Beth crellin charles rocket12/2/2023 Some viewers claim Prince, the musical guest, didn't censor his lyric "Fightin' war is such a fuckin' bore" during a funky rendition of "Partyup." A Backstage History notes that censor Bill Clotworthy, when asked in the control room about the potential curse, replied, "Nah. ( Ironically, Rocket may not have been the first person to utter "fuck" on that night's show. I'd like to know who the fuck did it." The rest of the cast responds with a blend of childlike giggling and jaw-dropped astonishment, all while a grinning Rocket reclines in his chair. Rocket, a cigarette loosely dangling from his mouth, replies, "It's the first time I've ever been shot in my life. "Charlie, how are you feeling after you've been shot?" she asks. In a tag closing out the episode, host (and Dallas star) Charlene Tilton sits next to a wounded, wheelchair-bound Rocket. Ewing?" installment of prime-time soap opera Dallas. The sketch in question was an extended parody of the famous "Who Shot J.R. But it became a tipping point for a season already ravaged by critics and struggling to connect with longtime fans. So it's not like Rocket was coasting through this already-rocky stretch by February 1981, when the F-word episode aired. (Rocket's dialogue even included the N-word, leading to an especially awkward audience silence.) (According to A Backstage History, Rocket felt the writers were trying to intentionally sabotage the show the authors also write that Rocket "made no effort to disguise his condescension" toward Murphy.) Many of the sketches are now ranked among the worst in the show's history - the aforementioned book saves particular venom for one widely panned bit, "The Leather Weather Report," where Denny Dillon plays a dominatrix weather reporter who relishes inflicting pain upon Rocket's character, who's chained to the map.īut the season's most notorious sketch remains "Commie Hunting Season," a failed attempt at social commentary where angry men with Southern accents gear up to shoot Communists. He also took over as anchor of "Weekend Update," another showcase for his warped newsman persona.ĭespite the promise of some cast members, the creative crew struggled to find chemistry throughout Season Six. And the show put his charisma to good use: Building on his news background, he hosted a recurring bit called "The Rocket Report," playing an overeager on-the-street journalist. The producer was already a Rocket fan, familiar with a video he submitted to Michaels the previous year. But according to Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad's Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live, she envisioned Rocket, a former TV anchorman and reporter, as a "combination of Chevy Chase and Bill Murray." She found some quality names, including Joe Piscopo and the unknown Eddie Murphy. Instead, NBC promoted associated producer Jean Doumanian to be his replacement, a controversial move that prompted the entire cast to leave.ĭoumanian was left with a nearly impossible task: finding a new batch of talent with enough star power to replace the original group.
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