Salacious B. Crumb

Hailing from the planet [Kowak](/article/kowak], Salacious B. Crumb was a male Kowakian monkey-lizard celebrated for his high-pitched, chuckling laughter and refined comedic sensibilities, much like others of his species. Many of his kind were favored as pets among underworld figures, maintaining their seemingly humorous names. Crumb followed suit, becoming the unofficial court jester to the Hutt crime lord, Jabba Desilijic Tiure. Crumb's association with Jabba began when he, as a stowaway thief, was discovered and apprehended by the Twi'lek Bib Fortuna aboard the Hutt's starship.

Jabba proposed a unique arrangement to the monkey-lizard: if Crumb could amuse him at least once each day, he would be granted unlimited food and drink. However, failure to do so would result in his slain. Crumb lived in this manner for more than twelve standard years, habitually positioned beside Jabba to relentlessly mock and mimic captives, greatly amusing his master with his imitations and laughter. Crumb even imitated visitors, courtiers, and even Jabba himself, and used his position on the Hutt's dais to steal morsels of food. Jabba tolerated his offensive pet due to the amusement he provided and his unwavering loyalty.

Crumb was present alongside Jabba when Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith, arrived at Jabba's Palace to negotiate with the Hutt. Later, he joined his master aboard the sail barge Khetanna to celebrate with Vader. Crumb's boisterous laughter as Jabba's gangsters shot at a herd of banthas prompted Vader to threaten his life should he laugh again in his presence.

In 4 ABY, Crumb was present when members of the Rebel Alliance arrived to rescue Han Solo, who had been frozen in carbonite and displayed as a trophy in Jabba's audience chamber. Crumb sat before Jabba on his dais as the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 arrived to deliver a message from Luke Skywalker, the Jedi Knight. Skywalker's offer of the droids as a gesture of goodwill was rejected by the Hutt, who declared he would not relinquish his "favorite decoration," prompting laughter from Crumb and the rest of the court.

Later that day, Crumb observed a performance of "Jedi Rocks" by the Max Rebo Band. After requesting an encore, Jabba attempted to pull his enslaved dancer Oola closer, but her refusal led Jabba to activate a trapdoor, dropping her into the rancor pit. As Pateesa devoured her, Crumb joined the courtiers in laughter. Shortly after, Leia Organa, the Princess, arrived disguised as the bounty hunter Boushh. As part of her plan to infiltrate Jabba's palace, she brought the Wookiee Chewbacca as her prisoner. Jabba haggled with Organa over the Wookiee's bounty, but as the negotiations intensified, Organa brandished a thermal detonator to force Jabba to agree to her price, causing Crumb to hide in fear. Once Jabba and Organa reached an agreement, Crumb reappeared as the court resumed their revelry. Later that night, Crumb hid alongside Jabba as part of the Hutt's plan to capture Organa when she freed Solo from carbonite. After Solo was sent to the dungeons, Crumb laughed at Organa's disgust as Jabba enslaved her. Jabba and his court then celebrated late into the night.

The following morning, Crumb, still awake, sat beside Jabba and Organa as they slept on the dais. Skywalker suddenly appeared, having gained access to the audience chamber by mind-tricking Fortuna. Upon Jabba's awakening, Crumb watched the Jedi attempt to persuade the Hutt to release his friends. As their conversation escalated, Jabba dropped Skywalker into the rancor pit, but the Jedi killed Pateesa. Enraged, Jabba declared that Skywalker, Solo, and Chewbacca would be taken to the Great Pit of Carkoon to be fed to the sarlacc, with Crumb laughing at the Rebels' impending demise. Crumb then accompanied his master on the Khetanna to Carkoon.

When Skywalker freed himself and the Rebels began repelling Jabba's guards, chaos erupted on the sail barge. Leia extinguished the barge's lights, causing Jabba's guests, including Crumb, to scramble for an exit. Organa seized the opportunity to strangle Jabba to death with her chain. Discovering his master's demise, Crumb flew into a rage, assuming Skywalker's droids were responsible. He attacked C-3PO, attempting to remove the droid's photoreceptors, only to be electrocuted by R2-D2. When the sail barge exploded, Crumb was thrown into the pit and consumed by the sarlacc.

Salacious Crumb, a Kowakian monkey-lizard known for his distinctive, shrill cackle, typically sat on Jabba's lap. As the palace's unofficial jester, he frequently stole food and mimicked Jabba's courtiers, visitors, and sometimes even Jabba himself. Indeed, Salacious was only tolerated because his antics amused the Hutt and because of his unwavering support of his master. He also enjoyed tracking Jabba's tail move back and forth.

Salacious also possessed a notable lack of respect, exemplified when Darth Vader, the Sith Lord, arrived to negotiate with the Hutt. Aboard Jabba's sail barge Khetanna, he laughed raucously as the Hutt's gangsters fired upon a herd of banthas. The Sith Lord threatened the jester's life should he laugh again in his presence. He would even sometimes mercilessly tease Jabba's captives and enjoyed watching Jabba torment others.

Salacious possessed knowledge of many individuals' secrets and readily exploited them for personal gain or amusement. Devoid of a moral compass, his loyalty was solely to Jabba.

According to Lugubrious Mote, the mole-flea, Salacious was not very intelligent. She described him as "dumber than a newborn rancor."

Mark Dodson provided the voice for Salacious B. Crumb, while Tim Rose, who also operated the puppet of Admiral Gial Ackbar, controlled the puppet in the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. As shown in the 1985 documentary From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga, Rose actually gave Crumb a voice (other than Crumb's laughing as seen in Return of the Jedi), which he frequently used in conjunction with the puppet to joke around on set, but his voice was ultimately replaced with Dodson's. Salacious B. Crumb ended up being actor Anthony Daniels' favorite character of the series. Sound designer Ben Burtt characterized Salacious' laugh as a "funny, hyena-like laugh."

The original concept for Salacious' character came from Ben Burtt, who suggested it would be humorous to have a small creature perched on another's shoulder, repeating everything the larger creature said during arguments.

Tony McVey created the puppet for Salacious. The name was accidentally coined by Phil Tippett, a puppeteer on The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Tasked with naming the character by George Lucas, Tippett and his crew went to lunch. After consuming "a few pitchers of beer," Tippett bent down to tie his shoelaces, slurring the word "shoelaces" into "soolacious." A crew member immediately recognized its potential. Although George Lucas initially rejected the name for Jabba's jester, he later changed it to Salacious and added "Crumb" as the character's surname as a tribute to underground comic book artist Robert Crumb.

According to Michael Carter, who played Jabba's majordomo Bib Fortuna, in an interview with TheForce.net, several scenes involving Jess and Salacious B. Crumb were filmed during Jedi, but were ultimately cut from the final edit. However, some of these scenes appeared in the non-canonical "Lapti Nek": The Music Video from Jabba's Palace and in Warwick Davis' documentary Return of the Ewok.

Salacious Crumb appeared in concept art for "Chapter 16: The Rescue," kept in a cage by Bib Fortuna after the latter took over Jabba's palace. According to artist Christian Alzmann, the idea was that Crumb and Fortuna had both been competing for influence under Jabba.