1. The episode (#8:"The Snow Must Go On") where a giant snowstorm hits Minneapolis on Election Night, knocking out the phone lines, and Mary is left in charge of the live news coverage while Lou goes out to find some votes. After endless hours of the same result ("Turner 27, Mitchell 14"), Chuckles the Clown (played by Richard Schaal; he also played two of Mary's beaus -- the brothers Howard and Paul Arnell -- at different times) shows up in the morning in full clown costume and makeup under his overcoat and earmuffs. He's got a newspaper with the final results, and Mary asks him to announce the new mayor to the TV audience. ("Boys and girls, our new mayor is: Mr. Mitchell!") Lou is not happy: "Mary, when I leave someone in charge I never second guess them, so I'm never going to ask you why you dressed Ted Baxter up in a clown suit."



2. The episode (#51:"Who's In Charge Here") where Lou is bumped upstairs to be program director, and has to kick Murray and Mary out of his office because of a "important children's programming meeting." As they leave, Chuckles the Clown (the actor who played him is not listed, probably because he had no lines) enters in full makeup and costumes, carrying a briefcase.



3. The episode ("#79:"Son of 'But Seriously Folks'") where Mary is dating one of Chuckles' writers, Wes Callison (Jerry Van Dyke), and he leaves to work in the newsroom. Chuckles (Mark Gordon) comes up to the newsroom to get Wes's advice about a poorly written script ("There's no development, there's no gozinta!") and has a confrontation with Ted Baxter: it seems "The Chuckles the Clown Show" has better ratings than Ted's news program. This is the episode where Chuckles is shown without full makeup -- he's got a costume on (different from the previous two costumes), and a funny hat, and maybe a little facial makeup as decoration, but not full clown whiteface.
   
   [All quotes and descriptions from memory]

(There's also an episode [#32:"Thoroughly Unmilitant Mary"] where the station's writers and performers go on strike, and an executive [Larry Gelman, who also played Dr. Bernie Tupperman, the urologist, on The Bob Newhart Show] has to substitute for Chuckles. He shows up on camera to introduce Lou doing the news, but he's still got a red clown ball-nose from being Chuckles. He doesn't count as the real thing.)

Chuckles does not appear in the episode (#38:"Ted Over Heels") where Ted falls in love with his daughter, Betty Bowerchuck (Arlene Golonka), but is embarrassed to express his love for her in public, because her father is a clown; nor is Chuckles seen in the program where he dies (#127:"Chuckles Bites The Dust") -- Lou just shows up in the newsroom and announces that Chuckles was leading a parade in his "Peter Peanut" outfit, and was shelled by a rouge elephant. (Murray: "Lived in a trunk, died in a trunk.")


What's the point of all this nostalgia? None at all really: I'm not making a point of any kind. The word "gozinta" (or "gazinta") just popped into my head and started a train of thought that I followed up on.

BTW, I tried to work in something about the real-life Chuckles the Clown who was picked up on a sex rap because he left his fly open while entertaining kids at a Wal-Mart in Moline, Illinois, but I couldnt' figure out how to do it. Besides, Mary's Chuckles wouldn't have done a thing like that, not a guy who professed the "Credo of a Clown":

A little song,
a little dance,
a little seltzer down your pants.