Mark Hamill is famous around the world — but apparently not on Hollywood Boulevard.
The “Star Wars” actor recently agreed to a rather humbling experiment for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to determine just how long it would take for him to get recognized in public. Hamill tried to make it easy by standing on his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Kimmel noted in his introduction Wednesday that untold tourists annually visit Los Angeles in the hopes of meeting a celebrity, applauding Hamill for trying to make that dream come true. The segment didn’t go quite as planned, however, to rather shocking results.
“Look who it is!” Hamill said while approaching his star. “Oh my god, it’s Mark Hamill’s star.”
Hamill went on to ask a passerby if he could take a picture of him next to the star, and while he was holding a glossy copy of his own headshot and cheekily told the stranger that he’s “a big fan of this guy,” the man still couldn’t put two and two together.
“He played Laurie’s boyfriend on ‘The Partridge Family,’” Hamill accurately joked.
When he asked three passing women if they could take his picture, they briefly considered it — but simply walked away. Hamill was then kindly approached by a man who offered to do him the favor, only for Hamill to snatch his disposable camera back.
“Wait,” he said while cheekily tinkering with it. “You have to wind it.”
The magnanimous stranger was then hilariously forced to watch for what seemed like an eternity as Hamill cranked the device into readiness. Clueless about his identity, the man finally took a photo of Hamill — who sat down before his star in a cross-legged yoga pose.
“Have you ever heard of him?” Hamill later asked another group of tourists. “Mark Hamlin?”
The man-on-the-street segment took a bit of a morbid turn when he stopped two others, pointed at his star and said, “Did you hear this guy died today? I read on the internet he was in a jet ski accident.” Hamill then dropped a bouquet of flowers on the ground.
“It’s really sad,” he said. “He was in ‘Corvette Summer,’” he said.
Hamill proved himself to be a true mensch by participating in the unpredictable fame test.
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When one of the men noted he was also in “Star Wars,” Hamill said he’d “heard about that” — but never saw the film. The men then checked their phones and confirmed Hamill is still alive, telling him, “You can’t always believe the internet. There’s a lot of fake news.”
Hamill later shouted to the heavens, “What does it take to get recognized around here!?”
One woman ultimately did, only for the actor to claim he’s “really not” who she thinks he is. Hamill nonetheless agreed to take a selfie with her, and perhaps most funny of all, told a local sidewalk character dressed as Darth Vader, “Dad! I told you, don’t follow me to work!”
Watch the full segment here.