The Han Solo Comedy Hour!

The night The Star Wars Holiday Special broadcast on CBS, Lenny Ripps threw a party. “I had lots of people over, and lots of food, and lots of anticipation,” he recalls. “And we sat in front of the TV, and after the first commercial, I turned it off and I said, ‘Let’s eat.’”

The special is not easy to sit through by any stretch of the imagination, but fans of old-school comedy or show-business carnage will find some guilty pleasures. As a karmic reward for his reluctance to participate, Harrison Ford gets to open the show in a scene where his and Chewbacca’s efforts to get back to Kashyyyk are stymied by a dogfight with Imperial forces. As the Millennium Falcon’s cabin is rocked by what seems to be a tired, off-screen Teamster, Ford gets to say lines like “That’s the spirit! You’ll be celebrating Life Day before you know it!” This leads into the special’s opening credits, where, if you look closely at the insert shot of Ford when he is introduced, you can actually see him fuming.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Dec 24, 2008
Length: 17 minutes (4,292 words)