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SNL Alumnus Charles Rocket Commits Suicide

MONDAY OCTOBER 17 2005 4:40 PM

Submitted by StanleyTweedle. Edited By MisterSatan.

From CNN.com:

Rocket, 56, whose real name was Charles Claverie, was found dead in a field near his home in Canterbury on October 7. His throat had been cut, the medical examiner said.

"An investigation determined there was no criminal aspect to this case," State Police Sgt. J. Paul Vance said Monday.

He was only on SNL for one season and didnt have the most memorable characters but one of his most memorable SNL experiences was when he got fired for uttering the "F-Bomb" on live TV.

He went on to appear in numerous TV shows, including "Moonlighting" and "Max Headroom," and provided voices for cartoon series.

His movie credits included "Earth Girls are Easy," "Dumb and Dumber" and "Dances With Wolves," according to the Internet Movie Database.

15 Comments

JohnClement

Silver Spring, MD

January 2004

OCT 17, 2005 04:42 PM

Ugh, what a nasty way to off one's self.
I vaguely remember the Rocket Report.

thefreak

NEWSWIRE

Gardner, MA

OCT 17, 2005 05:07 PM

I remember hearing about the F Bomb incident.

Holy shit, THAT was him in Dumb and Dumber? Huh.

RIP, Rocket.

-TM

Sen

La Crosse, WI

January 2004

OCT 17, 2005 05:24 PM

He also did voices in a few games... I think one of the Descents and Age of Mythology.

68stretch

Portland, OR

March 2003

OCT 17, 2005 06:15 PM

A member of the "that one guy" hall of fame.

Jeff_Fries

Humptulips, WA

September 2003

OCT 18, 2005 03:22 AM

This was the guy they were heralding as the Next Big Star, the guy who was supposed to fill Bill Murray's shoes, for the awful 80-81 season of SNL, and he was fired because of a faux-pas that followed him the rest of his life. I just read about it here not too long ago. There's a better article on his suicide here. Sad career.

[Edited on Oct 18, 2005 3:23AM]

AndersWolleck

Astoria, NY

February 2003

OCT 18, 2005 05:00 AM

not totally unexpected

he was very very funny in Its Pat

StanleyTweedle

Shallotte, NC

OLD SKOOL

OCT 18, 2005 09:42 AM

Dances With Wolves is one of my favorite movies. He was really good in that one I thought.

Jeff_Fries

Humptulips, WA

September 2003

OCT 18, 2005 09:55 AM

AndersWolleck said:
not totally unexpected

Why?

if

Providence, RI

April 2005

OCT 18, 2005 12:39 PM

Here's a great eulogy for anyone who's interested.

Wren

SUICIDEGIRL

Minnesota, USA

OCT 18, 2005 05:30 PM

68stretch said:
A member of the "that one guy" hall of fame.

I couldn't remember who the hell he was. When I clicked the link and the picture came up, I said "hey, I remember that guy!"

What a crazy way to kill yourself. Whatever you might think of the guy, that takes some balls.

Cecelia

Minneapolis, MN

June 2005

OCT 18, 2005 07:27 PM

Yeah, I didn't know who he was by name either, but I looked him up in IMDB and did the same thing, saw the picture and said "Oh yeah, that guy".
I could never slit my own throat, that's terrible to think about.

jake_lex

Lexington, KY

February 2003

OCT 18, 2005 07:32 PM

The book Live From New York, the oral history of SNL that came out a few years back, goes into a lot of detail of that season Rocket was on SNL. It was probably the worst year ever for that show -- Lorne Michaels had quit, the whole cast left, and so a producer who probably shouldn't have been running a network show, Jean Doumanian, stepped in, and they had to rebuild not only the on-air cast, but the whole writing staff too. The show was a clusterfuck, and it was apparent to them all that the show probably wouldn't be on the next year (it was only saved by bringing in Dick Ebersol to producer it.) So that's the background for when Rocket said "fuck" on the air. They all knew they were gone, they knew the show was in the crapper, so they were just done.

Interestingly, Paul Schaffer said "fucking" on the air too in the "classic' years, and nothing came of it.

googused

Portland, OR

OLD SKOOL

OCT 18, 2005 07:39 PM

He was great in It's Pat!.

Julia Sweeney wrote a nice bit about him in her blog

PaulNikon

Melbourne, FL

February 2003

OCT 18, 2005 09:00 PM

Wren said:

68stretch said:
A member of the "that one guy" hall of fame.

I agree. Slitting your own throat must take some balls.

I still can't place him. The pictures in Google did me no good.

StanleyTweedle

Shallotte, NC

OLD SKOOL

OCT 18, 2005 09:15 PM

PaulNikon said:

I agree. Slitting your own throat must take some balls.

I still can't place him. The pictures in Google did me no good.

He played the bad guy in Dumb and Dumber who had Lauren Holly's character's husband kidnapped and the doctor who was dating Gena Davis' character in Earth Girls Are Easy