A CBBC dog saying 'normal men, innocent men' has become the internet's new favourite meme

World class memes can come at you from anywhere, at any time.

You could just be scrolling innocently through Twitter and then boom – you’re laughing to yourself awkwardly on the bus and sharing it in the groupchat as fast as your thumbs will allow you.

One of the best to emerge this year came from the most unlikely of sources, with a dog from a CBBC kids show taking over the internet with a hilarious moment from way back in 2016.

Let us explain. CBBC's Hacker T Dog has gone viral over recent days after a clip of the puppet making his co-host Lauren Layfield laugh on air resurfaced.

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While there’s little context behind it (and that’s what makes it all the more intriguing), the puppet dog says “we’re just normal men… innocent men”.

Yes, it makes no sense, but the clip has so much going for it.

There’s the strangely melodramatic quote in the middle of an innocuous kids show, the music that kicks in when the two are laughing and Hacker’s facial expressions as Layfield struggles to hold it together beside him.

We know it’s excellent, even though we can’t really explain why, and the ‘normal men… innocent men’ line has become one of the most-shared memes out there.

Hacker himself shared the clip on twitter after it went viral, while Layfiend also got nostalgic by saying “that snort is when my career peaked guys”.

The internet has had a field day with it, too.

The clip starring Hacker, which is performed by puppeteer Phil Fletcher, has sparked all sorts of rumours too.

One attests to the idea that Fletcher himself was arrested during a night out in Leeds, and said these very words to a police officer.

But that’s all hogwash, as the puppeteer attested to in a clip posted to Twitter recently.

He cleared up the back story to his ‘normal men’ comment, putting to bed some rumours – and making clear there was no actual back story at all.

“There’s no underlying story, it’s just nonsense,” he said.

However it ended up happening, it’s definitely the kind of nonsense we can fully get on board with.

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