Nationwide Skits - Fred Dagg and Company

John Clarke introduced Kiwi audiences to farmer Fred Dagg in 1973 on current affairs show Gallery. Dagg continued making comical appearances on replacement programme Nationwide. The monologues and interviews with reporter Ian Fraser showcase Clarke's quick-fire improv skills. Highlights of the seven sketches include the first — with Dagg as a teacher rating students on their reviews of rugby almanacs — and Fraser grilling Dagg on his suspicious sheep count. It's not all Dagg; Clarke impersonates English media star David Frost (who'd recently visited NZ) and takes a dig at Wellington's army of public servants.

We're gonna have a bit of a look today at the verb "gonna", as in "I'm gonna have a beer", "I was gonna have a beer", and of course the past particle, "I did have a beer, and I fair ripped into it"...

– Fred Dagg (John Clarke) delivers a grammar lesson, in the first sketch

Key Cast & Crew

John Clarke

Writer, As: Fred Dagg, David Frost, Public Servants

Keith Aberdein

Reporter

Ian Fraser

Reporter