It was a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in joy.

The cause was a Facebook video capturing a Texas woman’s enthusiastic, infectious laughter as she tried on a Chewbacca mask in her car.

The video, originally broadcast live on Friday, propelled the woman, Candace Payne, into sudden social media fame.

Ms. Payne, of Grand Prairie, Tex., had just bought the “Star Wars” character mask at a department store on Thursday with a gift card she had gotten for her 37th birthday the week before.

Sitting in her car, and wearing a T-shirt with an image of the Death Star and the caption “Epic Fail,” she put her smartphone in a dashboard holder and began streaming video via Facebook. Ms. Payne clapped her hands with child-on-a-Christmas-morning excitement, and spent about two minutes explaining her purchase before removing the Chewbacca electronic mask from the box.