedic actor known for his roles as Gilligan on the television series Gilligan's Island and the beatnik Maynard G. Krebs on the 1959–1963 TV series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.-Early life:Denver was born in New Rochelle, New York, and raised in...
in CBS's Saturday-morning sitcom Far Out Space Nuts
Far Out Space Nuts
Far Out Space Nuts is a Sid and Marty Krofft children's television series starring Bob Denver as Junior, a seemingly dim-witted but uniquely clever maintenance worker employed by NASA, and Chuck McCann as Barney, his grumpy, short-tempered co-worker. Patty Maloney played Honk, their furry friend...
, which he co-created. The 1970s also brought him fame in a long-running series of commercials for Right Guard
Right Guard
Right Guard is a brand of deodorant for men. It is also a brand of shower gel. It is manufactured by the Dial Corporation unit of Henkel of North America, which acquired the brand in 2006 as a condition for Procter & Gamble's Gillette acquisition because P&G has other deodorant brands such as Old...
anti-perspirant: he was the enthusiastic neighbor with the catch phrase "Hi guy!" who appeared on the other side of a shared medicine cabinet. McCann also impersonated Oliver Hardy
Oliver Hardy
Oliver Hardy was an American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy, the classic double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted nearly 30 years, from 1927 to 1955.-Early life:...
in commercials for various products (teaming with Jim MacGeorge as Stan Laurel
Stan Laurel
Arthur Stanley "Stan" Jefferson , better known as Stan Laurel, was an English comic actor, writer and film director, famous as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film...
), and for a few years he played the holiday-season recurring role of Kris Kringle on the NBC soap opera Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara (TV series)
Santa Barbara is an American television soap opera, first broadcast in the United States on NBC on July 30, 1984, and last aired on January 15, 1993. The show revolved around the eventful lives of the wealthy Capwell family of Santa Barbara, California...
.
McCann continued voice work for cartoons, playing Jollo, Bookworm, Bump-On-A-Log, and Woof in 1992's King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow is the sixth installment in the King's Quest series of adventure games produced by Sierra Entertainment...
and speaking as The Thing
Thing (comics)
The Thing is a fictional character, a founding member of the superhero team known as the Fantastic Four in the Marvel Comics universe. He was created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee in The Fantastic Four #1...
on the The Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four (1994 TV series)
Fantastic Four is the third animated television series based on Marvel's comic book series of the same name. Airing began on September 24, 1994, until ending on February 24, 1996...
and Hulk animated cartoon series. He was also the voice of Leatherneck in the 2nd season of G.I. Joe. Throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium, he has been in commercials—at Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
he has played Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
for one product or another—and TV/movie gigs (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (TV series)
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch is an American sitcom based on the Archie comic book series of the same name.The show stars Melissa Joan Hart as Sabrina Spellman, a teenager with magical powers, who lives with her aunts Hilda and Zelda , and their magical talking cat Salem...
). He also voices Navarro, and Buck in Random! Cartoons and Dumptruck,Gibber, and Sadie in Disney's Talespin.
Motion pictures
After The Heart Is a Lonely HunterThe Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is the debut 1940 novel by American author Carson McCullers. Written in Charlotte, North Carolina, in houses on Central Avenue and East Boulevard, it is about a deaf man named John Singer and the people he encounters in a 1930s mill town in the US state of Georgia...
, McCann's motion picture career took a turn back into comedy with many supporting roles and a co-starring turn (with Tim Conway
Tim Conway
Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway is an American comedian and actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television. Conway is best known for his role as the inept second-in-command officer, Ensign Charles Parker, to Lt...
) in They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way
They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way
They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way is a 1978 slapstick comedy film written by and starring Tim Conway.-Plot summary:Dewey and Wallace are small-town lawmen who are ordered by the governor to go undercover as prison inmates to find out where a gang of thieves have hidden their loot...
. His most notable post-Hunter films were The Projectionist
The Projectionist (film)
The Projectionist is a 1971 film written and directed by Harry Hurwitz. It featured the film debut of Rodney Dangerfield. The film employs the use of superimposition of older films, the first time such techniques were used.-Plot:...
, The Comeback Trail
The Comeback Trail
The Comeback Trail is a 1982 film directed by Harry Hurwitz. The film features several cameos playing themselves such as Hugh Hefner.-Plot:...
, and Herbie Rides Again
Herbie Rides Again
Herbie Rides Again is a 1974 comedy film. It is the sequel to The Love Bug, released six years earlier, and the second in a series of movies made by Walt Disney Productions starring an anthropomorphic 1963 Volkswagen racing Beetle named Herbie...
, where he played Loostgarten, president of Loostgarten Wrecking Company. He had a supporting role in the 1988
1988 in film
-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:* Act of Piracy* Action Jackson, starring Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone* The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* Akira* Alice...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
Cameron's Closet
Cameron's Closet
Cameron's Closet, also known as Cameron's Terror, is a 1988 American horror film. The film was directed by Armand Mastroianni and stars Scott Curtis, Cotter Smith, Mel Harris, Tab Hunter, Kim Lankford, Gary Hudson and William Lustig.-Plot:...
.
He also had a brief appearance in Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
' 1993
1993 in film
The year 1993 in film involved many significant films, including the blockbuster hits Jurassic Park, The Fugitive and The Firm. -Events:...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Robin Hood: Men in Tights is a 1993 French-American adventure comedy film and a parody of the Robin Hood story. Produced and directed by Mel Brooks, the film stars Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, and Dave Chappelle in his film debut...
as a villager.
Return to roots
In 1980, McCann and Paul Ashley were to reunite for a pair of TV show pilots:- Tiny TV (a satirical/variety puppet series aimed at adults for the cable market)
- LBSLexington Broadcast Services CompanyLexington Broadcast Services Company was a television production and syndication company founded in 1976 by advertising pioneer Henry Siegel...
Children's Theater (a children film anthology show where McCann and The Paul Ashley Puppets were to introduce reruns of prime time animated TV specials and theatrical cartoons from Europe). However, Paul Ashley was forced to leave the projects when it was discovered that he was suffering from Alzheimer's diseaseAlzheimer's diseaseAlzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
.
Tiny TV never reached fruition but LBS Children's Theater was picked up for national syndication in 1983. McCann emcee
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
d the series alone because Ashley never lived long enough to see the show, having died on September 3, 1984.
Also during the 1980s, Chuck reprised a number of his best sketches from his New York television days as interstitial material for a two-hour presentation of cartoons on KCOP-TV
KCOP-TV
KCOP-TV, channel 13, is a television station in Los Angeles, California. Owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, KCOP is a sister station to Fox network outlet KTTV , and is affiliated with the MyNetworkTV programming service...
, Channel 13 in Los Angeles. (He was assisted by Bob Ridgely.)
And in 1989, Chuck returned to daily children's television one more time with Chuck McCann's Funstuff (produced by fellow New York kid show legend Sonny Fox
Sonny Fox
Irwin "Sonny" Fox is an American television host, executive and broadcasting consultant, who was the fourth full-time host of the children's television program, Wonderama.-Biography:...
). Chuck McCann's Funstuff was seen weekday mornings on KHJ (KCAL)
KCAL-TV
KCAL-TV, channel 9, is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, USA, owned by the CBS Corporation. KCAL-TV shares its studio facilities with KCBS-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.-Digital...
from Monday, September 18, 1989 until Friday, October 13, 1989.
Notable associations
McCann is a close friend of Hugh HefnerHugh Hefner
Hugh Marston "Hef" Hefner is an American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.-Early life:...
and a regular at the Playboy Mansion
Playboy Mansion
The Playboy Mansion is the home of Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner. Located in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles, California, the mansion became famous during the 1970s through media reports of Hefner's lavish parties.-History:The house is described as being in the "Gothic-Tudor" style...
. During the 1980s, McCann appeared as an announcer in various Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
videos, including Playboy Playmate Playoffs.
In the 1990s, McCann co-founded and participated in Yarmy's Army, a group of comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
s and character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
s of his generation who gathered regularly to cheer up Don Adams
Don Adams
Don Adams was an American actor, comedian and director. In his five decades on television, he was best known as Maxwell Smart in the television situation comedy Get Smart , which he also sometimes directed and wrote. Adams won three consecutive Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Smart...
' brother Dick Yarmy, who was dying of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. A group with a massive array of comic talent, its members included Harvey Korman
Harvey Korman
Harvey Herschel Korman was an American comedic actor who performed in television and movie productions beginning in 1960...
, Shelley Berman
Shelley Berman
Sheldon "Shelley" Berman is an American comedian, actor, writer, teacher, lecturer, and poet.- Early life :Berman was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Irene and Nathan Berman.- Career :...
, Tim Conway
Tim Conway
Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway is an American comedian and actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television. Conway is best known for his role as the inept second-in-command officer, Ensign Charles Parker, to Lt...
, and many others.
After Yarmy's death, the group stayed together to cheer themselves up since increasing age and health problems made it steadily more difficult for them to get steady work. In addition to having monthly dinners, they performed in various group-directed shows in select venues around the country.
New millennium
In the new millennium, McCann has appeared in They Call Him SasquatchThey Call Him Sasquatch (film)
They Call Him Sasquatch is a 2003 straight to DVD movie starring Neal McDonough and Garry Marshall.-Cast:...
(2003) and Dorf da Bingo King (with his old pal, Tim Conway
Tim Conway
Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway is an American comedian and actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television. Conway is best known for his role as the inept second-in-command officer, Ensign Charles Parker, to Lt...
). He's supplied voices for The Powerpuff Girls
The Powerpuff Girls
The Powerpuff Girls is an American animated television series created by animator Craig McCracken and produced by Hanna-Barbera for Cartoon Network...
and Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas
Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas
Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas is a computer-animated direct-to-video movie on VHS and DVD made by The Walt Disney Company in 2004. It is the sequel to Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas from 1999. The segments in this video feature Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Max, Donald Duck, Daisy...
. And he's moved into the field of video games, supplying his talents to True Crime: New York City
True Crime: New York City
True Crime: New York City is an urban sandbox-style action-adventure videogame published by Activision and developed by Luxoflux for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube consoles and Windows based computers. It is the second game of the True Crime series, released after True Crime: Streets of LA...
.
He makes an important appearance in The Aristocrats
The Aristocrats (film)
The Aristocrats is a 2005 documentary film about the famous dirty joke of the same name. It was conceived and produced by comedians Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza, edited by Emery Emery, and released to theaters by TH!NKFilm...
(2005), with an animated rendition of a "clean" version of the "dirty" joke that serves as the movie's subject
In 2006 & 2007 Chuck made appearances on The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd
The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd
The Radio Adventures Of Dr. Floyd is a short audio and video series distributed via podcasting. Created by Grant Baciocco and Doug Price, it is a family friendly show in the style of old-time radio. The show also draws much inspiration from The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show. The show first began in April...
as Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Floyd's father. He has also made multiple appearances as a judge on Boston Legal
Boston Legal
Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...
, including the two hour series finale in December 2008.
In 2007, Chuck voiced villain Dalton Kern on the radio drama Adventures in Odyssey
Adventures in Odyssey
Adventures in Odyssey , or simply Odyssey, is an Evangelical Christian-themed radio drama/comedy series created by Focus on the Family in 1987. The show's daily audience averages around 1.2 million within North America. The Odyssey series also includes several spin-off items, including a home-video...
.
External links
- official website: www.chuckmccann.net
- November 2006 interview on The Zigory Show (SOLID VOX Network)