Star Wars’ Mark Hamill Talks About His Love of Laurel and Hardy

Starting this week and running through Mondays in the month of December, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is airing marathons of Laurel and Hardy shorts and features, including silent films and rarities all in celebration of the iconic comedy team whose work continues to influence entertainment and audiences decades after their earliest work. One of those Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy influenced is Star Wars legend Mark Hamill and the actor is sharing his love for the duo.

In a new TCM Original, Hamill shares his lifelong love for Laurel and Hardy as well as talks about the emotional connection he has to the entertainers, talking about how he used to come home during his lunch break from school at a very young age just to watch Laurel and Hardy before heading back to class.

“Starting today & continuing every Monday throughout December, @tcm will air #LaurelAndHardy marathons of their classic shorts & features, including rarities & silent films. Spend the holidays with Stan & Ollie & share the laughs with your entire family!” Hamill wrote.

You can check out the “Mark Hamill on Laurel and Hardy” feature in the video up top.

Hamill’s love of Laurel and Hardy isn’t new to most who know of him. The actor has been outspoken about his appreciation for the duo, and even previously spoke about using his days off from filming Star Wars to visit on set with Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin in the film), who had also appeared in a Laurel and Hardy movie.

“He was stunned that I knew he had appeared as one of the students in Laurel and Hardy’s 1939 movie A Chump at Oxford,” Hamill told The Ross Owen Radio Show (via The Independent). “‘Oh, my dear boy, you have done your homework,’ he said. Peter told me that Stan was very different from his screen persona. He said between takes Stan would talk to the director about the framing of the shot and specifics of the gags, while Oliver would sit quietly reading a newspaper and talking golf with the crew. Laurel was like the de facto director and everyone would look to him for advice.”