Truth behind legendary 'am I your father' clip which people hail as 'best 34 seconds in television history'

We all love a good viral clip, and even more so if they're grab-your-gut hilarious.

This clip of an Irish bloke telling a story of what happened outside a nightclub when he encountered a man who looked similar to him might be one of the funniest videos on social media.

In the viral clip, he explains that he was in a town called Langan Village, where he ran into a lad that looked 'awfully similar' to him.

"I thought I was fighting in a mirror right, come outside the nightclub and I was like 'do I know you from somewhere?' and he goes 'do I know you?' do you know?" He recalled.

The bloke remembered that he had a Celtic jersey on, but 'the green and yellow one' specifically, continuing: "I was about to throw a punch, and he looked at me in the eyes and he goes 'am I your father?' and I say to him 'am I your son?' and we just hugged it out."

A truly heart-warming story that would warrant its viral status - except that's not the end of the story.

"Turns out that [there's] no relation at all, I just headbutted him and got taken away. but you know, it goes to show you, people are out there, you could know them!" He concludes.

It might just be up there with The Empire Strikes Back in the biggest plot twists in history.

But the truth behind it has been revealed, and it might ruin the clip for you forever.

As authentic as it looks and seems, it turns out that this is just a clip taken from Irish TV series Hardy Bucks, not someone's phone.

The series aired on RTE for four seasons spread across nine years, and produced this hilarious moment and several other ones in its time on screens.

A film was also made in 2012, following the characters as they go to watch Ireland at the Euros in Poland and Ukraine.

The greatest 34 seconds in television history pic.twitter.com/pSxXAK0VuV

— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) February 29, 2024

Actor Owen Calgan does a great job in portraying the character in the clip, known as Billy 'Buzz' McDonnell, best friend of main character Eddie Durkan, played by Martin Mahoney.

The series follows the group of slackers in their 20s and their on-goings while living in small-town Ireland.

Users don't seem bothered that the clip is from a TV show though, leaving their thoughts in the comments below the YouTube clip.

One user commented: "Must of [sic] seen this at least 30 times and I’m still dying," with laughing emojis.

Another said: "Still one of the funniest interviews of all time"

A third put: "Yep. Just another normal Irish conversation. Fair play."

Maybe we shouldn't let this ruin the clip for us too, it is so well done that it seems real, and you have to respect that.