Mark Hamill doesn't understand 'The Machine' star Bert Kreischer's shirtless stage act: 'Why?'

No one in this galaxy has more experience dealing with daddy issues than “Star Wars” legend Mark Hamill. Having Darth Vader for a dad will do that to you.

Yet, The Force was strong in telling Hamill, 72, not to play comedian Bert Kreischer’s father in “The Machine” (streaming now on Netflix). He had never heard of Kreischer (“Like, really, I had no idea”) and was instantly put off seeing the portly comedian’s refusal to wear a shirt on stage. Urged by his son Nathan, Hamill grudgingly checked out Kreischer's 2016 Netflix stand-up special “The Machine” and his popular "Bertcast" podcasts that detail a deranged, possibly even true, Moscow semester abroad.

“It was hair-raising,” Hamill says of the vodka-soaked tale at the movie's core. “Bert goes to Russia, gets involved with Russian Mafia, gets drunk and robs a train. It's just beyond. When I got the script, it was like, 'Oh, boy, I want to see this movie, even if they don't want me.' "

Here's what happened when Hamill signed on for "The Machine":

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Mark Hamill's first question to Bert Kreischer: 'Why don't you wear a shirt?'

Kreischer, 50, who has parlayed the dubious distinction of being dubbed the world's No. 1 party animal in a 1997 "Rolling Stone" profile to a stand-up career, desperately wanted his movie hero to play his dad. He was even thrilled to be doing an introductory Zoom call.

"It was like, 'I can't believe I get to meet Mark Hamill,' " says Kreischer. "And immediately, the first thing Mark Hamill said on the Zoom call was, 'Why don't you wear a shirt?' It was like, he's already channeling my dad."

The duo flew off to Serbia, standing in for Russia, for the fully fictional follow-up to the youthful adventure detailed in the original comedy routine. The movie "Machine" depicts Kreischer and his infuriating carpet salesman father Albert (Hamill) being kidnapped and forced back to Russia 20 years later by a feuding mob family to retrieve an invaluable wristwatch stolen during the infamous train ride.

Mark Hamill partied hard in Serbia for the camera

Hamill was impressed that Kreischer not only wears shirts in public but was as ebullient off-camera as his gregarious stage persona.

"He has this incredible lust for life that's endearing, laughing the hardest at his own jokes," says Hamill. "He was so thrilled to find there were McDonald's in Serbia. Why would anyone be that thrilled about that?"

Hamill stayed away from the frequent parties Kreischer threw at his private residence during "The Machine" filming. "I'm an elderly recluse who doesn't party anymore," he says.

Kreischer contradicts this account, insisting that Hamill showed up at the first bash he threw.

"I remember because if I had known he'd actually come, I would have ordered something better than pizza, And then he showed up," says Kresischer. "Mark even took a pizza home with him."

Hamill was definitely ready to party in front of the camera, living large for the energetic, drug-induced scenes when Albert goes to the dark side and parties with Russian mobsters.

"You relish these moments, to finally let loose," says Hamill, who didn't even need caffeine to raise the level. "You just reserve all the energy and let it rip."

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There were creative differences. During a train fight, Kreischer punches through the prosthetic neck of a menacing thug and his hand gets stuck. Hamill gave a note to director Peter Atencio.

"I said, 'That's going to kill the comedy,' " says Hamill, who has since seen the light regarding the scene, which is featured in the trailer. "Fortunately, I was wrong."

"The Machine" gives an explanation for Kreischer's shirtless comedy routine, zeroing in on his hatred of shirts. When he finally loses his top on screen, the liberated Kreischer turns semi-Rambo, impressively fighting baddies and throwing Albert over his shoulder to escape. "He's a powerful guy," says Hamill of the real lift in the scene. "He could break me like a twig."

To be sure, it was a surreal experience for a wild movie that Hamill is still processing.

"I'm dealing with a lot of it now that I put in the memory hole," he says. "When I saw the trailer the first time, it was like, 'Did I do that?' "

But there are zero regrets about signing on for "The Machine" and working with Kreischer, who Hamill believes should be the first shirtless Jedi in future "Star Wars" installments.

"I'm in the escapism business," says Hamill. "And there's no way to forget your troubles better than seeing two people in a movie that make stupidity into an art form."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mark Hamill avoided Bert Kreischer's 'Machine' parties: 'I'm elderly'