John Clarke

John Clarke was a New Zealand-born comedian, writer and satirist who moved to Australia in 1977. Born in Palmerston North, he first became known in the mid to late 1970s for his laconic farmer character Fred Dagg, whom he played on stage, film and television and recorded as albums and books. In 1984 he was part of the ABC television series The Gillies Report, contributing reports on the fictional sport farnarkeling. His film work included co-writing the Paul Cox film Lonely Hearts, which earned him an AFI nomination in 1982, voicing Wal Footrot in Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale (1986), and appearing in Death in Brunswick (1991) and Crackerjack (2002). With Bryan Dawe he performed weekly satirical mock interviews from 1989 until his death in 2017, a format that ran on A Current Affair, The 7.30 Report and later Clarke and Dawe. He received the Byron Kennedy Award in 2004 and entered the Logies Hall of Fame in 2008.