Bobby Moynihan on Improvising with Mark Hamill - LEGO Star Wars Rebuild the Galaxy Interview

the other day a bunch of Star Wars creators including myself got the chance to speak with the Stars and writers of Lego Star Wars rebuild the Galaxy this is the video of our talk with Jedi Bob himself Bobby minahan he was an absolute blast to listen to so I hope you enjoy uh hi Bobby it's James from Jedi news here up man how are you I'm all right how are you good doing well I like your spaceship is that the hotel that is right it was yes it was it was so we just can't get rid of you but that's a good thing sorry I'm sorry no it's a really really positive thing we've had you obviously in resistance then the bad batch visions and now Let Go Star Wars rebuild the Galaxy so did you know coming into this particular uh series how iconic Jedi bobbi's in the world of Lego Star Wars and did that have any impact on the voice that you chose for the character uh it did definitely I did I was this was in the room when I got the phone call my awesome when I got the phone call and I was like are you kidding me U I had worked with Dan and Ben a little bit beforehand so I knew them and I couldn't believe it I still can't believe it it makes absolutely no sense to me so much so that I forgot the second part of your question did you have any idea how iconic jedo was yes yes on the yeah yes it definitely did I think I tried to do what I would do as a Jedi like I just did what I thought being cast as a Jedi which is like I'm going to try and sound like Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon but the reality is I'm a mess and I just and kind of then threw in a lot of of Bobby in there hi Bobby Alex from Star Wars explained hi I like trying to guess who's going to be who uh as James pointed out this is far from your first Star Wars character so when the Galaxy gets remixed uh what do you think happened to Orca or cesil slack or gizer gizer or all of them uh could we get like an all Bobby moan episode eventually um like a clumps like a Nutty Professor Style movie uh yes I hope that is that is that is the dream I think that's Lucas film's number one priority um I I love this idea I think it could happen and also the Lego Star Wars universe is the place to do it I wish now that I had asked them just to put all my characters like talking at a little table in the Cantina or the marina uh or something that would have been that would have been great hey Bobby art Eddie here for art of fatherhood uh I had this chance to speak with you about fatherhood before so I'm going to ask you another fatherhood question a lot of great themes in rebuild the Galaxy and is there something that you know you kind of use as Jedi Bob's character that you might use in real life as a dad in terms of maybe guiding or helping out uh the main characters um oh God this is going to get too real it's something that I really do it's something that Jedi Bob does which is like he talks to people like they're stupid and they can't understand that they've done this how they could have been so insane to do this thing and I realize that I do that all the time and I can't do that to my children I try to be very kind to them they're like Dad I did this insane thing and I'm just like that's it happens I did those things too I have to remind myself not to go full Danny Glover and be like I getting too old for this I'm done awesome thank you sir thank you man I love your room hi Bobby it's charlot from Sky talkers um I was so great to talk with you today thank you so much um we were wondering you're such a Star Wars fan and it is so awesome to see you in all these different roles what draws you to Star Wars thematically and what keeps you coming back um I think for me personally I just I love a universe to get lost in that has a great deal of minutia I like you know it's it's a wonderful place to escape into with a lot of very easy archetypes to understand and uh it's it's fun and I also love idea of that fan community of like there's this thing that doesn't exist that we all care about a great deal and will fight you over um there there's something to that there's something to the uh the the love and the importance that is put into uh a Galaxy that doesn't exist hi this is car and P on Galaxy how are you Bobby that's up how are you all right good how would you how would you describe your character get ibom Jedi Bob is not the best Jedi he uh and he doesn't necessarily need to be uh he's a he's terrible at uh at at lightsaber work and he's well aware of it he knows he needs to get better uh he he he just wants to save the Galaxy and do good he but I also think he he he's there there's a little part of him that uh doesn't believe him in himself enough when it when it should and may I think he learns that through the other characters here Brian good dad by the way you look like a good dad I appreciate that than you oh see that's the best okay this is uh Brian from full of Sith um amazing yeah so I told you on Twitter earlier I think it's about time we see you in live action uh oh that that thank you very much day yes I I agree I'm I'm I'm truly just glad you enjoyed it you seem like a fan and I your Tweet perfectly encapsulated what I would love people to feel about this experience including me being in live action star war um I wanted to ask I I I think uh I feel like I interviewed you uh at a round table like this for resistance way back when you were just starting into Star Wars and you were a huge fan then I I remember that day I remember doing I was so excited and uh you're you're doing Star Wars still you've done like like Alex said you've done Cil slack and and keer and and orca uh H and and like I said you were a big Star Wars fan leading up to all of that how is your relationship to Star Wars changed now uh after all these years of being a part of it uh you know before last time we talked you you were just stepping into it but now you're a veteran now yeah it's it's good I feel very good I feel very thankful I feel very uh I feel a lot of gratitude I I can't believe that I have had some night like there was a night recently where I stayed up with my kids and built my Lego Jedi starf fighter and that's something I will never ever ever forget or I called Ben and Dani uh Ben and Dani Dan and Benji uh uh and told them like thank you you made me a Jedi and I don't know how to explain this to you that how much this means to me and uh it's great I had this in my room when I got the call this was like that I was doing it like I had this like I I I I can't believe it I definitely spent way too much money on Legos already and uh it's a it's it's an honor I I can't believe it Bobby danir from coffee with Kenobi hello good to see you man uh I uh my son knew I was gonna talk to today and he said Jedi Bob is the most famous non-star Wars Star Wars character ever so how about that Pro Legacy uh I I agree and that's the best yeah there there's no better part to get in Star Wars I don't think I'm that's a lie I I want to play jao or something like that one day well app the the performance was great and you're you're a bless appreciate it was the best I had a little bit of fun doing it hi Bobby Gustavo from trial of the force thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us everyone has been mentioning like your appearances in bad batch and resistance but I feel everyone has H forgotten about the life the live stage readings of the nabo movie and the Camino Caper which thank you for bringing it up very are probably as iconic as they are Infamous it's the only place where I get cast as Darth Maul uh Jango Fett yeah and the third one's coming and there might be a certain villain in my I'm sure yeah and I'm sure Sam yeah I might be jealous a costume involving a lot of pool noodles as we speak the expectations are high now uh and I guess that now my question has to do with obviously Jedi Bob and one of the things that I think is overlooked is that because it's Lego everyone's just like oh this is a very light-hearted adventure and all the characters are fun and quirky but after watching rebuild the Galaxy Jedi Bob is a tortured character he went through so much drama of losing his world and trying to save this other one and he also lost it and then trying to get sick to you know save the Galaxy so how do you balance a character that has suffered severe trauma but then make it light-hearted and fun I mean I hate to say this but that's a lot of people in life right that's a lot there's a lot of people with stuff going on and they're just trying to make it through their day you don't have to be a Jedi to do that that that's that's everybody um that being said uh I think it it I took it seriously I took Jedi like that like I would go as far as saying like just one of the best acting roles I've ever gotten in my life like and it sounds silly because it's a Lego Star Wars thing but it's not I you know I I had a lot of heavy lifting to do in that in that thing literally and uh it was it was fun to get to play to get to play a little serious but also play Goofy and make fun of Star Wars with Mark Hamill hi Bobby Victor from fand dads um you you've kind of alluded to this a couple times already with with the Jedi Bob figure but you're part of one of like the funniest Saturday night life skits making fun of Star Wars collectors stuff is was from my house so now that you're GNA have like since you even said it you have the official Jedi Bob starf fighter how does it feel that to have that Lego figure and did you put it are you gonna put it in a case so no one can touch it after this my daughter is home one of my daughters is home so I am here in front of a whiteboard uh but I otherwise I would have been in my office downstairs and it I'm kind of glad because I'm a little embarrassed I I have I mean I have at least 50 or 60 Jedi Bob sets in my in my office downstairs just ready to give out to anybody who wants them um I also I may have a bunch of different Jedi Bobs I may have an imperial Jedi Bob I may have made a Christmas Jedi Bob I may have made an X-Wing Jedi Bob I have a lot of Jedi Bobs I have a great deal are those hot toys behind you by the way yes they are these are my Spider-Man yeah call me later I'll TW you we'll show off rooms brilliant so what was it like working with you know you mentioned Mark hammer and obviously he must be you know somebody that you you know feel for in the same way that we all do because we've grown up with a guy and he's part of our lives so how was that for you um it's it's not lost on me I got to meet him a long time ago at a Star Wars event and he was so kind and I was taken a back um I've gotten to meet a lot of famous people through SNL and stuff like that but uh he is someone who truly understands the gravity of the like of who he is he is Luke Skywalker and it I don't think it bothers him like other people like it's he he he he he is Luke and uh he he acts like it a little bit and and I love it I love him but in this in particular I can't believe as a Star Wars fan and as a comedian that I got to be in the Star Wars project where they let Mark Hamill just be great where they just let him be funny and a lot of I think a lot of his stuff is improvised like it's it's it's great it's he he he makes this thing for me and uh forever whenever I for the rest of time whenever I have two minutes where I don't have anything to do I'm just G to go watch that Cantina scene with me and Mark Hill that's what I will do for the rest of time talking about the fun of collecting Star Wars and Lego Star Wars is 25 years old this year so what are your memories of uh Lego Star Wars uh back in that simpler time that the flashback alludes to do you have a favorite set or minifigure I mean like the Jedi Bob one I have it and like I I I I I can't believe it it's so funny that just like this thing is now turned into this thing but I also recently or Rec one of my favorite Lego sets is uh the the one where they turn or Darth Vader in the like on the gurnie like the you know the most horrible moment of his entire existence like there's a Lego set for it and then it always uh I feel bad a little bit for Darth Vader that that Lego set exists I think it's rude for him it's like if somebody put your worst moment in a Lego set I assume wouldn't be as fun actually it might make it better all right yeah I ran because I got this too I picked this up recently so you know I'm a big fan of Jedi Bob so for me my favorite like my Holy Grail of like Star Wars uh collection is is the I have a 1983 revenge of the Jedi poster it was one that like you flip open and talk about Star Wars and Empire you open it up and says now I'm production revenge of the Jedi what's your go-to like hands down favorite Star Wars collectible that you have and I'm guessing you have a lot but what is your favorite I mean like now I have my own Jedi starf fighter and I can't believe it like the Lego stuff I can't believe but I think like I wish I was in my office I think the two things downstairs that like I go like that's pretty nuts um I have uh the kylo ren helmet that Adam driver wore in the mat the radar technician sketch and he signed it uh uh you're to uh love you to your friend Matt like that is like just because that's that was a fun thing into the star I also have I have the giant R2-D2 that we had in the other Star Wars sketch the one where I was Boba Fett with the long hair was like the it was like the Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars I don't even remember anymore um but that art I have that 2D2 and now it's it's signed by like JJ Abrams John boa Daisy Ridley all the people that came through SNL they would uh anybody they would just come in my dressing room and sign it so I have that in my office like that's just a a cool thing I think may but but now to answer your question I think my Orca figure maybe my I had an orca figure made and I think that might be it awesome thank you sir thanks you had 80 minutes right I apologize all my question answers are much longer than I expected hi Bobby I'm Caitlyn the other half of Sky talkers so great to talk to you today you mentioned you'd worked with writers Dan and Benji before what was it like working with them on this project uh it was the best yeah I got like I got asked to go to Lucas film and help pitch jokes for the Star Wars I think it was the Christmas special the Lego Christmas special and I was just over the moon cuz I that's I mean that's a job I'm equipped for I thought and uh I met them there and then when they were writing this they thought of me and I I I can't believe it they are I'm a huge fan of theirs anyway that Ninja Turtle movie is fantastic the Pokemon like they're just they're they're absolute Geniuses at this at genres of ips that people really really love because they care about them as well and uh Benji is an aold he is an adult fan of Lego he is like I've never met anybody like that like he is one of those guys that knows everything about it and and they're great and they're really funny and they they did a bang up job on this special and I I'm really lucky that they exist how did you hear about Jedi V and why were you interested in playing the characters um I had heard about him just as like a fan of collecting weird Star Wars stuff I I was like at a Walmart and saw like a mcard figure like it was a Luke Skywalker figure but there was like a stormtrooper background and I was like what is this I thought I found something crazy and I started collecting weird we Star Wars stuff and found out that there was this character that was just named Jedi that came out with this set and like that people online were nicknamed him Jedi Bob and that it had become very expensive to collect him now because not many people wanted it and I thought that was just a fascinating story uh as a fan of weird collecting stuff and then one day I got a phone call from my friends who were like do you want to play this weird character that you know and I was like yeah yeah I know that that's exactly what I want to do you talked about Mark Hamill getting to do a lot of adlib stuff how much did you get to do on this and is there any jokes are there any jokes that that that you got to to do in the room that didn't make it that you wish had uh of course um yeah they wrote it so well that like this is I I am an improviser I love to improvise I feel comfortable improvising but there is nothing better for me than a job where I instantly realize I don't have to flex that muscle as much as uh I need to uh they they did such a fantastic job at writing this that I didn't need to improvise a lot but of course it was Star Wars I I definitely tried to shoehorn in I would all every recording I was like well I'm you know the I got a bad feeling about this something I I just kept trying to shoehorn in myself to old Star Wars stuff and I got a couple in um but one that I remember I definitely uh uh uh improvised at one point uh I think to Mark Hamill that uh I was in Max rebo's band that I played saxophone and Max reo's band many years ago and that I got kicked out for stealing and uh I don't know why I just thought that was funny and they were like yeah we're not GNA use that we're not going to do that I like got it okay um there there's a few I I I I it's funny you're or somebody here is from Revenge of the Sith or no no full of I think we did that joke in this is it still in it or we definitely recorded that joke and we're like we wonder if we could get away with this I said oh Sig you're full of Sith or something like that and uh uh I thought maybe we got away with it but maybe not