I was saddened by the recent suicide of ex-SNL cast member Charles Rocket...
my condolences to his friends and family.
His death actually got Ross and I talking about that era of comedy and the ill-fated and somewhat unfairly mocked cast for Saturday Night Live, circa 1980-1985. Following the original Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Players was no easy task and the mismanaged and disjointed production of the early 80s SNL had the misfortune of going through its evolution and growing pains live, on-air. Not to mention the petty backstage politics that I'm sure were involved ...
And Rocket seems to personify everything that went wrong during that time. I always thought it was unfair that Rocket's one claim to fame - uttering the word "fuck" on live television - cost him the rest of his career, basically. In truth, he did the one thing that everyone had been waiting for since the beginning of SNL - he proved the dangerous truth of live, late-night comedy and uttered the magic four-letter word that strikes fear into the hearts of middle America. For the briefest of moments, Rocket made SNL as dangerous, as edgy as it always promised it could be. But, as comics all know, timing is everything, so Charles Rocket was punished for the sins of the 1980 season.
And 25 years later, he took his life ("as lovers often do") before VH1 could cram him into a house with Al Molinaro and Spuds MacKenzie*.
*doG rest her soul, as well.
So, as an aspiring comic, I think it's important to pay respect to Charles Rocket ...
...by paraphrasing the end of an uber-geeky conversation with Ross, following news of Rocket's death. No, I'm not proud. But death be not proud, either.
Ross: ...my only question is, who's next.
Me: You mean, you think someone's killing off SNL cast members from the early 80s?
Ross: Like a serial killer.
Me: Like Watchmen.
Ross: So, we've just made Charles Rocket the Comedian?
Me: Yeah.
Ross: You know that makes Tim Kazurinsky Rorschach.
Me: Then Eddie Murphy would have to be Dr. Manhattan. Piscopo?
Ross: Night Owl?
Me: Brian-Doyle Murray would have to be Hollis, then. What about Denny Dillon, Mary Gross, or Robin Duke? Silk Spectre?
Ross: Dude, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is Silk Spectre [II].
Me: Obviously. And Brad Hall...hm, but they came later. Like '82, the Gary Kroeger years.
Ross: Doesn't matter.
Me: What if Brad Hall was really the force behind that era of SNL?
Ross: No, he was really behind Seinfeld.
Me: Oh my God. Brad Hall is behind it all.
Ross: SNL?
Me: Brad Hall is Veidt. He did it. It was Brad Hall all along.
Ross: Oh, man. We just made Brad Hall Ozymandias.
(slight pause)
Me: You know that makes Gilbert Gottfried Hooded Justice.
Ross: I think you need to stop there.
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