Weird Al remixed and auto-tuned the Trump-Biden debate for The New York Times

(Image credit: Screenshot/The New York Times)

So how bizarre was Tuesday night's debate-like event between President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden? Weird Al Yankovic's take on the debate, delivered Wednesday evening via a video op-ed in The New York Times, was on the conservative end of the consensus opinion, summed up immediately by strait-laced CNN news anchors as "a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck" and "a sh-t show."

Lost in all the interrupting and taunting last night, Biden and Trump did hit on actual substantive points during their first debate. You won't really find those points in Weird Al's recap, but there is quite a bit of auto-tuning of the candidates, screaming, scatting, a leaf blower, and CGI fire — in other words, it's a pretty good representation of what it was like to watch the debate. Plus, it's got a beat and you can dance to it.

Also, Weird Al's questions were actually on par or better than actual debate moderator Chris Wallace's. For example: "2020's a raging hellscape, any ideas on how to stop a worldwide plague?" And surely voters of all stripes can agree with his big message: "We're living in the apocalypse, I'm begging you to put a stop to this, pretty please!"

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.