TORONTO -- Despite the distancing measures in place at Wednesday night's U.S. vice-presidential debate, one uninvited guest got a little too close to one of the candidates.
Mid-debate, a fly landed on the head of Vice-President Mike Pence, who seemed unfazed or unaware that the insect was there.
Ian Cull, a reporter for NBC's Bay Area affiliate, confirmed on Twitter after checking the footage that the fly sat atop Pence's head for two minutes and three seconds before flying away.
Although nobody mentioned the insect invasion on the debate telecast, Twitter was soon buzzing with jokes as "The Fly" became a trending topic. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden got in on the fun, tweeting a photo of himself with a swatter asking supporters to help his campaign "fly." The fly even got its own parody Twitter account, tweeting out videos of pop star Miley Cyrus' song "Fly on the Wall" and joking about releasing a memoir.
Incredibly, this was the second time in as many election cycles that a fly made its presence known during a televised debate.
In 2016, a fly spent a few seconds on the face of Hillary Clinton during one of her debates with Donald Trump.
Former U.S. president Barack Obama was never bothered by a fly during a debate, but he did memorably swat one dead during a televised interview in 2009.
Here's a roundup of some of the best tweets of the night:
With files from The Associated Press
