Was That Viral ‘Seagulls On A Train’ Story Ripped From “Hey Hey It’s Saturday”?

This week, you probably saw “the true crime story of the decade” pop up on your Facebook feed.

Prepare to question everything you thought you knew.

Aussie comedian Chris Harrigan went viral after relating a story supposedly told to him by a friend, in which a Frankston man pranked commuters by throwing fish and chips into a train carriage, where they were followed by 15 to 20 hungry seagulls.

Mashable Australia, getting rumblings from social media that this story was actually an old joke, got right on the case, Spotlight-style.

After hearing that comedian Maurie Fields performed the “#Frankston #seagull” bit on old bastion of Australian television Hey Hey It’s Saturday, Mashable contacted Maurie’s son Marty for confirmation.

Turns out, Marty attributed the joke to his pop, “Circa 1989.” He even included the tag that had been left off Harrigan’s post:

"It used to end, '...and the train took off with the birds inside. Then the bloke pulled out another pack of fish 'n chips and started eating,” Marty explained.

“[Maurie would close] 'Lucky they were only after my wife's dinner'."

After being sought for comment by Mashable, Harrigan insisted that he hadn’t taken the bit from Hey Hey.

His “friend (of a friend)” even phoned Triple J to confirm their eye-witness account.

Harrigan doesn’t seem too fussed by the joke-stealing allegation; he has bigger fish to fry. (Pun!)

"I suppose the main thing I want to do is clear my name. Never in my 30 years have I been accused of watching Hey Hey It's Saturday. Understandably, I take such slanderous allegations very seriously," he told Mashable.

There’s a chance that this is all just an innocent mix-up. Maybe the friend saw the bit twenty-seven years ago on television and became convinced they’d witnessed it themselves. (False memories are a real science thing.) Then, they told the story to a delighted Harrigan.

Or, perhaps the Frankston prankster had seen the original bit, and decided to bring it to life for 21st century train-goers.

One thing is for certain: This is the most anyone has talked about Hey Hey It’s Saturday in some time.