We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Mark Hamill is a national treasure. He’s Luke Skywalker, he’s the Man of a Thousand Voices, and he’s just an overall excellent human being. How can you not love him? And now, he’s also the guy at your local Jack in the Box drive-thru window talking like a clown. Well, at least he is “for a limited time only,” in the latest Jack in the Box commercial, which you can watch down below.
Yes, it might just be for a new commercial for the fast food giant that Mark is working the window. But the truth is, Mark Hamill actually was a Jack in the Box drive-thru employee as a teenager. Until they fired him for talking to customers in a creepy clown voice. (Honestly, we understand. Batman: The Animated Series fans know his creepy clown voice is disturbing as heck.)
Well, it seems all is forgiven by his former bosses, as Jack in the Box asked Mark Hamill to come back and do the thing he was once fired for as a teen for an ad. This came after Jack in the Box corporate folks watched Hamill recount his fast food origin story on The Late Late Show with James Corden. It’s pretty hilarious watching customers recognize the guy handing them their egg rolls and burgers as their favorite Jedi Knight.
In an interview with Insider, Hamill recounts his fast food youth in 1969, saying “I wanted to interact with the public, and I loved the idea of speaking for the clown-mouth speaker.” Hamill was already an aspiring actor, so he saw this as a chance to hone his craft. His shift manager, however, did not think it was all that funny. Hamill added, “I thought it was amusing — my boss thought it was annoying.” So within a month, they let him go. We think he did OK for himself though in the end. The world might have lost a fast food employee, but it gained a sci-fi icon. The Force works in mysterious ways.
