Quantcast

Last week on Thursday, May 19, 2016, stay at home mom Candace Payne livestreamed a video on Facebook. The Texas native made a simple video of herself sitting in her car explaining that she recently bought a cool collectible from Kohl’s – a Chewbacca mask. Payne had gone to the store for yoga pants and bumped into the mask while looking through the toy section.

But this isn’t any Chewbacca mask, it’s a Chewbacca mask that roars like the beloved Wookie when you open your mouth, causing the mask to open its mouth. The result drove Payne into fits of adorable, infectious giggles that have become everybody’s favorite video. It has racked up more than 140 million views and became the most watched Facebook Live video of all time.

Next, representatives of Kohl’s visited Chewbacca Mom and her family to give them tons of loot, including gift cards, Star Wars toys, and of course, Chewbacca masks for the whole family. On Monday morning she appeared on Good Morning America and talked to Robin Roberts about her trip to the store for yoga pants which culminated in internet stardom.

Then Monday night, she had a visit with James Corden on The Late Late Show. Before the show started Chewbacca Mom joined Corden for his drive to work, accompanied by another guest – The Fore Awakens director and co-writer J.J. Abrams.

The pair shared some couch time talking about how quickly views grew for the video. Corden also showed a video of the moment that Payne met director J.J. Abrams. He also shared an email from Peter Mayhew, Chewbacca himself, praising her as an inspiration. On Mayhew’s behalf, Corden announced that Mayhew will be at Dallas Fan Expo in two weeks and acquired four VIP passes to the con for her and her family plus a private meet and greet for Payne and her family with Mayhew.

What’s next for Chewbacca Mom? The stars are the limit.