Almost since the first Star Wars movie was released, there have been people parodying the franchise. From Spaceballs, to Hardware Wars, every time you turn around it seems like there’s a new Star Wars parody for us to enjoy. It turns out that Mark Hamill enjoys many of the parodies of the franchise that made him famous. So much so in fact, that he’s had a few chances to get to participate in some of the parodies himself.
1. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
While Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a feature length movie that can stand on its own, it clearly draws inspiration from Star Wars starting with the title and going from there. Mark Hamill shows up in the third act of the film covered in such an elaborate costume, that the movie literally pauses for a moment, so that a title card can appear and inform the audience that they’re looking at Mark Hamill. That’s important, because the entire scene is Hamill goofing on his Star Wars career, with the scene having what essentially is a lightsaber fight, and ends with Hamill’s character getting his hand cut off, only for Hamill to groan and say “Not again.”
2. Saturday Night Live
While it was never as big as their Night at the Roxbury characters, Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan had a recurring sketch on SNL where they were hosts of a home shopping network show. In one sketch they were selling Star Wars merchandise which ended up including selling off the actual Mark Hamill that they had kidnapped. Hamill played himself in the sketch, having to deal with potential buyers who were suspicious that he may not be the real Mark Hamill.
3. Bad Lip Reading
Mark Hamill may not have had any lines in The Force Awakens, but he did get to say some things in the Bad Lip Reading video that parodied the movie. The premise of the Bad Lip Reading series is that it will take footage from popular movies (or sometimes television or real events) and dub over everything with new dialogue that still matches the actors lips as they talk. Because Luke doesn’t say anything in the movie, Hamill couldn’t redub his own scenes for the parody, but it turns out that Hamill does a pretty spot on impression of Harrison Ford. So, for the video, Hamill performed all of Han Solo’s new lines in an impression that sounds almost like the man himself.
4. Robot Chicken
While Mark Hamill will always be best known for his performance in Star Wars, he’s had an incredible career as a voice actor in addition to his live action performances. In fact, his second most well known role after Luke is most likely his many performances as The Joker in various Batman projects over the years. When Robot Chicken began, Hamill appeared in multiple episodes voicing various characters, but when it came time to parody the famous twist in The Empire Strikes Back, Hamill reprised his role of Luke Skywalker in animated form to poke fun at a few plot reveals from the franchise. While Hamill hasn’t been the only person to voice Luke Skywalker on Robot Chicken, his sketch has become one of their most popular Star Wars bits, which is saying something, given that the series has dedicated three entire episodes just to Star Wars parodies.
5. German Star Wars parody from 1980s
Hamill isn’t a fan of every parody that he’s ever taken part in . Recently a strange Star Wars parody from 1980 has resurfaced online and has been making the rounds. The clip is entirely in German, including Hamill’s lines, but the visuals are captivating enough all on their own. Hamill, dressed all in gold, is sitting on a crescent moon while the host of the variety series this aired on is singing. The parody includes an A-wing fighter and Hamill apparently getting married to the pilot given that the sketch includes Darth Vader playing the wedding march on a trumpet. It’s a bizarre sketch, and it’s not one that Hamill is particularly proud of. When the video resurfaced recently, Hamill admitted that he had not really wanted to be a part of the parody back in the day, but had decided to go through with it since it would only ever air in Germany, and nobody would ever really know about it. Unfortunately, back in 1980, Mark Hamill didn’t know that the internet would be a thing, that one day the whole world would be able to see this strange sketch that was supposed to be long forgotten.