ONE man's Chaplin-esque slip-up on an icy Dublin footpath, which featured on an Irish news bulletin, is nearing a million hits on YouTube.
The RTE News clip which shows the mystery man's fall has been watched more than 850,000 times on YouTube and attracted more than 2750 comments.
The story was an update about the supply of salt to keep icy roads open in Dublin during the recent cold snap.
The voiceover plays it straight as the man marches confidently down the street before falling spectacularly on the slippery footpath.
Later news bulletins had to assure viewers that the man had escaped uninjured after many worried callers contacted the station.
"Seriously this is the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages," said one of the thousands of comments left on Youtube.
"I’ve seen this 200 times and I can't stop laughing," said another. "Ouch! I don't normally laugh at this kind of stuff. but that looked SO painful."
The video has already spawned at least one parody.
