Delivery driver stripped by boom gate becomes overnight Aussie hero as he addresses viral video of wild moment

It’s not every day Australia creates a new overnight hero.

From a man mistakenly arrested outside a Chinese restaurant complimenting police for knowing their judo well and taking part in “democracy manifest”, to a man interviewed on an unnamed current affairs television show barking like a dog, Australia’s viral moments personify the chaotic larrikin spirit.

A good viral moment is a combination of the talent both thrusting themselves into the spotlight, and being placed there by something otherworldly, as if organised by what insurance companies call “an act of God”.

What seemed like the ending of an otherwise banal delivery shift for Hello Fresh courier and Sydney comedian Fadey Yousef last week soon took an unexpected turn, resulting in the country and millions online seeing him stripped bare in public.

Yousef was exiting the carpark of a business in Barangaroo in central Sydney when faced with an ominous carpark boom gate.

Thinking back to tactical sayings of survivalists and nursery rhymes from years passed, Yousef knew almost instinctively that he could not go over it, nor could he in fact go under it, but rather had to go through it.

As Yousef bent down to exit the carpark via a gap in the boom gates, things took a sudden turn as his clothing got caught on the gates on either side, with his motion triggering the gates to begin to lift.

“I thought it was a fair match,” Yousef told 7NEWS.com.au after the clash.

“It was two versus one, when you think about it.”

Yousef said of the scuffle, which soon involved into a high-level grappling exchange akin to the world class Brazilian jiu-jitsu exchanges of an Ultimate Fighting Championship title fight.

“Look, he had me in a leg lock, and then also went for my shirt,” he said.

However, much like when Conor McGregor admitted defeat and tapped to Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC 229, once the boom gate had Yousef’s back, it was all over, and Yousef’s status in the Australian lexicon next to legends like “waiting for a mate” was cemented.

“When he went for my shirt I just gave up,” Yousef said.

“I just gave up — I was like ‘are we doing the Mexican wave now?’”

Even in defeat, Yousef demonstrated cunning technique in ejecting his shirt to save face (and prevent injury).

In man vs boom gate circles, this is akin to a physical tap out in mixed martial arts.

“I was into it,” Yousef said of the fray.

“This gate was good, one of the best — German engineering, and they always win. Not World War II, but they always win.”

Standing shirtless in an otherwise busy CBD and looking up at the boom gate’s arm raised as the victor, holding Yousef’s shirt several feet above him (which is akin to a title belt in the boom gate combat community), Yousef looked down at his phone.

“I just thought I got a notification so I just checked it,” he said.

“It was actually mum texting me how much she loved me. After the video, she actually texted me saying how much she didn’t love me.”

In reality, Yousef called his boss to describe the situation he’d just been in.

Hearing what sounded like coughing on the other line, soon confirmed to be laughter, Yousef was told rather than going to get another shirt to instead take the rest of the day off.

Later that week, Yousef told the story on stage at the Beachside Comedy Club in Bondi to largely blank faces.

In a sickening twist, it almost seemed too unrealistic for audiences to believe it to be true — until footage surfaced online later that week via @TheAdelaideSet to millions of views.

Those of us old enough to remember viewed it as the spiritual successor to the “my head went that way, and my leg went that way” kid in the HBA Insurance ad of the 1990s.

We’ll keep you posted on any news of a rematch.

Fadey Yousef hosts Off The Couch comedy Tuesday nights at the Glebe Hotel.