JohnClarke
- Comedian
- Writer
- Actor
John Clarke’s brand of droll defined the high water mark of Kiwi and Australian comedy for more than 30 years. Spawned in the early 1970s, his gumboot-clad philosopher Fred Dagg marked a key moment in the development of a distinctly New Zealand style of humour. Dagg's reign as a Kiwi comedy star spanned just four years, before Clarke began anew in Australia. He passed away on 9 April 2017, at age 68.
Screenography
Biography
John Clarke was a Kiwi comedy legend. Beloved on both sides of the Tasman, he took the character of farmer Fred Dagg to stardom before relocating to Australia, and starting over as a political satirist.
When Clarke passed away on 9 April 2017, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull argued that Clarke's weekly TV sketches with Bryan Dawe were "required viewing", and kept "politicians on their toes". Kiwi comedian Jesse Griffin said that Clarke's "dry Kiwi understated humour" had influenced Flight of the Conchords, Taika Waititi, and The Front Lawn. "That celebration of the mundane, that dry observation ... he was the first to really bring that out in a performative way."
Awards
2017 Australian Film Critics Association Awards
Nominated for Best Supporting Actor: for A Month of Sundays
2013 Australian Film Institute Awards
Nominated for Best Documentary Series (with Andrea Denholm, Lavinia Riachi and Laura Waters): Sporting Nation
“I like that show of yours. And I’ll tell you what it’s like: your show is a secret between the people who are making it and the people who are watching it.”
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