One of the funniest improvised gags in ‘Elf’ almost didn’t make the final

Elf is a modern Christmas classic, but one of its most head-scratching yet hilarious moments almost ended up on the cutting room floor.

The contribution comes in the mailroom, where the elf Buddy (Will Ferrell) is sent by his father, Walter (James Caan), to prevent him from making more of a mess in his office. While working there, Buddy meets a grizzled man credited only as “Mailroom Guy”. The two hit it off, drinking “syrup” (it’s actually whiskey) in the coffee and dancing drunk on top of the mail sorting table. But the role was originally intended as a one-string part.

“I called my agent and he said, ‘Listen, they want you to come and do a line with Will Ferrell. Do you want to do it?'” Mark Acheson, who plays Mailroom Guy, told PEOPLE. “And I said, yes, I’d be happy to. All I had to do was say ‘work release,’ and that was the end of it.”

Instead, the job turned into what Acheson called ” “the strangest day I could possibly imagine.” Director Jon Favreau decided to have Acheson and Ferrell improvise on the day, and it became one of the film’s most memorable scenes. But There is one line that has recently taken the internet by storm.

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Buddy and his new friend were lying on top of mail room cars, drunk and exchanging banter – all improvised. Acheson’s character tells Buddy that he is 26 years old and has “nothing to show for it.” Buddy replies, “You’re young, you’re so young.”

The joke, of course, is that Acheson, now 67, is clearly not 26. “The producers wanted to remove the whole scene because of that,” Acheson revealed. “I’m thinking, ‘Who would believe this guy is 26?’ I mean, seriously, I think I was 46 at the time and an older 46 because I never looked younger in my life.

But Favreau pushed back against cutting it. “Jon Favreau fought for it,” Acheson added. “He said, ‘That’s the joke, that’s the fun part, right?'” he continues. “He kept me in but they, they didn’t want me but he did and thank God for me because it changed my career quite a bit.”

The line continues to delight fans and the joke is becoming something of a meme especially this year. “The funniest thing about Elf was the ’26-year-old’ ‘postman guy’,” wrote a user on social media.

“Now I relate more than ever to the elven postman who is inexplicably 26 years old,” wrote anotherwhile said another“I can believe in an elf from the North Pole. But I sure as hell don’t believe the guy on the left is 26. One of the biggest lies in movie history.”

Elf is available for streaming on Hulu and Max, as well as Disney+ and Amazon Prime for premium subscribers.