The legends of CHCH
The Red Green Show, The Hilarious House of Frightenstein and Tiny Talent Time are enduring parts of the history of Hamilton and its TV station.
As CHCH celebrates 70 years as a local television station in Hamilton this year, HAMILTON CITY Magazine delves into three of the iconic television shows that captivated viewers for decades: Tiny Talent Time, The Red Green Show and The Hilarious House of Frightenstein.
“You don’t forget these shows that stuck with you,” says CHCH producer Don Jonescu, who has helped plan the station’s anniversary celebrations this year. “The television programming in the past is legendary and huge.”
The Red Green Show
“The Red Green Show is displayed prominently here at CHCH,” says Jonescu, during a tour of the station that opened its doors in 2022 after a long tenure at the Jackson Street studios.
There is a large collage wall at the new Waterdown headquarters that is adorned with photographs of the station’s classic programming over the years, along with former CH personalities.
“I don’t know what it is about Canadian shows with small budgets, but viewers still talk about them,” Jonescu says. “There is something about Hamilton, where things start out small, but they become big. You need to bottle it.”
The Red Green Show was one of those shows. It was originally recorded at CHCH and first aired in January 1991. The show later found many other homes, including Global, CBC and later PBS, where the show had success in some American markets.
The show was the brainchild of Steve Smith, who first introduced Red Green in a segment on his CHCH-produced comedy show Smith & Smith, with his wife Morag.
The concept was that Red Green was the host of a live cable show from the fictional Possum Lodge. The show was a parody of other fishing and handyman shows. His sidekick was his nephew Harold Green, played by Hamilton native Patrick McKenna.
Even though The Red Green Show moved on from the CHCH studios during its heyday, Smith kept the original CHCH crew until the show wrapped in April 2006 after 300 half-hour episodes.
The show is famous for putting duct tape in our vernacular, with Red Green referring to it as “the handyman’s secret weapon” – a fix-all for anything in need of repair. Whatever he applied generous portions of tape to usually fell apart almost immediately.
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The Hilarious House of Frightenstein
Another parody-based CHCH comedy show with legendary status in Canada and the U.S. was The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. All 130 episodes of the show were filmed in a nine-month span at CHCH studios in 1971.
The premise of the show centred around the character Count Frightenstein and his inability to revive a Frankenstein-like character named Brucie J. Monster. The show had many other segue sketches that were disjointed from the main storyline, but they all played out somewhere in Castle Frightenstein.
Originally billed as a children’s show, it was later hailed as a comedy and garnered wide appeal from a young adult demographic. The show was able to entice Hollywood actor and horror genre legend Vincent Price to Hamilton. Price filmed all his 400 segments at CHCH studios over the course of a few days for a fee of $13,000.
The star of the show was Billy Van, a Toronto-born comedian and actor who played most of the characters on The Hilarious House of Frightenstein.
“As a fan, I’d watch the show every Saturday and Sunday,” says Jonescu. “It was an amazing show. Billy Van was one of the greats. He played over 10 different characters on the show.”
They included the Wolfman who imitated popular DJ Wolfman Jack by playing records, and dancing to them, while wearing a werewolf costume, the Librarian, an ancient bearded character who tried "to horrify you" with benign fairy tales from dusty old cobwebbed volumes, and the Oracle, who would give astrological readings, and answer fake letters from viewers while wearing a large headdress.
More than 50 years later, the show still has a cult-like following and many in the entertainment industry credit The Hilarious House of Frightenstein with being influential, including Canadian comedian and SNL alumni Mike Myers in his 2016 memoir and rock musician Alice Cooper.
Former SCTV cast member Dave Thomas, a Hamiltonian who made a career in the world of comedy as a sketch artist, says the show played a role his character-based comedy.
“I remember watching Hilarious House of Frightenstein and being amazed at Billy Van and all the characters he was able to play,” Thomas recalls during an interview with HAMILTON CITY Magazine. “I was doing characters myself at that time, but mainly at the amusement of my family and friends.”
When the show gained traction south of the border, in some markets it was garnering larger audiences than The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Jonescu says.
“It was a huge hit.”
Billy Van died in 2003. In February, both Van and Smith were inducted into the Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame, along with Thomas, and other notable Hamiltonians Eugene Levy and Martin Short, and Newmarket native Jim Carrey.
Billy Van in makeup to become the Librarian. 
Billy Van as the Librarian. 
Vincent Price in The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. 
Billy Van as the Wolfman. 
Billy Van as Griselda. 
Billy Van spent a lot of time in the makeup chair. 
Billy Van as the Count on the set of The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. All photos: Courtesy of CHCH
Tiny Talent Time
One of CHCH’s most enduring shows was Tiny Talent Time. The original version aired on the station from 1957 to 1992 and was hosted by station weatherman Bill Lawrence. It was an amateur talent show aimed at showcasing children’s talents.
“Bill Lawrence, the weatherman, lived in our neighbourhood,” recalls Thomas. “He was like the Canadian Mr. Rogers and had a gentle nature and a way with kids. He was really a nice gentleman who happened to be a Hamilton television personality. That’s how I thought of him.”
Jonescu credits Lawrence with creating a “connection to the community” that drove the appeal of Tiny Talent Time.
It gave kids and teens, from as far away as Buffalo, an opportunity to display their talents – whatever they may be, well before anything like Canadian Idol.
“Bill Lawrence got it. He understood the passion of the kids. He got down to their level, he was never condescending,” says Jonescu. “Bill always wanted to know about them, how they got involved and where they wanted to end up.”
Tiny Talent Time went off the air in 1992 – but not for long. In 2000, an updated version titled Today’s Talent Time went on the airwaves from CHCH studios. It was hosted by Sandy Savelli and Mike Gravina.
In 2014, the show returned for a third time under its original name with new hosts Jaclyn Colville and Jason Agnew.
In February 2019, Erin Myke’s daughter Paige was on an episode of Tiny Talent Time with her Ridgeway-based theatre company Down the Rabbit Hole.
“It was a great experience. The show made my daughter feel special. It was like a Canadian celebrity moment,” says Myke. “To watch your kid be in the spotlight, it was beautiful; an emotional moment. To CHCH, I want to say thank you for providing my child with a true Canadian experience and an opportunity to shine in our community.”
Thomas reminisces about the iconic CHCH television programming, remarking: “Through my love of films and television shows, we used to as a family, sit and watch CHCH television programming together – on Channel 11 in Hamilton.”
Jonescu is also thankful about being part of the storied station and its programming. He credits the viewers in Hamilton – and beyond.
“We do it for you and because of you. The passion people have. They are so invested,” he says. “I’m in awe at what has come before me at CHCH. To the viewers, thank you from deep in my heart and soul.”
