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Retro interview: Svengoolie in 1983
The more things change, the more they stay the same!
Nowadays, you'd be hard-pressed to find a broadcast legend with more years under his belt than Svengoolie. For nearly half a century, Sven has been delighting his audience with a very specific brand of horror-tainted comedy. With his patented puns and rampant use of rubber chicken, Svengoolie has firmly cemented a place in the pantheon of television presenters.
But that hasn't always been the case. Believe it or not, there was a time when Sven (aka Rich Koz) was the new kid on the block. Back in 1983, Svengoolie's studio still had that new coffin smell when he was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune.
The profile detailed how the Son of Svengoolie (as Koz was then known) rose from the dead as a drama student before winning the still-beating hearts of Chicagoland viewers. The Tribune noted that Sven dresses up "as a British undertaker and cavorts around an abjectly dismal set, dodging rubber chickens hurled at him by stagehands and delivering pronouncements in a Transylvanian accent so pointedly poor that it defies bad."
While the set has received some upgrades, Koz's philosophy has remained consistent over the years.
"He knows you know he's pretending," Koz said of his character. "In this day and age, you couldn't play something like this straight. It has to be a big in-joke with the viewers."
In the proceeding years, more and more people have become "in" on the joke, passing the joy of Svengoolie from one generation to the next, like some cherished, rotting heirloom (er, scare-loom).
"You can't just pretend to be a vampire who comes out of the coffin once a week to show a film," said Koz. "It's got to work on a lot more levels than that, otherwise you're doing the same thing week after week and you get stale. That's why the other shows come and go so quickly."
Instead, Koz has spent decades scaring up sketches and satire that have thrilled audiences everywhere. What has perhaps separated him from his horror host kin is the obvious love that Rich Koz has for his viewing audience. It's hard work, but somebody has to do it.
As we celebrate Svengoolie's legendary legacy, it's fun to look back at different eras and benchmarks throughout his career. Old interviews reveal that, underneath the lights and makeup, it's still the same Rich Koz.
"You know, I never expected this to be a full-time thing," Koz said way back in '83. At the time, he was preparing his 200th episode. When presented with the prospect of 200 more, Koz said, "Eight years is a long time to have people throwing rubber chickens at you."
May those rubber chickens fly forever, Sven.
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