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This Happened To My Buddy Eric
Part of a series on Insane Letterboxd Reviews. [View Related Entries]
About
This Happened To My Buddy Eric refers to an Insane Leterrboxd Review of the 2019 film Joker posted to Letterboxd in April 2020. A screenshot of the review gained viral fame over the course of the year, resulting in a number of memes referencing it, including photoshops and image macros, as well as the phrase becoming a popular copypasta.
Origin
On April 28th, 2020, Letterboxd[1] user CloserLook Media posted a review for Joker simply writing, "This happened to my buddy Eric," implying that their friend Eric became radicalized like the Joker (shown below). The review gained over 10,700 likes in a year, becoming the second most popular for the film.
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On May 19th, Twitter[2] user @InsaneLetterboxd, an account that posts funny Letterboxd reviews, posted a screenshot of the review, garnering over 173,000 likes and 23,000 retweets in a year. That same day, the screenshot was posted to a number of other sites, including Reddit on /r/moviescirclejerk,[3] gaining over 650 upvotes in the same span of time.
Spread
On May 19th, 2020, Redditor u/literal2020 posted a photoshop to /r/sbubby[5] of the Joker poster replacing the title with "Eric," referencing the review (shown below).
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On May 20th, Redditor u/bugsbunny696 posted the image to /r/ComedyHell,[4] garnering over 1,600 upvotes in a year. On October 20th, iFunny[10] user AJSmashing posted a photoshop making it appear as if the review is attached to the film The Thing, (shown below, left). On November 3rd, iFunny[11] user ShinGodzilla posted a similar photoshop attaching the review to the book I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream (shown below, right).

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On November 3rd, Instagram[6] page scoobydoofruitsnacks posted the original screenshot, garnering over 165,000 likes in six months.
On December 22nd, Redditor u/ThatRedditGuy48 posted an image macro to /r/titanfolk[7] with the title, "This happened to my buddy Eric," referencing the review and offering an example of the meme as a catchphrase separate from it used to imply something related to the image happened to Eric, garnering over 1,500 upvotes in five months (shown below).
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On January 2nd, 2021, Twitter[9] user @FinJCam posted a photoshop attaching the review to Steven Universe: The Movie, garnering over 1,700 likes and 200 retweets in four months (shown below).
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The phrase increased in use on Twitter[12][13] around this time, applying the same joke to new images (examples shown below, left and right).

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On March 30th, 2021, Redditor u/ItsBlitz21 posted a screenshot to /r/beetlejuicing[8] in which someone says the phrase, garnering over 3,400 upvotes in two months (shown below).

Various Examples
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



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Search Interest
External References
[1] Letterboxd – This happened to my buddy Eric
[2] Twitter – Submitted by @BrendanJones98
[5] Reddit – my buddy eric
[6] Instagram – scoobydoofruitsnacks
[7] Reddit – This happened to my buddy Eric
[8] Reddit – beetlejuicing
[11] iFunny – I have no mouth…
[12] Twitter – this happened to my buddy eric once
[13] Twitter – this happened to my buddy eric
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