Line #207 Main/RockBottom


1	->''"I don't believe in rock bottoms. I've had a lot of what I thought were rock bottoms, only to discover another rockier bottom underneath."''
2	-->-- '''[=BoJack=] Horseman''', ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman''
3
4	All kinds of tribulations have been visited upon Bob and / or his party. Alice tries to cheer him up by remarking on how, at least, things can't possibly get any worse. Right on cue, something bad happens in their area. In some extreme cases, they'll even say ''how'' things could be worse, right before it actually happens.
5
6	A form of TemptingFate. Tightly related to {{Retirony}}. Often triggers OhCrap and either YouJustHadToSayIt or some variant. A DiscreditedTrope by now, it's frequently [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] or parodied these days.
7
8	CueTheRain covers the specific variant where this comes in the form of [[HostileWeather a sudden downpour]]. See also FromBadToWorse, for when things in a series really, truly go to hell, and DarkestHour for the actual, no-irony worst moment in the quest. Also see ConsolationBackfire and HumiliationConga.
9
10	Not to be confused with the wrestling FinishingMove of Wrestling/TheRock.
11	----
12	!!Examples:
13
14	[[foldercontrol]]
15
16	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
17	* In ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'', England and America, mutual [[{{Tsundere}} tsunderes]], are both stranded on an uninhabited island together. They both end up acting as TheMillstone to each other during their time stuck on the island.
18	-->'''England''': Why did I have to be stuck with you?\
19	'''America''': But at least it can't get any worse. Being stuck with you is pretty much the worst thing imaginable.
20	* Ukitake's Story Mode in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}: The Blade of Fate'' is based off this trope. His IncurableCoughOfDeath causes him to cough up blood... onto Byakuya Kuchiki's robes. He manages to escape, but then coughs up more blood... onto Ishida Uryu's robes. Escaping ''again'', he then coughs up ''more'' blood... onto ''[[MadScientist Mayuri Kurotsuchi's]]'' robes. Thankfully for us, the players, the storyline ends after that.
21	[[/folder]]
22
23	[[folder:Fan Works]]
24	* This trope is exploited by ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' in an old fanfic from the 1990s, ''Smartarse 1/2'' when he beats up Kuno for the first time and writes something on Kuno's forehead, the twist is that it was the phrase '''"At least it can't possibly get any worse."'''. When Kuno reads the phrase out loud, suddenly a real battleaxe of a nurse walks in while [[AssShove putting on a rubber glove]] and orders Kuno to bend over... [[BigNo much screaming occurs]].
25	* When ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson is having a particularly bad day in ''[[Fanfic/UltimateSpiderWoman Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With The Light]]'' ([[BornUnlucky which happens]] [[ButtMonkey a lot]]), she'll wonder how things can possibly get any worse. The next scene immediately shows how it ''does'' get worse for her.
26	[[/folder]]
27
28	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
29	* In the climax of ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', this is discussed between Milo and Sweete after Milo feels responsible for Rourke taking Atlantis's crystal/kidnapping Kida and murdering Atlantis's king, with Sweete giving him some encouraging words:
30	-->'''Sweete:''' Course it's been my experience when you hit bottom, the only place left to go is ''up''.\
31	'''Milo:''' Yeah, who told you that?\
32	'''Sweete:''' [[DareToBeBadass A fella by the name of Thadeus Thatch]].[[note]]Milo's grandfather[[/note]]
33	* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/TheBraveLittleToaster'':
34	-->'''Radio''': Things could be worse, you know.\
35	'''Lampy''': How?\
36	'''Radio''': How what?\
37	'''Lampy''': How could they be worse?\
38	'''Radio''': They couldn't; I lied.
39	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheRoadToElDorado'' our heroes Tulio and Miguel end up stranded in a rowboat with a horse, hundreds of miles from land, with limited supplies. After a CueTheRain moment they then talk about how at least they're in a rowboat, and the screen fades out [[ThreateningShark with black fins approaching them]].
40	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'', after Jane narrowly escapes [[ManiacMonkeys a huge troop of angry baboons]] and ends up stuck in a tree.
41	-->'''Jane:''' It can't get any worse, can it?\
42	(''[[CueTheRain A thunderstorm breaks out]]'')\
43	'''Jane:''' Obviously, it can.
44	[[/folder]]
45
46	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
47	* In ''Film/AustinPowersTheSpyWhoShaggedMe'', Austin visits his frozen self after losing his mojo, saying that at least things couldn't get any worse. Cue a GilliganCut to Felicity sleeping with Fat Bastard to plant a tracking device on him.
48	* Played in ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle'': Immediately after complaining that he doesn't know how much more he can take, Harold gets attacked by a raccoon that snuck into the car.
49	* Subverted in ''Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation'': "Worse? How could it get any worse? Take a look around you, Ellen, we're at the threshold of Hell!" Things do actually start to get better at that point, and ultimately Clark Griswold gets his one true happy ending of the whole series.
50	* ''Film/LookWhosTalking'', with the mother complaining about the chores of motherhood, and then being visited by her mother.
51	* Played with in ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'', when a Jewish Official is about to have a man named Matthias stoned to death for saying "Jehovah" (saying the name of God was a blasphemy).
52	-->'''Matthias:''' Look, I don't think it should be a sin, just for saying "Jehovah".\
53	'''[Everyone gasps]'''\
54	'''Jewish Official:''' You're only making it worse for yourself!\
55	'''Matthias:''' Making it worse? How can it be worse? '''[Begins dancing]''' Jehovah! Jehovah! Jehovah!
56	* A classic version in ''Franchise/StarWars IV: Film/ANewHope'' where the heroes are in the trash compactor and Han complains about the situation. Leia retorts that it could be worse, only for all to hear a sound ominous enough for Han to go, "It's worse." Shortly afterward, Luke gets attacked by a dionaga. And then [[TheWallsAreClosingIn the walls start closing in]].
57	* ''Film/VeryBadThings'' is practically an endless string of consecutive rock bottoms.
58	* ''Film/{{Bridesmaids}}'' has a few moments like this.
59	-->'''Annie:''' Remember when you though I hit bottom? That wasn't bottom!
60	* ''Film/TheWizardOfSpeedAndTime'' has some fun with this trope in a sequence where the main character is attempting to film a stop-motion animation sequence in his garage. With wind. And bats. And a monsoon. And an earthquake. Eventually the main character says "or it could be quiet..." at which point the earthquake, monsoon and wind all stop (presumably the bats leave, too, but they're inside by this point).
61	* The classic example in Creator/MelBrooks' ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'', where Frederick Frankenstein and Igor are digging up a grave on a [[GraveClouds gloomy evening]], leading to:
62	-->'''Frederick:''' What a filthy job!\
63	'''Igor:''' Could be worse.\
64	'''Frederick:''' ''How?''\
65	'''Igor:''' Could be raining.\
66	''[[[DramaticThunder Thunderclap]], [[ThunderEqualsDownpour followed immediately]] by [[CueTheRain torrential rain]]]''
67	* ''Film/{{DEBS}}'' When Janet, Max, and Dominique are trapped in the bank vault, Janet says "This could not get any worse!". Cue [[SpikesOfDoom spikes]] extending from the ceiling and the [[DescendingCeiling ceiling starting to lower]] toward our heroines.
68	* Played absolutely dead straight in the movie of ''Film/{{The Borrowers\|1997}}''.
69	-->'''Borrower Father''': Things can't get much worse.\
70	[Door clicks as humans return home]\
71	'''Father''': They just got worse.
72	* Repeatedly used in a particularly dark fashion in ''Film/SchindlersList''. As the persecuted Jews are forced to live under increasingly more inhuman and nightmarish conditions by the Nazis, they try to cheer themselves up because their situation couldn't get even ''worse'' than it already is. That is before they discover what the Holocaust [[FinalSolution entailed]].
73	* ''Film/Deadpool2'': Wade Wilson makes a speech about how every film has one of these moments. He includes ''Film/CoolRunnings'' as an example when Creator/JohnCandy's bobsled breaks, or in ''Film/TheHumanCentipede'' when [[TakeThat everyone signed on to be in that movie]]. But in his film, it's when he's defeated by Cable and is drowning under thin ice.
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Literature]]
77	* Subverted in ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'', when Vimes remarks this, and his wife answers, "Oh, it would be worse if there were snakes here." The subversion here is, [[spoiler:nothing happens]].
78	* Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' contains this phrase:
79	-->Then many voices were lifted in lamentation; and it seemed to those that mourned that they had drained to the dregs the cup of woe that Melkor had filled for them. But it was not so.
80	* Arthur Dent pre-empts it in ''Literature/AndAnotherThing...''; as [[LotusEaterMachine his perfect life proves to be an illusion]], just ''imagining'' Ford saying things could be worse is enough for him to predict "Things ''will'' be worse". He's right.
81	* ''Literature/SadCypress'': Peter Lord asks Literature/HerculePoirot to investigate a case against Elinor Carlisle (the girl he's in love with. Possible double murderess.) "Investigate" is [[Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents a word which here means]] that he wants Poirot to [[ClearTheirName help acquit her]]. Poirot tells him that he intends to reveal any evidence he finds, even if it makes Elinor's case worse, whereupon Lord informs him that the case against Elinor [[TemptingFate can't possibly get any worse]].
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
85	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
86	-->'''Dawn''': Things can't get any worse, right?\
87	(an arrow embeds itself in the wall next to her)\
88	'''Buffy''': You know this is your fault for saying that, right?
89	** Also, "Innocence":
90	--> '''Cordelia:''' This is great. There's an unkillable demon in town, Angel's [[FaceHeelTurn joined his team]], the Slayer is a [[HeroicBSOD basket case]]... I'd say we've hit bottom.
91	--> '''Xander:''' I have a plan.
92	--> '''Cordelia:''' Oh, no, here's a lower place.
93	* In ''Series/{{Greek}}'', after living with super-annoying by-the-book consultant Lizzie for a month, Casey comments that "We've hit rock bottom, and there's nowhere to go but up." On cue, Lizzie announces she's arranged a mixer...with the geekiest frat on campus.
94	* Early in ''Series/{{Lost}}'''s first season, Jack tells Hurley, "Things could be worse," to which Hurley replies, "How?" This is the episode in which we first learn of the Others.
95	* In ''Series/SanfordAndSon'' the pair have a disastrous camping trip and Lamont notes that it could be worse. When his father asks how, Lamont notes "It could snow." Sure enough, it instantly starts snowing right there and then.
96	* While it's not actually said in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', the boys (Sam, specifically) get a hold of a cursed rabbit's foot. As long as it's in Sam's possession, it'll give them good luck. If Sam loses it, he'll be dead in a week. Within a minute of losing the foot, Sam spills hot coffee in his lap, knocks over a waiter, and slips on the pavement. Prompting Dean to ask "I wonder how bad (this luck is going to get)." Elsewhere, a couple of hunters find Sam's picture on that restaurant's website, starting their hunt for poor Sam. Even though "It can't get worse," the thought is definitely there.
97	* Played straight in ''Series/The10thKingdom'': Virginia despondently sits down on a set of steps in Kissing Town after [[spoiler:she finds out Wolf spent all the money he'd won at gambling on dinner instead of buying the Traveling mirror, and subsequently walks out on him, thinking he's a selfish bastard who doesn't really love her.]] She decides, and says aloud that at least things can't get any worse. At exactly that moment, her father Tony, climbing around on the roof, loses his hold on [[spoiler:the Traveling mirror, and it falls off to smash into a thousand pieces at Virginia's feet.]] The fact that this [[spoiler:gives Tony seven years' bad luck]] ''really'' shows she [[TemptingFate shouldn't have said that.]]
98	* ''Series/ThatsSoRaven'': Raven got stuck in a limo's moon roof when going to prom. Then it started raining on her. "Well at least it can't get any worse"...cue the gale force winds.
99	* Parodied in one episode of ''Series/TheLegendOfDickAndDom''. After the group fall into a PitTrap, one of the companions remarks that it couldn't ''possibly'' get any worse... at which point a passing bird craps on them. She then says it ''again''... CueTheRain. She's [[TooDumbToLive about to say it]] [[RuleOfThree a third time]] when an irate Dick clamps his hand over her mouth.
100	* {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d in ''Series/StargateSG1'':
101	-->'''Vala:''' We're already trapped in here, how much worse could it get?!\
102	''(the ceiling begins to drop)''\
103	'''Daniel:''' How about that much?\
104	'''Vala:''' I knew it was a mistake the moment I said it. The ''moment''.
105	* Occurs on ''Series/TheWire''. Most prominently at the end of season 4 when [[spoiler: Bubbles accidentally kills Sherrod, leading him to finally enter rehab and get sober.]] Also at the end of season 5, [=McNulty=] seems to realize just how much he's screwed up and how much it is costing those around him. It's strongly suggested that he'll finally clean up his act.
106	* Crichton has one of these in the ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' episode "Natural Election". The crew has found a way to kill the space plant that is trying to digest Moya; Aeryn and John are tasked with taking care of it.
107	-->'''Aeryn''': You know we don't have a contingency.\
108	'''John''': Eh this'll work. Unless that plant can mutate in 5 minutes - what could go wrong? Damn - I did not just say that...
109	** To be fair, the plant didn't actually mutate, but it did break an important part of the ship and destroy the chemical they were supposed to be using to get rid of it. Oops.
110	* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Cold War", the Doctor says "How could it be any worse?" regarding a MonsterOfTheWeek being loose on a submarine armed with nuclear weapons. Then the submarine, currently perched on a ledge because it can't ascend, starts to slide off (risking a ''literal'' RockBottom).
111	--> '''The Doctor:''' Spoke too soon.
112	* A RunningGag in ''Series/TopGear'' challenges is for Jeremy to show or explain his current plight. He then deadpans "Still, could be worse", at which point the show cuts to a presenter whose situation is indeed much worse.
113	* In one episode of ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'', John Oliver urges the audience to look high in the air above the clouds, then explains [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-OUxRQKByg THAT'S Rock Bottom]].
114	* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': Casually averted in "The Gauntlet": the GirlOfTheWeek proclaims that nothing more could go wrong, [=MacGyver=] admits she's probably right, and the scene ends without anything happening to either of them.
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Music]]
118	* [[Music/TheBeatles I'd like to admit/ It's getting better/ It's getting better, all the time/]] (Can't get no worse)
119	* I've seen better days/Then the bottom drops out
120	* [[Music/InsaneClownPosse I hit rock bottom/Then I fell in a hole/Then I fell through the floor of that hole some more]]
121	* UFO's aptly named song "Rock Bottom".
122	* Just when you think you're as low as you can get, someone hands you a shovel.
123	* Inverted with the Music/WynonnaJudd song "Rock Bottom", in which she asserts that "when you get down to nothing, you've got nothing to lose" and "there are two ways to go, straight up or sideways".
124	* The Music/{{KISS}} song "Rock Bottom" from ''Music/DressedToKill''.
125	* Music/{{Eminem}}'s "Rock Bottom" from ''Music/TheSlimShadyLP''. He wrote it at the lowest, poorest point of his life, and essentially made it to show how crummy his life was from his poverty (made worse by the fact that he had to raise Hailie alongside all this).
126	-->''That's rock bottom, when this life makes you mad enough to kill\
127	That's rock bottom, when you want something bad enough to steal\
128	That's rock bottom, when you feel like you've had it up to here\
129	'Cause you mad enough to scream but you're sad enough to tear''
130	[[/folder]]
131
132	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
133	* The TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} book ''Apocalypse Reloaded'' relates an instance of this, with appropriately 40K results:
134	-->"Just as Sergeant Pravnaski swore that things couldn't get any worse, the wailing skies split apart and the four Daemon-engines descended on us. Commissar Bone executed the next man to make a flippant remark." - Guardsman Chjeski
135	[[/folder]]
136
137	[[folder:Theater]]
138	* Shakespeare's ''Theatre/KingLear'' plays this straight. Edgar is betrayed and slandered by his half-brother and disowned by his father. He's now a starving beggar. He consoles himself with the thought that now the worst has happened to him, and he doesn't have anything more to be afraid of. Immediately his blinded father is led onstage.
139	-->"O gods! Who is't can say 'I am at the worst'? I am worse than e'er I was. ...And worse I may be yet: the worst is not so long as we can say 'This is the worst.'"
140	* The obscure musical ''Fade Out Fade In'' has the song "You Mustn't Feel Discouraged," which ''[[LyricalDissonance sounds]]'' congenially cheerful, especially when it accompanies a playful tap-dance routine, but here's how the lyrics go:
141	-->"When you think you've hit the bottom,\
142	And you're feeling mighty low,\
143	You mustn't feel discouraged--\
144	There's always one step further down you can go."
145	** A video of it can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxa4e-P5g5s here]]
146	[[/folder]]
147
148	[[folder:Video Games]]
149	* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' gives us the backstory of one Joe Darke, an executed multiple murderer whose interrogation is at the heart of the first game's fifth case. Apparently, he hit someone with his car. Panicking, he tried to hide the body, only to be encountered by a jogger. He killed the jogger to conceal his vehicular homicide, only to be encountered by a ''second'' witness. He killed that one, too, only to be encountered by a ''third'' witness while hiding the first three bodies! After all this, after being arrested for the four murders, [[spoiler:he gets framed for a '''''fifth''''' murder!]]
150	* In ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock\|1}}'', one of Peach Wilkins' [[ApocalypticLog audio diaries]] mentions Fontaine's offer to his fishermen to go into the contraband business. His exact words: "Hey, it's not like things could get much worse!" As you are already aware from the last diary of his that you picked up, they did. And as you are already aware from... ''the game itself'' ... [[{{Dystopia}} they got even worse still]].
151	* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' with Kasumi.
152	-->'''Kasumi''': Trapped inside a Reaper. Could be worse. Don't know how, but... I guess it could be full of rats.
153	* Invoked in ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'''s prologue mission. Ryder's ark, the ''Hyperion'', collides with a mysterious space phenomenon and suffers heavy damage minutes after arriving in the Heleus Cluster. The human Golden World, Habitat 7, turns out to have deteriorated into a DeathWorld in the centuries the arks were travelling through deep space. Last but not least, Ryder's very first contact with intelligent alien life on the planet ends in a deadly firefight that ultimately claims the life of mankind's Pathfinder, who's also Ryder's father. When your squadmate Liam quips at this point that it could've been worse, Ryder snaps, tears him a new one and growls that their current predicament better be rock bottom. The game then goes into an escalating spiral of follow-up problems that take pretty much the entire plot to [[EarnYourHappyEnding get even remotely back on track]].
154	* In ''Cartographer'' after a reporter says that his stay at the inn Reuben runs gave him lots of great material for his article "Why Use Inns When You Have Potions?" Reuben comments to his staff that things couldn't get any worse. Then a messenger hands him a letter stating that his father just died.
155	* In ''VideoGame/{{Kenshi}}'', the hardest starting scenario is "Rock Bottom".
156	-->''You've hit absolute rock bottom. You are alone, unarmed, naked and hungry, lost in the middle of a harsh desert teeming with slavers, and you just lost an arm. Good luck.''
157	[[/folder]]
158
159	[[folder:Webcomics]]
160	* This is a RunningGag in ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge''. George even went so far as stop himself and shout "I didn't say it! It doesn't count if I didn't say it!" For the record, [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/050714 it counted]].
161	* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': Gilgamesh Wulfenbach does it ''in retrospect'' [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030711 here]].
162	** But falls for it [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040305 here]].
163	** In one of the ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' 'radio plays', ''The Sleepy Clank'', Agatha finds that they have just led the murderous clank (robot) to the just arrived gathering of the town.
164	--->'''Agatha:''' This can't get any worse... Mr. Mayor, let me explain.\
165	'''Mayor:''' There's no need! Obviously you interlopers have discovered our true nature! Lizardmen Remove Your Disquises and Slay the Mammals!\
166	'''Agatha''' <long delay> ...um... yeah... Weirder maybe.
167	* Directly quoted and lampshaded in ''Webcomic/AnsemRetort''. After hearing that Aerith and Namine are being attacked by a werepire and Axel isn't helping, Zexion says "well, at least it can't get any worse". Immediately more werepires show up and Namine yells "Oh, you dickhead!".
168	* Annabel in ''Webcomic/YetAnotherFantasyGamerComic'' after Glon [[http://yafgc.net/comic/0332-glon-the-opportunist/ abducted]] her as a vengeance for mocking him before he became important.
169	-->'''[[http://yafgc.net/comic/0335-out-of-the-pan-into-the-drow/ Annabel]]:''' (''running away'') What could possibly be worse than being held prisoner by an orc? (''collides with one very unamused drow'')
170	* {{Inverted}} In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' when Zoë first encounters [[KillerRabbit Bun-bun]]:
171	--> '''Zoe:''' Ah, I guess things could be worse... Aw, what a cute bunny!\
172	'''Bun-bun:''' You are in my spot, toots. I'm going to have to hurt you on principle.
173	* {{Inverted}} in ''Webcomic/GrrlPower'' when, after some unexpected good fortune, Sydney works the system by [[http://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1836 loudly proclaiming]] "At least things can't get any '''better'''!" [[spoiler: They do.]]
174	[[/folder]]
175
176	[[folder:Web Original]]
177	* In ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'', Vegeta got his ass kicked by the heroes, he failed to get the Dragon Balls, and lost his tail, but said that it couldn't get any worse than that. [[spoiler: Then he discovers that Nappa's ghost is haunting him.]]
178	* Used in WebVideo/HumanCentipedeTheMusical.
179	-->'''Jenny:''' What are we gonna do? We blew a tire, and we don’t know where we are! This literally could not be any worse!\
180	'''Narrator:''' Or could it!?
181	* In ''WebAnimation/{{Arfenhouse}} teh Movie: 2'', [[OnlySaneMan Joe]] gets roped into a game of ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'' involving corporate logos, and complains "Things can't possibly get any worse!" He is then blown up by [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext a thermonuclear bleach bottle]].
182	* In ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'', Linkara had just finished reviewing ''Comicbook/JusticeLeagueCryForJustice'' (a comic that got him to show [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness genuine]] [[TranquilFury hatred]] instead of his usual ComicalOverreacting), and when he asked how things could get worse, he ended up on the receiving end of a CurbStompBattle at the hands of Lord Vyce. While Linkara survived the fight, the next episode showed [[HeroicBSOD how utterly broken he felt from the experience]].
183	* ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'': The Emperor finds out he had biological children - who were then kidnapped from their temples and mass-executed or used in demonic ritual cults.
184	-->'''Emperor''': Well, I found the bottom after all. [[TranquilFury I think I feel a tingle]].
185	-->Five warp hurricanes materialize right above Terra
186	* ''WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}''
187	** In one showing a kid who wanted all of his [[IKnowKungFaux "fighting moves"]] to be used for MUGEN, LetsPlay/{{Slowbeef}} comments that it couldn't get any worse... just before he shows [[DancingTheme off]] [[Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya his]] Super Attack.
188	** This tends to happen whenever Slowbeef says "[[TemptingFate how could this get any worse]]" and variants...[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=27VeT3dVQE8#t=348s with one notable exception]].
189	[[/folder]]
190
191	[[folder:Western Animation]]
192	* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' episode 2-4:
193	-->'''Archer''': Well, that's just great! She gets dinner and Dixieland and laid and I get mosquitoes and ''no beer'' and...not laid. How could this get any w - ''(an injured, pissed off alligator emerges from the water, growling)'' LET ME FINISH! ...worse. ''(to the gator)'' Okay, now, see? You ruined it. You ruined the moment.
194	* Subverted in the forty-first episode of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The group is on the losing side of a fierce naval battle. When Sokka exclaims things couldn't get much worse, a giant sea serpent promptly pops out right behind him.
195	-->'''Sokka''': The universe just ''loves'' [[ButtMonkey proving me wrong]], doesn't it?\
196	'''[[DeadpanSnarker Toph]]''': You make it too easy.\
197	''(The serpent is then hit by enemy fire and begins to attack them instead.)''\
198	'''Sokka''': Thank you, the universe!
199	* The ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh'' election episode had a subversion and LampshadeHanging. The Gandhi clone says, "At least things can't get any worse." Abe replies, "How many times have I told you not to say that? Now something worse is going to happen. I've seen it on ''Series/HappyDays''. 3, 2, 1..." Cleopatra (who Abe has a crush on) comes in to say that she wants to spend time alone with [=JFK=]. Gandhi then says "Things can't get any '''better'''." Abe says "It doesn't work that way," and leaves. A butterfly flies by Gandhi and gives him a dollar.
200	* {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d [[spoiler:and subverted]] in ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'', "The Incredibly Stupid Swamp Monster": Orson, Booker, and Sheldon run into the weasel, who ties them to a tree and leaves them for the barnyard to nab the chickens. Orson delivers the "Things can't possibly..." version, but Sheldon tells him not to say that, because when people say things like that in cartoon shows, things always get worse. Orson compounds the error by delivering the "How could...?" variation, and Sheldon points in the direction of some rumbling. Cue the titular Incredibly Stupid Swamp Monster (really a robot that keeps spouting random incorrect phrases and which has been covered in swamp stuff from submerging itself in it). [[spoiler:This turns out to be a good thing, however, as the monster undoes the rope (to play jump rope) and stops the weasel (in a scene reminiscent of WesternAnimation/BugsBunny's [[AndCallHimGeorge Abominable Snowman]]).]]
201	* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', "The Baseball", Arnold and Gerald complain about bad seating at a baseball game, and then a section of roof suddenly falls onto the two.
202	* {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d, in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?" After a run of bad luck, Homer laments to Lenny and Carl that "my life just can't get any worse". All three look around expectantly, then when nothing happens Homer says with more emphasis, "That's right, there's no way my life could ''possibly'' get ''any worse.''" Immediately after that, Smithers comes on the PA and orders Homer to report to Mr. Burns's office.
203	** Parodied and subverted in "No Loan Again, Naturally". Marge is crying after landlord Ned Flanders has evicted the family from their home.
204	-->'''Homer:''' Don't be upset, Marge. At least it's not raining! (after a pause...nothing happens) [[{{Beat}} See?]] Told you it could be worse.
205	* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' (called, oddly enough, "Rock Bottom") had a plot based on this. After taking the wrong bus, Spongebob gets stranded in a town called Rock Bottom in a deep sea trench, and has a few moments like this as he struggles to get home.
206	** In the episode "Pizza Delivery", Squidward and [=SpongeBob=] run out of gas miles from home. Squidward actually says "How could it get any worse" and kicks the car. The car then starts up again and drives off, leaving them stranded.
207	* ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'', "King Mario of Cramalot", Mario and friends are thrown into a dungeon. Mario tells Luigi that things could be worse. Luigi asks him how, and Mario tells him that the ceiling could flatten them like a pizza. Right on cue, [[DescendingCeiling the ceiling starts descending on them]]. Mario, undaunted, says that water could flood the room until they drown like rats. [[RiseToTheChallenge You know what happens next.]] Mario, still keeping his cool, says he could think of other things that could be worse, but Luigi promptly shuts him up.
208	* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', Robin and the team are TrappedInTVLand, has continually failed to catch the criminal (who's suddenly virtually omnipotent), is soaked in swamp water, and convinced things can't get worse. Thank you, now TV literally rots the [[BreakingTheFourthWall viewers']] brains!
209	* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Brian Writes a Bestseller", Stewie is stuck without a ride and without cab fare. He says, "well, at least it's not raining." Promptly subverted when a man jumps into the shot, stabs him, and leaves without even attempting to rob him.
210	** Double subverted when it rains anyway.
211	* Happens all the time in the original ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles\|1987}}'' series and always leads to YouJustHadToSayIt.
212	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''
213	** In "Owl's Well That Ends Well" after [[spoiler:Spike ran away from home. It gets [[HopeSpot a little better]] when Spike finds a warm cave full of gems, but it gets worse AGAIN when said cave turns out to be owned by a grown dragon; one who doesn't exactly go easy on trespassers.]]
214	** "Best Night Ever" provides another example, from when Twilight Sparkle and Celestia walked into the big room in the grand galloping gala, finding a huge mess with the debris from several shattered pillars scattered all over the floor. Twilight said "at least it can't get any worse"; [[spoiler:cue Fluttershy barging in, and screaming [[MemeticMutation "YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE ME"]] at the animals that were running away from her.]]
215	** "Appleoosa's Most Wanted" has the Cutie Mark Crusaders get lost in a forest during a rainstorm. Right after Apple Bloom says "How could this get any worse?" the Crusaders fall off of a cliff into a river.
216	** After nine seasons of various characters making such claims, [[RealityWarper Discord]] drops this little lampshade.
217	-->'''Discord:''' As the [[MadGod Lord of Chaos]], I'd advise against saying things like that.
218	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' episode "The Halloween Door," after the Containment Unit explodes:
219	-->'''Winston:''' Oh man!\
220	'''Ray:''' Hey, could be worse.\
221	''(Ecto-1 falls apart thanks to some ghostly tricksters)''
222	-->'''Ray:''' Okay, so the Firehouse is gone, Ecto-1's been destroyed, we're out of ghost traps, and we've only got another ten minutes of power left in our packs. Egon, you got a plan?\
223	'''Egon:''' Not a one.
224	* In a ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode, Pacifica hires Dipper to exorcise a ghost. When Dipper's bottle of anointed water breaks out of nowhere and taxidermy animal heads start chanting, Dipper assures a terrorized Pacifica: "Don't worry. It can't get worse than this!". Then the ghost appears with an ax and start hunting them.
225	* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' episode "Rock Bottom" has Megatron list off all of Starscream's [[ReasonYouSuckSpeech failed schemes]] across season 1 and announce that he's going to execute him because Starscream can't possibly fall any lower. Season 2 would actually prove him wrong on [[HumiliationConga that account]].
226	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' has a variation on this trope when the kids [[ItMakesSenseInContext end up in prison on an alien planet after switching brains with a gang of extraterrestrial convicts]]:
227	-->'''Isabella:''' "Look on the bright side!" (beat) "I got nothing."
228	[[/folder]]
229
230	[[folder:Real Life]]
231	* [[https://www.allaboutsikhs.com/historical-events/historical-sikh-events-sikhs-in-world-war-ii This page]] recounts a RealLife example of this trope occurring to General Viscount William Slim during the Burmese Campaign in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII:
232	--> "[General Slim] tells another story. One day he entered a jungle glade in a tank. In front of him stood a group of soldiers, in their midst the eternal Tommy. Assuming an optimism which he did not feel, Slim jumped out of the tank and approached them. "Gentlemen!" he said (which is the nice way that British generals sometimes address their troops) "Things might be worse!"
233	-->"‘Ow could they be worse?" inquired the Tommy.
234	-->"Well, it could rain" said Slim, lightly. He adds "[[CueTheRain And within quarter of an hour it did]]."
235	* Supposedly, one military performance report stated the following about a particularly lackluster troop:
236	-->"Since my last report he has reached rock bottom, [[FromBadToWorse and has started to dig.]]"
237	[[/folder]]

Context Main / RockBottom