According to a recent interview John Clarke likes to swim and play golf.
Bryan Dawe holds occasional exhibitions of his surrealist photographs. His work is heavily influenced by photographers and artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Edward Hopper, Erwin Blumenfeld, Salvador Dali and Bill Henson. A review of one of his exhibitions can be read here and some of Bryan's photographs can be seen on BryanDawe.com.au.
Music
John Clarke and Bryan Dawe have released four albums of their sketches:
The Howard Miracle (2003)
Secret Men's Business (1996)
The Annual Report (1991)
and Great Interviews of the 20th Century (1990)
Great Interviews of the 20th Century and The Annual Report won Best Comedy Release at the ARIA awards in 1991 and 1992 (respectively). Secret Men's Business was nominated for the same award in 1997.
Some Clarke & Dawe sketches also appear on John Clarke's album Swim Between The Flags (1987).
John Clarke had a series of hit records in the guise of his alter ego Fred Dagg in the 1970s. A best of collection, Fred Dagg Anthology, was released in the 1998.
An audio version of The Even More Complete Book of Australian Verse was released in 2003.
Roly Parks' Omnibus, a collection of Bryan Dawe's radio programmes about Kalangadoo pensioner Roly Parks, was released in 2003.
The Honourable Wally Norman (actor), The Castle (actor), Lust and Revenge (actor) and Heaven Tonight (actor).
Television
John Clarke's television credits include:
The Sounds of Aus (presenter and producer), 50 Years of ABC TV (narrator), Kath & Kim (actor), The Brush-Off (actor, writer and producer), Stiff (writer and director), Welcher & Welcher (actor), Roy Hollsdotter Live (actor), The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) (himself), BackBurner (actor), Hessie's Shed (himself), The Games (actor, writer and producer) The Problem with Men (himself and writer), The Search for Christmas (himself), Frontline (himself), Stark (actor), Burke's Backyard (himself), A Royal Commission Into The Australian Economy (writer and director), The Making of Nothing (writer), The D-Generation Goes Commercial (actor), A Matter of Convenience (actor), The Fast Lane (actor and writer), The Gillies Report (actor and writer), Fred Dagg Live: A Bit of a Dagg (actor and writer), Buck House (actor and writer) and The Wonderful World of Fred Dagg (actor and writer).
Bryan Dawe's television credits include:
BackBurner (writer), The Games (actor), The Problem with Men (himself), Frontline (himself), Fast Forward (actor and writer).
Books
Clarke & Dawe script collections
by John Clarke
The 7.56 Report (2006)
The Howard Miracle (2003)
Still The Two (1997)
More Great Interviews (1992)
Great Interviews of the 20th Century (1990)
The Games script collections
by John Clarke and Ross Stevenson
The Games Series II: Sharing The Blame (2000)
The Games (1999)
John Clarke's books include:
The Even More Complete Book of Australian Verse (2003)
The Tournament (2002)
The Even More Complete Book of Australian Verse (1994)
A Royal Commission Into The Australian Economy, with Ross Stevenson (1991)
The Complete Book of Australian Verse (1989)
The Gillies Report, with others (1985)
John Clarke's books in the guise of Fred Dagg:
A Dagg At My Table (1997)
A Complete Dagg (1989)
Daggshead Revisited (1982)
The Fred Dagg Scripts (1981)
The Fred Dagg Careers Advisory Bureau (1979)
The Thoughts of Chairman Fred (1976)
and Fred Dagg's Year (1975)
Bryan Dawe's books include:
Roly and Sonya Parks' European Odyssey: On The Smell of an Oily Rag (1991)
Heroes
John Clarke and Bryan Dawe's comedy has been influenced by comedians such as Barry Humphries, Spike Milligan and Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.
John Clarke takes inspiration from the writers Seamus Heaney, Flann O'Brien and Samuel Beckett.
Bryan Dawe admires the work of Tom Lehrer, Peter Sellers and Aubrey Meadows.
This is an unofficial page for aficionados of the work of John Clarke and Bryan Dawe.
John Clarke and Bryan Dawe are Australia's top satirists. They first teamed up as a duo in 1987. Dawe, then running ABC Radio Melbourne's comedy unit, had asked Clarke to write and perform a series of monologues. Clarke then devised a sketch format with Dawe as interviewer and himself as a topical political figure. This proved successful and in 1989 the pair took the format to television, on Channel 9's A Current Affair. As with the radio incarnation, Clarke made no attempt to impersonate whoever he was playing.
Clarke & Dawe continued on A Current Affair until 1996. They returned to television in 2000, on ABC TV's The 7.30 Report.
Clarke & Dawe appear every Thursday night on The 7.30 Report at around 7.56pm. If you miss the broadcast you can watch online. There are also quite a few sketches available on You Tube.
Occasionally Clarke and Dawe record a sketch to support a campaign or charity. This sketch was made especially for the anti I.R. laws rally on 15/11/05.
Besides the classic interview format, Clarke & Dawe have also done game show parodies, with Dawe as host and Clarke as a politician contestant, and a series of school interviews with Dawe as headmaster at a school attended by the leading lights of the Liberal and Labor parties, played by Clarke.
John Clarke and Bryan Dawe have also appeared together in the satirical sitcom The Games. Written by Clarke and Ross Stevenson, The Games focused on a small group of bureaucrats within SOCOG (the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) played by Clarke, Dawe and Gina Reily, with Nicholas Bell as the Secretary to the Minister for the Olympics. The first series screened in 1998 and a second was made in 2000 and broadcast in the run-up to the Sydney Olympics. The show won Best Screenplay on a Television Drama at the 1998 AFI Awards and Most Outstanding Comedy Programme at the 2001 Logie Awards. It has been broadcast in New Zealand, Europe and North America. The scripts of both series were released in book form and most episodes were released on video. Series 1 is now available on DVD, with Series 2 coming soon.
John Clarke is most famous in his native New Zealand as Fred Dagg. Clarke developed the character of Dagg, a stereotypical New Zealand sheep farmer, whilst touring in revues. He then went to work in Britain for several years, during which time he was given a minor role in Barry Humphries' film The Adventures of Barry McKenzie. Humphries was impressed with Clarke's flair for comedy and encouraged him to continue writing and performing. By the mid 70s Fred Dagg was hugely popular and Clarke was a big star. But figuring his career had gone as far as it could in New Zealand, Clarke moved to Australia in 1977 where he continues to write and perform, in films and on radio and television. In 2004 Clarke was presented with the Byron Kennedy Award for outstanding creative enterprise by the Australian Film Institute. In 2007 he wrote the script for a new musical adaptation of The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and Little Ragged Blossom, which toured nationally. For more on John Clarke see Mondo Thingo's Cheat Notes. For more information on John visit his official website.
After a successful 10-year career in the record industry Bryan Dawe moved into songwriting and had a hit in 1970 with Toast and Marmalade for Tea, written with Steve Groves of the band Tin Tin. The pair also wrote On The Loose Again, which was sung by Marty Rhone and won the 1976 Australian Song Festival award. Dawe then devised and wrote the satirical series Don't Get Off Your Bike for ABC Radio. In 1986 Dawe was appointed as Melbourne producer, writer and director of ABC Radio's comedy unit. During this time he developed the characters of country pensioner Roly Parks and right-wing retired Supreme Court judge Sir Murray Rivers QC, who both enjoyed long runs on the network. The Roly Parks series Ya Wouldn't Read About it won a silver medal in the drama section of the International Radio Awards. Bryan Dawe continues to write and perform for various comedy programmes and also appears regularly in films and on radio and television. For more information on Bryan visit his website.
....Thank You and Welcome Clarke & Dawe!........regards,Gary. n. z. er.(...p.s....I'm Presently Trying to Work out-'HOW LONG IT WOULD TAKE' (if people 'crossing th Ditch'from Australia to New Zealand each time-had MUD on the Soles of their shoes),to make New Zealand the SAME SIZE as Australia?!...LoL
Yo Clarke & Dawe - a tribute! Check out my new site www. percieve. co. nz It's pretty much a document of a dude tryna make it in rap, without any industry machine or money behind him, could make for an interesting read if that's what you're into...or if you're bored! Shot!
I held a budget party. Every time the Treasurer said 'working families' we took a drink. We went through 3 bottles of red wine. There were only 3 of us drinking..... What a great Budget!
Congratulations on your Hall of Fame win. I too was thrilled to see those timeless excerpts from the Games- the Seekers and the 94 metre track and it was lovely to see Gina Riley shedding a tear. We love your work!
Great to see John and Brian on the TV at the Logies....and Gina getting teary-eyed in the audience. Here's wishing for a The Games Reunion special or movie.....
Hi guys, have you heard we're a finalist for a MySpace impact award? We're in the running to win a $10,000 donation :) Please vote for us because a donation of this size would be so helpful to ANTaR - the pic below is a link to the page where you can vote ...
Hoiye, Just passing by wishing you a Happy Easter! Any word on The Games 2 on dvd? The last thing I heard about it was on John's site saying that they were making it or something :S I'm craving it now, I really wanna see the last episode!!! I've read it lol I just wanna view it!!! Take Care xx
hey guys just wanted to drop a quick line and say that you rock in the U.S.... also whats up with the australian abc website and them not updating your bits on the 7:30... thats were i watch most of my clips and they havent updated since last month... what gives... well let me know... i cant wait to see more....
Hi - just dropping by to say Happy New Year. Will we see you in Canberra on Feb 12 re the rally against the NT intervention? Drop me a line if so. Sending you peace, Anita
Are you interested in investing in my gerbal ranch in Paddington. Westpac were going to come in for 147 mill but donated it to some sheet company instead. I still think the rodents are the go!
