Ta-ta and farewell! Jack Karlson, better known as Mr. Democracy Manifest dies
Jack Karlson about to be grabbed by his “manifest democracies”
News broke today that Jack Karlson, star of one the world’s most beloved cult classic Internet videos, has died at the age of 82.
Jack’s arrest, and the action, began with a defiant slam of the police car door
Jack, the central protagonist of the legendary footage of his own arrest outside a Chinese restaurant in Australia in 1991, passed away on the 7th of August, 2024 at the age of 82.
A meme before memes, Jack’s comical arrest that launched a thousand t-shirts and mugs spread virally across the Internet after Russel Furman uploaded a low-quality video capture of the event to his YouTube channel back in 2009.
A slow-burner, it eventually took off, gaining over 4 million views and thousands of comments, with many of Jack’s bassy guttural protestations throughout his ordeal becoming a part of everyday parlance.
Jack—an artist of oils, the theater and cons—tended to downplay his rogueish history of petty crime and prison time (even once escaping prison and getting shot), preferring instead to portray himself as a jovial and amiably eccentric struggling artist in interviews, striking as he did at a very late stage in life a lucrative vein based on his viral notoriety.
Jack Karlson in 2021 walking a journalist from 7 News Australia through his artwork
Image: 7News Australia
Jack’s art mainly featured figures and landscapes, but his later work, as one might have expected, featured a variety of perspectives of his 1991 arrest—reproductions of stills from the TV footage taken at the time—with some bizarre variations finding him being arrested by himself.
A “lover of the grape”, he had suffered for a long time with a range of health conditions. Karlson's niece, Kim Edwards said in a statement to SBS News that "…as a final send-off, we gave Uncle a last taste of red wine through his drip just before it was removed". Defiant to the last.
In honour of Jack’s incalculable contribution to art and the lexicon of the web, here is the full transcript of his arrest…
[Slam]
Jack: This… man, you just assured me that I could… speak!
Officer: Sit down inside the car. We’re not assuring anything. You’re under arrest.
Jack: Look, I’m under what?
Jack: Gentlemen… this is democracy, manifest.
Jack: Have a look at the headlock here. See that chap over there, he… GET YOUR HAND OFF MY PENIS!!! This is the bloke who got me on the penis, people!
Officer: Hop in the car.
Jack: Why did you do this to me?
Officer: Hop in the car.
Jack: For what reason? What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?
Jack: Oh, that’s a nice headlock sir! Ooh! Aaaah, yes. I see that you know your Judo well. Good one.
Jack: And you sir. Are you waiting to receive my limp penis? How dare… get your hands off me!
Jack: Ta-ta and farewell!
Jack: One cuff, look! They even broke the…. [fades out]