Just one day late for April Fool’s Day comes a new collection of Star Wars Dad Jokes from Lucasfilm Publishing and Chronicle Books, and below are my thoughts on this release.
Star Wars Dad Jokes: The Best Worst Jokes and Puns from A Galaxy Far, Far Away…. is written by StarWars.com contributor Kelly Knox, who appeared as a guest on Laughing Place’s Star Wars podcast “Who’s the Bossk?” back in 2020. Around that same time (during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown), Knox began posting her own Star Wars-inspired jokes on Twitter, and they soon grew an audience of fans who were more than receptive to her form of groan-worthy gags in a time when we all definitely needed a good laugh. Now Kelly has collected more than 100 pages worth of what she has self-branded as “Dad Jokes,” though I think anyone with an appreciation for tongue-in-cheek humor and George Lucas’s space-opera franchise will get a kick out of this compilation.
At first I debated whether or not to label this a “Children’s Book Review,” as in her introduction Kelly Knox says that the jokes contained within are “guaranteed to produce groans and eye rolls from your kids.” But for the reasons stated above I’m going to go ahead and say that Star Wars Dad Jokes is indeed appropriate for all ages, with question-and-answer examples like “What happens when Imperial fighters race? It always ends in a TIE” filling nearly 130 pages of fun. The illustrations by MAD Magazine artist Johnny Sampson (creator of the Slow Leak comic) are frequently hilarious as well, with drawings depicting decidedly non-canonical Star Wars events like Chewbacca’s bad haircut and Admiral Ackbar wearing a tuxedo eliciting big guffaws out of me.
So at this point I figure you get the idea– either you’re into the concept of Star Wars Dad Jokes or not, and you can probably gauge by the included examples here (both in image and text form) whether you know someone (again, of any age) who would be into this kind of book. And as someone who has briefly chatted with author Kelly Knox– who previously wrote Star Wars: Conversation Cards and Star Wars: Be More Obi-Wan for Lucasfilm Publishing, in addition to co-writing Star Wars Everyday with Ashley Eckstein– I’m extremely glad to see her having turned what began as an online hobby into a bonafide published work. It’s a pretty cool accomplishment from a unique perspective within the Star Wars creator community. For a mere $15 bucks, this stocking-stuffer-style, pun-filled book is sure to bring a smile to the face of any good-humored Star Wars fan.
Star Wars Dad Jokes is available now wherever books are sold.