Charles Rocket appeared from time to time with his friend Dan Gosch as superheroes “Captain Packard” and his faithful sidekick “Lobo”. In an RISD yearbook, the dynamic duo appeared in a photo at the Rhode Island State House with then-Governor Frank Licht.[citation needed] Rocket made several short films and fronted his band, the Fabulous Motels, on accordion (which he used in an SNL skit about a crazed criminal who uses an accordion to kill his dates and is killed himself by a bagpipe band). He later anchored the local news at Channel 12 WPRI and at KOAA-TV in Pueblo, Colorado under his own name, and WTVF Nashville under the name Charles Kennedy. He made his network debut on Saturday Night Live in 1980, using the name Charles Rocket. Charles Rocket was cast for the 1980–81 season, which followed the departure of the remaining members of the show’s original cast and executive producer Lorne Michaels. Singled out by new executive producer Jean Doumanian, he was promoted as a cross between Bill Murray and Chevy Chase. Rocket was tapped to anchor Weekend Update, and was featured in more sketches than any other male cast member that season with the exception of Joe Piscopo. Charles Rocket portrayed recurring character Phil Lively, a game show host who took his larger-than-life persona home and treated life as if it were a game show. His celebrity impersonations on SNL included Ronald Reagan, David Rockefeller, Prince Charles, and Marlin Perkins. He also hosted “The Rocket Report,” a series of filmed segments where he posed as a roving reporter around New York, which reviewers in later years mentioned as one of the few consistently strong parts of Doumanian’s shows.

The Saturday Night Live episode of February 21, 1981, hosted by Dallas star Charlene Tilton, featured a parody of the famed “Who Shot J.R.?” story arc from the then-popular nighttime soap. During the show a plot line had Rocket and Tilton flirting while other cast members expressed jealousy, leading to Rocket being shot in the chest by a sniper in the middle of a sketch. In the show’s closing moments, as cast members gathered with the host to say good night, Tilton asked Charles Rocket how he felt about being shot. In character, Rocket improvised, “Oh, man, it’s the first time I’ve ever been shot in my life. I’d like to know who the fuck did it.” Due partially to the violation of broadcast standards, along with low ratings for both the series and the network in general and also due to constant barrage of negative press over the new cast, Doumanian and Rocket were soon fired (along with most of the writers and fellow cast members Gilbert Gottfried and Ann Risley). Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy were the only cast members to survive the axe, as new producer Dick Ebersol replaced Denny Dillon and Gail Matthius after one episode. Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live revealed that Rocket was particularly hostile toward Murphy and Piscopo, as he, Denny Dillon, and Gail Matthius were set up by Doumanian to be the show’s biggest stars, only to receive mixed to negative reviews about their performances and be upstaged by Murphy and Piscopo.

Charles Rocket recovered from this early-career setback and worked steadily in film, with roles in such movies as Hocus Pocus, Earth Girls Are Easy, It’s Pat, Steal Big Steal Little, How I Got into College, Dances with Wolves, and Dumb and Dumber, often playing comedic foils. On television, in addition to guest spots on several 1980s sitcoms, Rocket played network president Ned Grossberg on the cyberpunk series Max Headroom, Richard Addison (brother to Bruce Willis’s David Addison) on the comedy-drama Moonlighting, and Adam on Touched by an Angel. While Rocket saw disappointment with a string of short-lived series, including Tequila and Bonetti in 1992, The Home Court in 1995, and Normal, Ohio in 2000, he continued to make guest appearances on a variety of shows such as Quantum Leap, Wings, and The King of Queens. A guest role in 2004 as a con man/murderer on Law & Order: Criminal Intent marked his final appearance on network television. He also lent his voice to the popular video games Star Wars: Starfighter, Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter (as the character Nym in both games), Descent 3, and Age of Mythology. His final film role came in the 2003 movie Shade. In addition to his acting work, Rocket played accordion on the David Byrne-produced B-52’s album Mesopotamia and the album Amarcord Nino Rota, produced by Saturday Night Live music coordinator Hal Willner. Charles Rocket was found dead in a field near his Connecticut home on October 7, 2005; his throat had been slit. The state medical examiner later ruled the death a suicide. He was 56 years old.