R5-D4 from Star Wars: A New Hope was Chris Hardwick’s Ring Bearer
Chris Hardwick is a huge Star Wars fan, and the Nerdist himself — as well as being the host of Talking Dead on AMC and @Midnight on Comedy Central — recently got married to Lydia Hearst. As you would expect from a card-carrying uber-nerd, his wedding had a visitor from that galaxy far, far away…
After Chris Hardwick and Lydia Hearst tied the knot on Saturday, August 20, Hardwick took to Facebook to talk about one of his many favorite moments from the ceremony, which just so happened to include a plucky little astromech droid, whose bad luck paved the way for R2-D2 to meet Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
Here’s what Hardwick had to say:
"“I wrote a WIRED article about it a few years back, but it has something to do with the fact that he’s the “Almost Famous” of astromechs. He gets chosen by Uncle Owen & Luke FIRST, then chokes and breaks down paving the way for R2-D2’s enormous success. Naturally I had to make Ol’ Red the ring bearer.”"
Image Credit: Lara Porzak –
"“R5 was to come down the aisle with the rings TWO THIRDS of the way and break down. Now, I crafted a long rambling email to Mark Hamill inviting him to the wedding and asking him to come out at that point and mention the unit’s “bad motivator” while delivering the rings. I apologized profusely for even making such a request and completely understood when he didn’t get back to me."
Image Credit: Lara Porzak –
"My backup plan was to have a group of Jawas immediately spill out and argue with me while trying to take the rings. It worked beautifully! So beautifully, in fact, that the New York Daily News adorably reported it as a hiccup in the ceremony….oh the normies trying to decipher nerd culture (smug giggle to self)! In any case, Red was a hit and even cleaned up real nice! By that I mean he put on a bow tie. He’s still pretty filthy overall. I think he may have also gotten hammered on some WD40 he snuck in and nailed the photo booth.”"
I absolutely love that Chris Hardwick is one of us. A man who created his own brand (Nerdist), and has always stayed true to the nerd-lifestyle, despite his massive success.
Having R5-D4 at his wedding, especially after reading his article in Wired on why he loves the astromech droid from Star Wars: A New Hope, really is special, and it makes so much sense that he would want to have “Ol Red” there at his special day.
Every day, Star Wars fans across the globe are getting married with various Star Wars themes woven into their marriage ceremonies. Whether it’s just something as simple as a Sith standing on top of a Groom’s cake (my wedding), or whether it’s a full-blown Star Wars themed wedding with the Bride and Groom in full Naboo royalty regalia, we all connect with each other over our love of the story of Star Wars…and Chrs Hardwick, more than anything else, is a fan. That’s why we love him.