But Also John Clarke

The Canberra Times

Lorin Clarke takes us behind the deadpan satire of her father in the documentary film But Also John Clarke.

Transcript

00:00Righto, kick it in the guts, Trev.

00:02When Fred Dagg came on the radio, everybody stopped.

00:05In New Zealand, he was bigger than the Beatles.

00:08We don't know how lucky we are.

00:11The first thing Mum passed to me when I was delivered was the Fred Dagg album.

00:18This is my dad.

00:20Mr John Clark.

00:23Hi there, how are you?

00:24We always knew he was on the telly.

00:26Let's join the men who can make grown politicians weep.

00:30An absolute original.

00:32He adorned the world of television and film in books.

00:35He wrote over 20 of them.

00:36One thing he didn't do though was write the story of his own life.

00:40So I interviewed him.

00:44I'm not here. I'll ask me to ring you back later. Thank you.

00:48I held the school record of being Cain.

00:50He couldn't stand anyone telling him what to do.

00:53Going to university was the beginning of my creative life.

00:57I became aware of John and his work.

00:59And John was such a sort of larrikin at Life of the Party.

01:03Hey, is the horse crook?

01:04It's me pouring the baked beans in.

01:06Fred Dagg might have made quite a few people laugh lately, but the Prime Minister is not one of them.

01:12Anything that questioned the government was not encouraged.

01:16I had to make this choice.

01:18Was I going to become a pantomime horse?

01:21Or was I going to use it to say something?

01:23Four-letter word meaning politician.

01:26Hmm.

01:26I can't think of anything.

01:28I can think of something.

01:30There's a celebration of humanity and also the silliness.

01:35He would always bring such charm.

01:38Yeah.

01:38Even when he was putting the rapier in deep.

01:40The slouch hat.

01:44Shut up!

01:45The black singlet.

01:46No one had quite put them together in the one character before.

01:49The word icon is overused, but it's totally appropriate for John Clark.

01:55Life could be pretty boring if we didn't make it funnier.

01:59It's in these fragments left behind that I find my father again.

02:08Thank you very much for inviting me in, Yana.

02:10No, I'm sorry.

02:10I'm not Yana.

02:11Well, thank you very much, not Yana.

02:12Oh, dear.

02:13I'm not going to survive another year with John Clark.

02:15La, la, la, la, la, la, la.

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