TouchVision employee James Brennan took one of the better April Fool’s pranks in the city this year and played it off like a champ. The Chicago-based video producer was on the receiving end of this flyer posted around Chicago by his girlfriend, which invited people to call his phone and leave a Chewbacca roar on his voicemail.
Images of the flyer went viral. It was one of the top posts on Chicago’s Reddit page and received shout-outs from various local media outlets. When word of the prank got around the TouchVision office, Brennan’s boss offered to put up the $100 offered on the flyer if he would call in the best Chewbacca impersonators and bring them into the office for a Kashyyyk-style showdown.
Brennan chose four competitors who were judged on the lushness of their body hair, their fluency in Shyriiwook (Chewbacca’s native language), how well they can nail Chewbacca-like reactions and, of course, the volume of their Chewbacca roar. The competition ended in a tie, so naturally there was a Chewbacca-off between competitors Dan Campbell and Darren Olsen to decide the winner.
Olsen won the Star Wars–themed overtime period by a unanimous decision and received $100 from TouchVision. But while Olsen walked out with the cash, Brennan was the real winner, taking a nightmare prank phone call and turning it into comedic gold.