John Clarke

After writing and performing in stage shows at Victoria University and at Downstage Theatre in Wellington, Palmerston North-born John Clarke shot through to London as quickly as he could. There, he fell on his feet with a small part in notorious Ocker film The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972). 

In 1973 he returned to New Zealand and began contributing Fred Dagg material for current affairs television shows.
 
He was part of the ensemble cast in late night, mixed flatting sitcom Buck House (1974) along with John Banas and Cathy Downes. It was here that Clarke’s signature line, “that’ll be the door”, was first widely heard.
 
The gumboot wearing, black singleted, and hilariously deadpan gentleman farmer, Fred Dagg was the subject of a special ‘spoof’ episode of Country Calendar (1974) which also featured Clarke’s old Downstage mate, Banas.

Fred Dagg was an instant sensation, which Clarke capitalized on in further TV and stage appearances. He produced TV specials, starred in the Clarke/Geoff Murphy directed cinema short Dagg Day Afternoon, and in 1976 toured the country. He released books and singles which became sizeable hits, notably The Gumboot Song and We Don’t Know How Lucky We Are. His Fred Dagg’s Greatest Hits album (1975) is still one of the biggest selling records of all time in NZ.
 
Frustrated by his inability to make headway against the conservative local broadcasting administration, Clarke hopped the ditch to Australia, in 1977.
 
His sly wit and skill in impersonating the pompous and powerful, made an immediate impact in satirical material he wrote and performed on Australian radio and TV. He and writer/actor Bryan Dawe have presented satirical weekly interviews on the ABC for 20 years.
 
Clarke has worked with such talented Australian filmmakers as Bruce Beresford, Paul Cox and John Ruane. He co-wrote and acted in Cox’s award-winning romance Lonely Hearts (1982), and acted in Ruane’s Death in Brunswick (1991), which features Clarke in a memorable midnight gravedigging routine with fellow Kiwi Sam Neill.
 
Not just a funny man, Clarke is as widely regarded today for his skill as a dramatist and as a writer of satire. He has worked as a writer and script editor on Australian features The Man Who Sued God (2000), Crackerjack (2002) and television dramas The Fast Lane (1986) and Anzacs (1985).
 
His most popular television achievement to date has been the satirical series, The Games, (1998 and 2000), which lampooned the Sydney Olympics Organising committee. Clarke starred in and co-wrote the show with fellow castmember Ross Stevenson. They won an AFI award in the process.
 
In 2004 Clarke established production company Huntaway Films, in partnership with Sam Neill and lawyer/producer Jay Cassells. Their productions to date include TV movies Stiff and The Brush Off, which star David Wenham as a bumbling political fixer. Both were adapted by Clarke from the novels by Shane Maloney, with Clarke taking on directing duties for the first.

Having returned to provide the voice of Fred Dagg on selected episodes of Kiwi animated hit bro'Town, Clarke has added his talents to follow-up sketch show Radiradirah, which features many of the bro'Town team.