Billy Connolly

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Lore & Background

Clarke was born on 29 July 1948 in Palmerston North, New Zealand, the son of Ted Clarke and Neva Clarke-McKenna. He moved to Wellington and attended Scots College before studying at Victoria University of Wellington between 1967 and 1970. Clarke first became known during the mid to late 1970s for portraying a laconic farmer called Fred Dagg on stage, film and television. Gumboot and singlet-clad, Dagg had seven sons all named 'Trev'. Over forty years after its release, the first Fred Dagg album, Fred Dagg's Greatest Hits (1976), remains one of New Zealand's biggest selling records. He relocated to Australia in 1977. In 1984 Clarke was part of the Australian ABC TV series The Gillies Report, starring Max Gillies. Among the highlights of this satire were Clarke's straight-faced reports on the fictional sport of 'farnarkeling' and the exploits of Australia's farnarkeling champion, Dave Sorensen. In 1998, together with others, Clarke developed the TV series The Games, a satirical series depicting the preparations for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. In 1987 or 1989 Clarke and collaborator Bryan Dawe introduced weekly satirical mock interviews to television, and these short pieces became a regular and popular segment of the Nine Network current affairs programme A Current Affair. The pair continued to do mock interviews for A Current Affair until 1997, satirising a range of figures including Paul Keating, Alexander Downer, George Bush, and Alan Bond. After a break, the pair reappeared on ABC TV's The 7.30 Report in a similar format. In 2013 the mock interviews became an eponymous program, Clarke and Dawe, which screened on ABC TV. On 9 April 2017, Clarke died of a heart attack while on a bushwalk up Mount Abrupt in the Grampians National Park, Victoria.

Reader's Guide

Clarke's significance rests on his character Fred Dagg and his long-running mock interview partnership with Bryan Dawe. Dagg, a laconic farmer with seven sons all named 'Trev', first appeared in the mid to late 1970s. The first Fred Dagg album, Fred Dagg's Greatest Hits (1976), remains one of New Zealand's biggest selling records. Clarke relocated to Australia in 1977. In 1984 he was part of The Gillies Report, where he delivered straight-faced reports on the fictional sport of 'farnarkeling'. From 1989 (or 1987) until his death in 2017, Clarke and Dawe produced weekly satirical mock interviews, first on A Current Affair (until 1997), then on The 7.30 Report, and finally as the eponymous Clarke and Dawe from 2013. In these segments, Dawe acted as interviewer while Clarke assumed the persona of a politician or other figure who typically tries to avoid answering questions. Clarke never attempted to directly mimic the voice, manner or appearance of his subject. The pair satirised figures including Paul Keating, Alexander Downer, George Bush, and Alan Bond. Clarke also co-wrote the mini-series Anzacs, provided the voice of Wal Footrot in Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale (1986), and co-wrote and starred in The Games (1998). He was inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame in 2008. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2017 his posthumous album, Clarke's Classics, won the award for Best Comedy Release.

Did You Know?

• Clarke's first film appearance was as an extra in The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972).
• The first Fred Dagg album, Fred Dagg's Greatest Hits (1976), remains one of New Zealand's biggest selling records over forty years after its release.
• Clarke was nominated for an AFI award in 1982 for co-writing the film Lonely Hearts.
• He was inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame in 2008, with the Logie presented by long-time collaborator Bryan Dawe.
• Clarke died of a heart attack on 9 April 2017 while on a bushwalk up Mount Abrupt in the Grampians National Park, Victoria.