Americans from across the political spectrum seem to agree: Tuesday night's chaotic presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden was an excruciating disaster. But where does it rank on the list of really, really bad things, say, like The Star Wars Holiday Special?
Spoiler: It was worse.
In a meme that took off after the 90 minutes of screaming, interrupting and insults ended, celebrities and others began posting comparisons of what horrible things in their lives they'd now rank better than the debate.
Mark Hamill, aka Luke Skywalker, appeared in the infamous 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, which featured singing Wookiees wearing Snuggies and a Jefferson Starship hologram jam band, yet he declared that the debate was worse.
As of Wednesday morning, Hamill's tweet declaring "that debate was the worst thing I've ever seen & I was in The Star Wars Holiday Special" has been liked more than 679,000 times and retweeted 101,000 times.
That debate was the worst thing I've ever seen & I was in The Star Wars Holiday Special.
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) September 30, 2020
Hamill wasn't alone. Others users chimed in, claiming the debate was worse than terrible events in their own pasts.
"That was the worst thing I've ever seen, and I wrote Fantastic Four," tweeted writer-producer Jeremy Slater.
That was the worst thing I’ve ever seen, and I wrote FANTASTIC FOUR.
— Jeremy Slater (@jerslater) September 30, 2020
The best part of this tweet is that i don’t know which Fantastic Four you wrote but it works either way!
— Danielle Koenig (@DanielleBKoenig) September 30, 2020
"It was the worst thing I have ever experienced and I made out with a duck," wrote Howard the Duck star Lea Thompson.
It was the worst thing I have ever experienced and I made out with a duck.
— Lea Thompson (@LeaKThompson) September 30, 2020
That was the worst thing I ever experienced and I WATCHED you make out with the duck.
— Bitter Script Reader (@BittrScrptReadr) September 30, 2020
Okay, you still have the worse end of that deal.
Others joined in, including Justin Marks, who wrote the much-criticized 2009 film Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.
That was the worst thing I’ve ever seen, and I wrote a video game adaptation. https://t.co/pom7rmeiSn
— Justin Marks (@Justin_Marks_) September 30, 2020
That was the worst thing I've ever seen, and I wrote Tooth Fairy. https://t.co/lTReBUjDTW
— Randi Mayem Singer (@rmayemsinger) September 30, 2020
It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen and I wrote The Cat In The Hat movie.
— Alec Berg (@realalecberg) September 30, 2020
That #debate was the worst thing I've ever seen, and I wrote #Sharknado!
— Thunder Levin (@ThunderLevin) September 30, 2020
It was so bad it was bad!
That’s the worst thing I have ever seen and I ran the screening room at New York film academy.
— Michaelpuro (@Michaelpuro) September 30, 2020
That was the worst thing I've ever seen, and I wrote Strawberry Shortcake: the animated series
— Judy Rothman Rofé (@neurotic_parent) September 30, 2020
And even those of us who never made a film could find a painful comparison. "That was the worst thing I've seen and I played E.T. on the Atari 2600 as a kid," wrote one Twitter user.
That was the worst thing I've seen and I played E.T. on the Atari 2600 as a kid.
— Joseph Jackowski (@JosephJackowski) September 30, 2020
As you can see from our roundups of memes from Tuesday night, the debate has also been compared with a Real Housewives reunion and "a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck." Start combing your past for more bad things. Another presidential debate is set for Oct. 15.