Charles Rocket commits suicide; fired from "Saturday Night Live" for saying the "F" word on air
deb...@comcast.net
Actor
By VARIETY STAFF
Actor Charles Rocket committed suicide Oct. 7 in Connecticut. He was
56.
Rocket was the Weekend Update anchor on "Saturday Night Live" in 1980
and 1981, and was fired from the show after saying "fuck" on the air.
He went on to make numerous appearances on TV shows and in features.
Born Charles Claverie in Bangor, Maine, he attended the Rhode Island
School of Design. He was active in the burgeoning RISD arts scene,
where he formed the band the Fabulous Motels and then became a
newscaster under the name Charles Kennedy. He worked on newscasts in
Colorado Springs and Nashville before landing much more irreverent SNL
gig, where he also performed his own "Rocket Reports" skits.
Rocket appeared in feature films including "Earth Girls are Easy,"
"Dances with Wolves," "It's Pat" and "Dumb and Dumber." His last film
role was in the 2003 Sylvester StalloneSylvester Stallone film "Shade."
On TV, he appeared on shows including "Law & Order: Criminal Intent,"
"Cybill," "Touched by an Angel" and "thirtysomething."
Rocket played accordion in many bands, performing (with Debbie Harry
and Chris Stein of Blondie) on a tribute album to Fellini composer Nino
Rota.
He is survived by his wife, Beth and a son.
AndrewJ
theresa
>
> Charles Rocket
> Actor
>
Very sad news -- I was reacquainted with his work just this past
summer when I bought the first two seasons of Moonlighting on
DVD.
He was also the first guy angel on Touched By An Angel. He
played "Adam" before the more familiar "Andrew" took his spot.
Hyfler/Rosner
<deb...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:1129398956.7...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Charles Rocket
> Actor
>
> By VARIETY STAFF
>
>
> Actor Charles Rocket committed suicide Oct. 7 in
> Connecticut. He was
> 56.
> Rocket was the Weekend Update anchor on "Saturday Night
> Live" in 1980
> and 1981, and was fired from the show after saying "fuck"
> on the air.
> He went on to make numerous appearances on TV shows and in
> features.
Photo:
http://www.saturday-night-live.com/images/weekendupdate/rocket.gif
Joe Thomas
"Hyfler/Rosner" <rel...@rcn.com> wrote in message
news:YIqdnYjsg4m...@rcn.net...
Anyone know how he did this? In a Roger McGuinn music video called "King of
the Hill", featuring Tom Petty, he plays some sort of crooked mover and
shaker who tries to kill himself as the feds close in by gassing himself in
his luxury car. Well, I think it's ironic.
AndrewJ
> Live" in 1980 and 1981, and was fired from the show after saying "fuck"
> on the air.
Rocket's f-bomb on live TV pretty much ended Jean Doumanian's career on
SNL.
I wonder if Rocket is now a part of the whole "SNL Curse" like Belushi,
Radner, Farley and Hartman or, like ex-SNL regular Danitra Vance, his
death will go un-mythologized.
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, AndrewJ <Andrew...@cs.com> wrote:
> Rocket's f-bomb on live TV pretty much ended Jean Doumanian's career
> on SNL.
I don't think that was going anywhere anyway -- the f-word was just
the excuse for dumping him. Hiring Rocket in the first place was just
one of many, many poor judgment calls on Doumanian's part. (On the
other hand, he hired Eddie Murphy, so credit where it's due.)
Nothing against Rocket's later career, or the man personally, but I
don't think you'll find many fans of the early SNL who disagree that
Rocket was either the worst, or second-worst, Weekend Update anchor
ever. (Personally, I give the "worst ever" honor to Brad Hall, but
it's a reasonable difference of opinion.)
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone disagrees with any statement I make, I
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it. -T. Lehrer
***~~~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------
James Neibaur
>Doumanian's part. (On the
> other hand, he
She
JN
David Carson
>I wonder if Rocket is now a part of the whole "SNL Curse" like Belushi,
>Radner, Farley and Hartman or, like ex-SNL regular Danitra Vance, his
>death will go un-mythologized.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say the latter.
David Carson
--
Why do you seek the living among the dead? -- Luke 24:5
Who's Alive and Who's Dead
http://www.whosaliveandwhosdead.com
deb...@comcast.net
Bob Flaminio
> He was also a regular on the short-lived "Max Headroom" show in 1987.
That's where I remember him from most, as the head of the rival network.
He was great in that role, sad to see him end up this way.
--
Bob
robertc...@yahoo.com
Joe Thomas wrote:
> Anyone know how he did this? In a Roger McGuinn music video called "King of
> the Hill", featuring Tom Petty, he plays some sort of crooked mover and
> shaker who tries to kill himself as the feds close in by gassing himself in
> his luxury car. Well, I think it's ironic.
And also why he did it.
Beowulfie
"Bob Flaminio" <b...@flaminio.com> wrote in message
news:3rdigkF...@individual.net...
Bummer, I always liked his appearance on Moonlighting as David Addison's
brother Richard. He had my favorite line from the show. It was when David
walked in on him making a pass at Maddie and David yelled "You're a dead
man!" to which Richard replied as he took his own pulse "I beg to differ"
I enjoyed the actor in everything I saw him in, most recently on L&A:CI.
BsT
AndrewJ
slut!" commentaries, his WEEKEND UPDATE anchoring wasn't all that good,
either.
Kathi
>Link to the infamous moment-
>
>http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.snl/browse_thread/thread/0d2643e97e647de1/b791d9c96acbc93e?hl=en#b791d9c96acbc93e
Thanks for the link. I'd actually seen that show at the time and
remember being stunned. Now, 25 years later, and the NYPD Blue/Law &
Order -type of programs on now, I don't think it would shock me one
bit.
----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
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King Daevid MacKenzie
>>Link to the infamous moment-
>>
>>http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.snl/browse_thread/thread/0d2643e97e647de1/b791d9c96acbc93e?hl=en#b791d9c96acbc93e
...sandwiched in between Denny Dillon and Charlene Tilton as he does it.
Kinda hard to realise today exactly how desirable that position would
have been considered 25 years ago, isn't it?...
--
--
King Daevid MacKenzie, WLSU-FM 88.9 La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
heard again soon at http://whiterosesociety.org
"Rarely can we applaud the majority." JAMES NEIBAUR
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, Terry del Fuego <t_del...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
> >Nothing against Rocket's later career, or the man personally, but I
> >don't think you'll find many fans of the early SNL who disagree that
> >Rocket was either the worst, or second-worst, Weekend Update anchor
> >ever. (Personally, I give the "worst ever" honor to Brad Hall, but
> >it's a reasonable difference of opinion.)
>
> guy who ever lived, but after a while I just kept waiting for him to
> flub his lines...again...and again...and again... He's been OK in
> filmed stuff I've seen him in, but he just screws up *way* too much
> for live work.
Yeah, Nealon screwed up a lot, no question, and didn't even manage to
be funny after a screw-up (like Norm Macdonald), but when he was "on,"
he was at least minimally competent. You can't say even that about
Rocket or Hall.
Speaking of Macdonald, he once uttered the f-word on the air, as
Rocket did, during Weekend Update. He got a big laugh by making a
sotto voce remark about that night being his "farewell performance."
It was a much more forgiving age, of course, and he survived that
error until about a year later when NBC president and all-around
scumbag Don Ohlmeyer had him fired, allegedly for not being funny
enough, but (probably) really because Macdonald's jokes about
Ohlmeyer's friend O.J. Simpson were cutting way too close to the bone.
James Neibaur
> No offense to Dan Aykroyd, but apart from his "Jane, you ignorant
> slut!" commentaries, his WEEKEND UPDATE anchoring wasn't all that good,
> either.
They just don't have classic comedy lines like "Jane, you ignorant slut"
anymore.
JN
deb...@comcast.net
uttering the "F" word. Do you think an established star like Aykroyd or
Belushi could've survived saying it?
Michael O'Connor
Nope, not in the late 70's; they would be history and would have been
fired as Charles Rocket was. Even if Aykroyd had slipped up and said
"Jane, you ignorant c***", he would have been fired ASAP.
If somebody on SNL said the F word today, I doubt they would be fired
unless it was a situation where the producers wanted to get rid of him,
but they would probably be suspended from the show for a couple
episodes.
de Fragile Warrior Sports Supplies
"Michael O'Connor" <mpoco...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1129488612.1...@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> deb...@comcast.net wrote:
>> Charles Rocket had only been on "SNL" less than 4 months before
>> uttering the "F" word. Do you think an established star like Aykroyd or
>> Belushi could've survived saying it?
>
> Nope, not in the late 70's; they would be history and would have been
> fired as Charles Rocket was. Even if Aykroyd had slipped up and said
> "Jane, you ignorant c***", he would have been fired ASAP.
IIRC, when he said, "Jane, you ignorant slut" it was quite shocking. In
fact, I think it was as shocking in that time as "you ignorant cunt" would
be today.*
* if cable TV hadn't come in and ruined everyone's shock values.
deb...@comcast.net
Maybe the first time he said it, not by the thousandth. (Which just
goes to show, "SNL" has beaten skits into the ground since the
beginning)
J. Eric Durbin
"Hamburger, hamburger, hamburger".
Obao: John Belushi is dead.
Hudson Hornet
"Cheeseborger, cheeseborger, cheeseborger."
Thanks for reading.
de Fragile Warrior Sports Supplies
"Hudson Hornet" <NUNES...@MSN.COM> wrote in message
news:1129495392.3...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>I think it was
> "Cheeseborger, cheeseborger, cheeseborger."
>
> Thanks for reading.
And I think it was:
"Cheeseboogie, cheeseboogie, cheeseboogie."
WTF is a "borger"?
Evan Hulka
away with it a year or two before Rocket's faux pas. He was in a sketch
cuing off the infamous Troggs rehearsal tapes, with a band of medieval
musicians arguing among themselves, peppering their speech with the
word "floggin'." He slipped up once and said "fuckin'," and they let it
pass. Shaffer wasn't an "established star" (not then, anyway) - he
wasn't even a full member of the cast - but he did "survive" the
incident. Hill & Weingrad suggest that the network used the Rocket
incident as a convenient excuse to get rid of the Doumanian cast.
Hulka
Tregembo
"J.D. Baldwin" <INVALID...@example.com.invalid> wrote
> Speaking of Macdonald, he once uttered the f-word on the air, as
> Rocket did, during Weekend Update. He got a big laugh by making a
> sotto voce remark about that night being his "farewell performance."
> It was a much more forgiving age, of course, and he survived that
> error until about a year later when NBC president and all-around
> scumbag Don Ohlmeyer had him fired, allegedly for not being funny
> enough, but (probably) really because Macdonald's jokes about
> Ohlmeyer's friend O.J. Simpson were cutting way too close to the bone.
> J.D. Baldwin
I'll be the odd man out. I thought MacDonald was the least funny on Weekend
Update as well as the few sketches they allowed him. Further, his TV
series, "The Norm Show" was flat, saved only occasionally by cast side kicks
Laurie Metcalf and Max Wright.
I've read several articles that noted that other comedians thought Norm's
Weekend Update stint was brilliant. I guess I missed it. Dull, mediocre
writing coupled with excruciating - "Did you get it? Huh? Well, Did ya?" -
pregnant pauses left me cold.
I agree that Norm probably got fired in part for pouring "O. J. salt" on
Ohlmeyer's wounds, but to me that only displays that he was fired for the
wrong reason.
Ray Arthur
R H Draney
>
>
>"Hudson Hornet" <NUNES...@MSN.COM> wrote in message
>news:1129495392.3...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>>I think it was
>> "Cheeseborger, cheeseborger, cheeseborger."
>>
>> Thanks for reading.
>
Resistance is futile; you will be assimilated....r
Brad Ferguson
Evan Hulka <ehu...@gmail.com> wrote:
There was a sketch with Tony Danza that had the Brooklyn Academy of
Arts (or something) doing the War of da Woilds. Nobody did the
Brooklyn accent right (except for Danza, of course), but the dialogue
was liberally laced with the word "funkin'." When it's repeated on
Comedy Central, there's a lot of bleeping.
de Fragile Warrior Sports Supplies
"R H Draney" <dado...@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:diujd...@drn.newsguy.com...
Oh. They come with CHEESE on them?
R H Draney
>
>"R H Draney" <dado...@spamcop.net> wrote in message
>news:diujd...@drn.newsguy.com...
>> de Fragile Warrior Sports Supplies filted:
>>>
>>
>> Resistance is futile; you will be assimilated....r
>
>Oh. They come with CHEESE on them?
When the Collective is involved, you don't get to hold *anything*....r
Brad Ferguson
Supplies <vol...@tds.net> wrote:
I watched that series. There was plenty of cheese.
R H Draney
>
>In article <4352eb58$1...@newspeer2.tds.net>, de Fragile Warrior Sports
>Supplies <vol...@tds.net> wrote:
>
>> "R H Draney" <dado...@spamcop.net> wrote in message
>> news:diujd...@drn.newsguy.com...
>> >
>
>> Oh. They come with CHEESE on them?
>
>I watched that series. There was plenty of cheese.
"Get the cheese to sickbay. The Doctor should look at it as soon as possible."
- B'Elanna Torres, episode "Learning Curve", _Star Trek: Voyager_
....r
Dr. Sooz
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Jump to: navigation, search
Charles Rocket, born Charles Claverie (August 24, 1949 - October 7,
2005), was an American film and television actor. After working in
local TV news for a few years, he made his network debut on the popular
program Saturday Night Live.
Rocket was cast for the 1980-81 season, which followed the departure
of the remaining members of the show's popular original cast and
original executive producer Lorne Michaels. Singled out by new
executive producer Jean Doumanian as the star of her new ensemble,
Rocket was promoted as "kind of a cross between Bill Murray and Chevy
Chase." Rocket was given the coveted role of anchor for the show's
Weekend Update news parody, and was featured in many sketches.
However, the new cast (save for Joe Piscopo and later Eddie Murphy) was
not at all popular with audiences. Rocket was somewhat of a standout,
though, with a majority of his sketches and Update bits garnering large
laughs. Unfortunately, Rocket would eventually doom both his and
Doumanian's tenures on the show with one word. An episode hosted by
Dallas star Charlene Tilton featured an ongoing joke in which different
cast members would vow revenge on him for some reason, in a parody of
the famed "Who Shot J.R.?" episode of Dallas. Rocket was then shot in
the chest by a sniper in the final sketch. At the end of the show, a
wheelchair-bound Charles audibly mumbled that he'd like to know "who
the fuck did it," followed by the cast and audience reacting with shock
and embarrassed laughter. The incident seemed to encapsulate all that
was wrong with Saturday Night Live at the time, and both Rocket and
Doumanian were soon fired.
Rocket recovered from this early career setback and has since acted in
many films, including Earth Girls are Easy, Dances with Wolves, and
Dumb and Dumber, and as a recurring guest star on episodic TV. Rocket
was particularly excellent as rival network president Ned Grossberg on
the brilliant 1980s cyberpunk series Max Headroom.
Rocket's body was discovered in a field near his home in Canterbury,
Connecticut, on October 7, 2005; his throat had been cut. The
Connecticut state medical examiner later ruled that he had committed
suicide.
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, Tregembo <tr...@iwvisp.com> wrote:
> I'll be the odd man out. I thought MacDonald was the least funny on
> Weekend Update as well as the few sketches they allowed him.
> Further, his TV series, "The Norm Show" was flat, saved only
> occasionally by cast side kicks Laurie Metcalf and Max Wright.
Norm Macdonald is definitely a matter of taste. I find him
sporadically hilarious, at least when the material he's delivering is
strong, which it often was in "Norm." But I wouldn't argue with
anyone who didn't "get" him.
I liked Laurie Metcalf and Max Wright were pretty good in his
short-lived TV series, but the supporting cast members I really loved
there were Ian Gomez (what a weird name combination) and Nikki Cox.
For vastly different reasons, obviously. I do agree with you that the
supporting cast was much more fun and interesting to watch than the
nominal star, but that's also true of some of the really great sitcoms
like "Everybody Loves Raymond" and even "Seinfeld."
> I've read several articles that noted that other comedians thought
> Norm's Weekend Update stint was brilliant. I guess I missed it.
> Dull, mediocre writing coupled with excruciating - "Did you get it?
> Huh? Well, Did ya?" - pregnant pauses left me cold.
I think the "pregnant pauses" are a Weekend Update tradition dating
back to the Chevy Chase days.
islandersa
Glitter Ninja
>I'm surprised that no one has mentioned (or I've missed it) the *real*
>point of that joke, though.
>At the time, "60 Minutes" had an end segment called
>"Point-Counterpoint" where an allegedly liberal woman and allegedly
>conservative man grumbled condescending editorials at each other. As
>I remember it (it's been decades) they frequently got pretty snotty
>with each other, but of course had to keep it within professional
>bounds.
The male half of "Point Counterpoint" was in an "Airplane!" movie, if
I recall correctly. Perhaps it was someone just playing the part of the
male commentator. The segment must have been very short-lived, but
memorable, to have been the butt of jokes for a time in the 70s.
The only thing I know about it, besides the jokes, was that my parents
thought it was ridiculous. Nowadays I bet "Point Counterpoint" would be
tame in comparison to what passes for news.
Stacia
King Daevid MacKenzie
>>I'm surprised that no one has mentioned (or I've missed it) the *real*
>>point of that joke, though.
>
>
>>At the time, "60 Minutes" had an end segment called
>>"Point-Counterpoint" where an allegedly liberal woman and allegedly
>>conservative man grumbled condescending editorials at each other. As
>>I remember it (it's been decades) they frequently got pretty snotty
>>with each other, but of course had to keep it within professional
>>bounds.
>
>
> The male half of "Point Counterpoint" was in an "Airplane!" movie, if
> I recall correctly. Perhaps it was someone just playing the part of the
> male commentator. The segment must have been very short-lived, but
> memorable, to have been the butt of jokes for a time in the 70s.
...there were two spoofs of "Point Counterpoint" in
Zucker/Zimmerman/Zucker pictures; before the one in AIRPLANE! THE MOVIE,
there was the one in KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE that most likely inspired
"SNL" to start theirs. It wasn't James J. Kilpatrick who appeared in
those movies, but William Tregoe. And before Shana Alexander appeared on
"Point Counterpoint," the liberal debater was Nicholas Von Hoffman, who
probably proved too liberal for CBS' comfort...
> The only thing I know about it, besides the jokes, was that my parents
> thought it was ridiculous. Nowadays I bet "Point Counterpoint" would be
> tame in comparison to what passes for news.
...when the segment was revived a few years ago, with Bill Clinton and
Bob Dole as the debaters, it was trite as hell...
--
--
King Daevid MacKenzie, WLSU-FM 88.9 La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
heard occasionally at http://www.radio4all.net
fritz carraldo
Charles was the worst. He may have had the worst writers giving him
material, that i would say.
as far as screen presence, he was fine.much better than Nealon or
Pohler.and tina fey is absolutely annoying. watch his rocket reports
which he wrote. they were always great.
no there really were only two great update anchors,in my opinion.
Chevy and Norm.
the worst... i don't know.
oh yeah Ed Asner. they let the guests do it for a while.
fwn