Move over, Lassie, there’s a new man’s best friend in town. Iconic actor Dick Van Dyke, was once rescued by a school of porpoises after he fell asleep on a surfboard and drifted out to sea. Really, this actually happened — we can’t make this stuff up.

The 84 year-old star of such classics as The Dick Van Dyke Show and Mary Poppins, divulged this bizarre tale while appearing on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to promote a new DVD reissue of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

The self-proclaimed former surfer said, “I went out once and fell asleep on that [surf]board… and I woke up, out of sight of land. And I look around, and I started paddling with the swells, and I start seeing fins swimming around me and I thought ‘I’m dead’!”

He then explained, “They turned out to be porpoises, they pushed me all the way to shore!” After much laughter from the audience he added, “I’m not kidding!”

Check out the clip after the jump below.