It's Seven Years Since We Were Blessed With The 'I'm Just Waiting For A Mate' Meme

One of Australia's best meme exports has celebrated a birthday - the 'I'm Just Waiting For A Mate' meme.

A man named Clinton was caught sitting in his blue car on the classic reality TV show Highway Patrol. His vehicle was parked in a very suspicious position and looked a little beaten up and police immediately suspected the bloke was very drunk.

When Senior Constable Ash Bowden asked Clinton what he was doing in his car, he had just one thing to say: "I'm just waiting for a mate."

The police officer responds with: "Is that why your car is all smashed up and you're up on the grass at the moment?"

Clinton clearly didn't realise his excuse didn't add up and just kept repeating that he was 'waiting for a mate'. Even when Senior Constable Bowden quizzed him on who his mate was, Clinton paused and then blurted out 'James'.

They had a back and forth that spanned several minutes, with Clinton refusing to hand over his driver's license or step out of the car. Incredibly, he admitted he lost his license the previous year because of drink driving.

There was a line nearly as iconic as the 'waiting for a mate' one when the police officer asks Clinton to make up his mind on whether he wants to go to a police station or not.

The man replies with: "Definitive... can you define that?"

You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried.

He was eventually convinced to go back to a police station in Victoria, where he ended up being fined $600 (£300) and sentenced to four months community service, as well as having his license disqualified for three years.

The hilarious encounter was uploaded onto the internet the day after the episode aired and a brilliant meme was born. It's morphed and transformed since that fateful day seven years ago and we couldn't be prouder if we tried.

The clip was first uploaded to YouTube in 2013 and then later shared on Reddit, where, according to Know Your Meme, where it racked up 2,400 up votes and 220 comments within three weeks. Two days later, two Facebook pages, both titled 'Just Waiting For A Mate', managed to get more than 100,000 likes.

Here's to another seven, beautiful years.

Featured Image Credit: Channel 7

Topics: Viral, News

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie