Charles Rocket, RIP

Tim Cavanaugh writes, in Reason's Hit&Run blog, that Charles Rocket, member of the Saturday Night Live cast for part of one awful season (1980-81) recently committed suicide by cutting his own throat in a field near his home in Canterbury, CT. Yeesh!

Semi-guilty confession: I've been a Saturday Night Live fan since 1975. But at least I have some authority to claim: There were less funny SNL cast members than Rocket, although not many. Cavanaugh writes that Rocket was allegedly a "repackaging" of Bill Murray's attitude, but Bill Murray, unlike Rocket, always seemed to want to let us in on the joke.

He had a reasonably successful post-SNL career in TV and movies. This was unfortunately not enough to save him from that old dark night of the soul, which can nab even the ultimately hip.

Fearless prediction: there will be no "SNL: Best of Charles Rocket" DVD.