This week the Star Wars fandom proved it still has a sense of humor. Many of you (thousands, actually) helped us play a little April Fool’s prank about Rian Johnson. That got us thinking. There is a lot of humor to be had when it comes to the Star Wars franchise. From quips and quotes from the movies, to SNL parodies, to things like Robot Chicken, fans can generally find humor in all corners of the galaxy far, far away. Case in point: The Death Star Canteen.

Death Star Canteen
From Robot Chicken’s ‘The Best of Han Solo’. (Image: Adult Swim)

Death Star Canteen is an oldie, but still amusing. In 2007, comedian Eddie Izzard riffed about the more mundane side of life aboard the Death Star. Using the setting of a cafeteria as a background, Izzard wondered what would happen when Darth Vader ventured in for some lunch. (Warning, the video does contain some strong language.)

Death Star Canteen and Other Star Wars Silliness

Death Star Canteen juxtaposes off-color humor against the child-like innocence of the Lego toys through which the scene plays out.  It also plays into the unspoken truths of Star Wars. Even the classic film Clerks touched on the subject, with Randal’s empathy towards Death Star contractors. There’s an entire Star Wars universe residing under the surface of galactic conflict. For the most part, it involves normal, everyday, ordinary people. And what happens in Star Wars affects them in often humorous ways.

Death Star Canteen
Mark Hamill and the late Carrie Fisher yuck it up on the set of The Empire Strikes Back. (Image: Lucasfilm)

If nothing else, short parodies like Death Star Canteen remind both the franchise, and the fandom, not to take itself quite so seriously. Doing so takes its toll on something we have all come to love and embrace, some of us since the beginning. Star Wars is, to some extent, certainly sacred. But if you can’t poke fun at it, and it can’t poke fun at itself, where’s the fun in that? Just remember, even the original stars of the franchise found time to have a few laughs.