There's no shortage of viral videos that have emerged from Australia, from Corey Worthington's infamous post-Project X style party interview to the Barking Man who recreated the sound of a ravenous dog. But few match the hilarity or strangeness of the 'Democracy Manifest' video.
If you're unfamiliar with the clip, it involves a man being dragged out of a Sydney restaurant around 30 years ago in front of a bevy of news crews. The bloke clearly didn't want to be taken away by the cops and started yelling to whoever would listen.
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With a theatrical voice that could make Shakespeare quake, the man bellowed: "Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest!"
He followed it up with some now-iconic lines like 'Get your hands off my penis', 'What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal', 'Ah yes, I see that you know your judo well and 'Ta-ta, and farewell'.
But if you've ever wanted to know what was going on inside the mind of the man being led away in cuffs, you're in luck. Jack was kind enough to chat to LADbible about what happened that day and says he honestly had no idea what was happening.
There have been loads of rumours about who he is: one theory suggested he was an Hungarian chess player called Paul Charles Dozsa, who was notorious for dining and dashing. Dozsa died in 2003, however it didn't stop people believing the Democracy Manifest man lived on.
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The bloke's name is actually Jack Karlson.
The 78-year-old, who now lives in regional Queensland, told us that it was a simple case of mistaken identity.
"They thought I was some international criminal, a Hungarian who used to rob restaurants," he said. "They thought I was him... which I'm obviously not.
"They ran in and arrested me and that's what you saw on the video. I knew the cops hated me so I thought they might have tried to grab me for something I did not do."
Most people would just wait until the authorities realised they had the wrong person, however, after years of bad interactions with police, Jack had a somewhat unorthodox solution.
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He explained: "I tried to pretend to be a lunatic to get to a lunatic asylum because often in the past, back in those days I was a bit wild, and I thought maybe I just carry on the way I carry on and they might send me to a lunatic asylum.
"They're easy to escape from...I've done it a couple of times before.
"They dragged me out of the restaurant and I just carried on. They were trying to put handcuffs on me, pulling my arm behind my back, I just thought I would say something that would distract them."
Eventually, Jack was let go and he went back to living his life.
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Until about five years ago, he had no idea that people across the country love quoting that infamous video whenever they get a chance.
It wasn't until a stranger ran into Jack and told him about his fame that he realised he had gone viral.
Jack told us: "Someone said, 'Hey look, you're on that internet thing,' and I didn't realise I was on it."
It's incredible to think that someone wouldn't be aware that they were a part of Australian meme culture.
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He's teased that he has a few projects on the horizon, so stay tuned to LADbible Australia and all will be revealed soon.
Featured Image Credit: SuppliedTopics: Viral, Celebrity, News, Australia