Paul Chamberlin (3 November 1988). "Ex-Chef eats on the run again". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 23 March 2020. Leedham, Nicole (4 May 1995). "Thief served up his just deserts". The Canberra Times. p.1 . Retrieved 23 March 2020. Tan, Michael (2 December 2019). "Democracy Manifest with Symphony Orchestra" . Retrieved 23 March 2020– via YouTube. Mac Miller (30 December 2015). "Run On Sentences, Volume Two". 2:48 . Retrieved 9 April 2021– via SoundCloud. He was happy to go with us. Well, as happy as you can be, to be arrested. Until he saw all the media. And that's when he just went berserk."

Pan, Alexander (6 March 2020). "The Story Behind The 'Succulent Chinese Meal' Guy Is Weirder Than That Cop's Judo". GOAT goat.com.au . Retrieved 20 March 2020.After encouragement from Karlson, McNeil wrote a play about cellmates who brewed grog. They put it on in prison, and Karlson played a leading role. Democracy Manifest Racehorse Profile, Stats, Form Guide, News & Results | Racenet". racenet.com.au . Retrieved 17 May 2023. Percival, Tom (12 June 2016). "Story Behind The 'Democracy Manifest' Guy Is Even Funnier Than His Video". UNILAD. Archived from the original on 23 June 2022 . Retrieved 22 March 2020. The video shows an unnamed man being escorted by police out of a Chinese restaurant into a waiting police car. He is clearly agitated by this situation, and when told he is being placed under arrest he exclaims, "I am under what?" As police try to wrestle him into the car, the man says, "Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest." As the scuffle continues, he shouts, "Get your hand off my penis!" and then asks, "What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?" As the police struggle to contain the man, he states, "Ah, yes. I see that you know your judo well." He is then forced into the car, feet-first, while asking someone inside the vehicle, "And you, sir, are you waiting to receive my limp penis?", and bidding bystanders " ta ta and farewell". Roots, Chris (27 April 2023). "Succulent Chinese deal: Democracy Manifest owner wants to meet viral star". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 17 May 2023.

Neither man had set foot in a theatre, but McNeil's plays were already being performed across Australia. He felt that, with the success of his plays, he'd never need to resort to crime again. On radio and in the press, he would give didactic rants about the brutality of the justice system. Police surrounded the restaurant, corralled the waiting media (who had somehow gotten wind), and interrupted Karlson's lunch. There was no fight getting him out of the car. Nothing. It was all put on for the cameras." The drama behind the rant

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He welcomed Karlson into his cell. The two men bonded over making foul-tasting alcohol in the cell's washbasin from raisins and yeast, and shared histories. The video of the rant has become so popular that a Google search for the phrase "succulent Chinese meal" now yields 10,000 more results than "delicious Chinese meal". a b " "This is democracy manifest!" - 7NEWS meets the man behind the "succulent Chinese meal" meme". YouTube. 23 May 2021 . Retrieved 7 July 2021. Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest!" Karlson declares to the cameras as he's wrestled into the police car. Bull, Lawrence (11 February 2022). "His 'Succulent Chinese Meal' rant became a classic meme but the arrested man has a complicated past". ABC Australia . Retrieved 9 November 2022.

Newstead, Al (6 March 2020). "The Chats want you to enjoy a meal, a succulent sonic meal". ABC Australia . Retrieved 19 March 2020. The Radio National program Earshot broadcast an hour-long biographical documentary on the incident in January 2022. [21] In June 2022, academic Dean Biron, who was one of the arresting officers accused in the "Get your hands off my penis" part of the video, wrote an article about the incident. Biron gave his version of events, such as why the police were making the arrest, stating that, contrary to other reports made, it was not considered a major case. Biron said that after the arrest, the man - who had used the Edwards alias - was held in police custody and then released on bail overnight, and disappeared until his " 15 minutes of fame" in 2020, "somehow scrubbed clean of that pesky past". [3] In 2023, true crime author Mark Dapin published a biography of Karlson titled Carnage: A Succulent Chinese Meal, Mr. Rent-a-Kill and the Australian Manson Murders. He interviewed Karlson and followed leads to other crimes and criminals. [20] [22] [23] Influences [ edit ] a b c d Drevikovsky, Janek (8 March 2020). " 'This is democracy manifest': Mystery star of viral video found at last". Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 19 March 2020.Smiedt, David (9 March 2020). "Why It's Important To Keep Eating At Asian Restaurants". GQ Magazine. Newslifemedia Pty Ltd . Retrieved 19 March 2020. The raw footage was missing Reason's voice-over explaining who the man was, or what the incident was about, and internet speculation attempted to resolve the mystery. Theories about the man's identity centered on Paul Charles Dozsa, a Hungarian chess player and notorious dine and dasher, [7] [8] [9] [10] but there were also serious doubts about this theory. Observers asked why the arrest was filmed from so many angles, why it was filmed at all and why the allegedly-Hungarian man did not sound Hungarian. Friends, family and acquaintances of Dozsa also stated that the man in the video was not Dozsa. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] Other theories included that the man was politician John Bartlett, the video was a skit from an unidentified television show, or that the man was a real dine and dasher named Gregory John Ziegler. [16] Perrie, Stewart (5 March 2020). "Aussie Band The Chats Team Up With The 'Democracy Manifest' Bloke For New Music Video". LAD Bible . Retrieved 20 March 2020. Sentenced to eight years in Parramatta Gaol, Karlson was put in an unusually large cell with an inmate named Jim McNeil.

Karlson and McNeil's friendship continued outside the prison gates and they moved into a house in Richmond together. The Brisbane police who arrested him that day didn't know that Karlson had been a criminal and a serial prison escapee. He was also a part-time actor. Surrounded by police, the man is amazed at being arrested, exclaiming: "Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest!"Since being uploaded to YouTube in 2009, the video has become a viral hit in Australian culture. [5] When Australian activist Julian Assange was arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2019, comparisons were made between both respective arrests and "it didn't take long for Aussies to all make the same joke". [24]