Anderson used friends and members of the TV-8 station crew as supporting cast, including engineer "Big Chuck" Schodowski, film editor Bob Soinski, weatherman Bob "Hoolihan" Wells, and occasionally Tim Conway, a former TV-8 colleague who had gone on to stardom as "Ensign Parker" in the ABC sitcom "McHale's Navy". Anderson was later assisted by teenage intern Ron Sweed, who had boarded a bus to try to meet his idol at a live appearance at Euclid Beach Park, clad in a gorilla suit. Anderson invited Sweed onstage; to the crowd’s delight, Sweed stumbled offstage back into the audience when Anderson whacked him on the back. This, plus some unannounced gorilla-suited visits to the studio, sealed his place as Anderson’s intern.