Bugger.

Written By: - Date published: 1:55 pm, April 10th, 2017 - 45 comments
Categories: humour - Tags: ,

Rest in a peace after a bloody good laugh mate.

An ABC spokesman said Clarke died of natural causes while hiking in Victoria’s Grampians national park at the weekend. – The Guardian

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45 comments on “Bugger. ”

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  1. WILD KATIPO 1
    10 April 2017 at 1:58 pm

    This is as sad a loss as Murray Ball . We are losing so many of our iconic people, they were social commentators and humorists that ensured that those in power over us were scrutinized and called to account .

    RIP John Clarke.

    • weka 1.1
      10 April 2017 at 1:59 pm

      Yes, can’t help but think that despite his many years gone from NZ, he would have been especially needed here at this time.

    • Draco T Bastard 1.2
      10 April 2017 at 3:18 pm

      Losing iconic people isn’t sad. What’s sad is that they’re not being replaced.

  2. weka 2
    10 April 2017 at 2:04 pm

    I was thinking about Clarke on the weekend. I’d been wondering about satire in NZ and where we are at so I looked up White Man Behind A Desk and saw he’s got a TV show now! Fingers crossed he gets a better deal than Clarke did.

  3. greywarshark 3
    10 April 2017 at 2:05 pm

    I can’t believe it. Only 68. I am never going out in the fresh open air tramping. Far too bloody dangerous.
    http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/renowned-satirist-john-clarke-dead-at-68-20170409-gvhg1r.html

    As John would say:
    Fair words butter no parsnips.
    Words Quotes, by John Clarke , Source: Paroemiologia (p. 21, ed. 1639)
    and
    http://mrjohnclarke.com/
    and
    Who owes who, what in the EC?

    • ropata 3.1
      10 April 2017 at 2:58 pm

      I wouldn’t stop tramping mate, just did the Tongariro crossing with the old man a few weeks ago. He is 70, and sporting a titanium knee (admittedly he is an extreme example)

      • McFlock 3.1.1
        10 April 2017 at 3:08 pm

        Did he have his gumboots?

        damn – should always read full thread before commenting 🙂

      • weka 3.1.2
        10 April 2017 at 3:17 pm

        I can’t think of a better way to go than out tramping and a heart attack/stroke that takes me quickly (I’m guessing that’s what happened).

        • Paul Campbell 3.1.2.1
          11 April 2017 at 8:59 am

          I was a little disappointed to hear the TV1 newsreader refer to what he was doing as “hiking” – surely the whole thing that Fred Dagg (and John Clarke) represented was the repudiation of overseas RP on radio and TV and the glorification of the NZ accent and NZ words

      • greywarshark 3.1.3
        12 April 2017 at 11:01 am

        ropata
        For some reason that reminds me of Groucho Marx talking about some thing being so easy it could be done by a child of five. He breaks off to request “Get me a child of five”. When I get a titanium knee I’ll give it a go mate.

        • greywarshark 3.1.3.1
          12 April 2017 at 12:09 pm

          Could mod release some other comments I have done between 11 am and 12pm
          thanks? I’ll have to delve further into I’m always getting sidelined.

  4. ropata 4
    10 April 2017 at 2:08 pm

    Dammit. I guess he wasn’t wearing his gumboots…

  5. UncookedSelachimorpha 5
    10 April 2017 at 2:10 pm

    Bugger all right! A genius with a wonderful political compass to boot.

    • greywarshark 5.1
      10 April 2017 at 2:18 pm

      Unfortunately when John left that political compass got booted to touch.

      • ropata 5.1.1
        10 April 2017 at 3:05 pm

        I think he left NZ when Roger Douglas and cronies starting ripping the guts out of the society we once knew. From a 2008 interview:
        http://lumiere.net.nz/index.php/a-complete-dagg-an-interview-with-john-clarke/

        This year Clarke celebrated his sixtieth birthday. Radio New Zealand film critic Simon Morris was one of the small group of close friends present. “Having known John for 40 years giving you a quick quote on the man is a bit like summing up the Roman Empire in a limerick. Though if anyone could—or would—do that, John’s your man. Especially if he was meant to be doing something else at the time. It’s funny, over here everyone thinks of John as a great performer, which he is, of course. But really his strong suit is writing, especially capturing something in a few words.”

        Morris’s comment brings to mind Clarke/Dagg’s pithy Rogernomics putdown: “The idea that a beautiful day had no value unless you could sell it.” Clarke adds the ideology was “An absolute disgrace. Its ramifications were catastrophic for New Zealand.” He thinks it’s farcical Roger Douglas is running for Parliament again. “Don’t let it happen. It’s too silly isn’t it?”

  6. ropata 6
    10 April 2017 at 2:11 pm

    Many dusty trips were spent in the old Holden station wagon on NZ back roads with Dad singing and joking along to Fred Dagg on cassette

    • Paul Campbell 6.2
      11 April 2017 at 9:01 am

      Raising our kids on our OE we made sure they knew the correct words to things like xmas carols ….

      “We 3 kings of orient are,
      one in a tractor, one in a car,
      one on a scooter tooting a ho-ooter,
      following yonder star

      Oh star of wonder star of light
      star of beauty, that’s the story
      styar of glory, that’s the story,
      following yonder star”

      • Paul Campbell 6.2.1
        11 April 2017 at 9:17 am

        I so got that wrong, last verse should be:

        “Oh star of wonder star of light
        star of beauty, she’ll be right
        star of glory, that’s the story,
        following yonder star”

  7. Ad 7
    10 April 2017 at 2:55 pm

    My personal favourite from Clarke:

    • Richard McGrath 7.1
      10 April 2017 at 7:45 pm

      Absolutely agree – the combination of Dawe and Clarke was hilarious. Also his work on The Games. He will be missed, but never forgotten, by a generation of Kiwis.

  8. ianmac 8
    10 April 2017 at 2:58 pm

    Dammit. In the referendum we should’ve had a NZ flag with just 2 gumboots on it

  9. Neil 9
    10 April 2017 at 3:01 pm

    R.I.P John Clarke, you made me smile even in my darkest times. You will be surely missed.

  10. Anne 10
    10 April 2017 at 3:18 pm

    Bugger!!
    A sane voice (disguised as humour) in an increasingly insane world.

  12. ropata 12
    10 April 2017 at 4:09 pm

    Steve Keen:

    #JohnClarke, beloved satirist, dies aged 68 http://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/2017/04/10/john-clarke-dead/ … As an Australian, this feels like losing Douglas Adams. #SatireHasFallen— Steve Keen (@ProfSteveKeen) April 10, 2017

  13. gsays 13
    10 April 2017 at 4:11 pm

    Very moved by his passing.

    Still, tramping in the grampians raises an appropriate smile.

  14. greywarshark 14
    10 April 2017 at 4:39 pm

    John we will forgive you (or I would) if it was just a publicity stunt. I wish.
    Of course with family there it must have been real. It must have been beyond belief for them. Deepest sympathy for all.

    Here is a lovely little memory piece that John wrote about his mother who was Neva McKenna Clarke and was one of the Women in the War that Gaylene Preston wrote about.
    http://mrjohnclarke.com/tinkering/page/2

  15. greywarshark 15
    10 April 2017 at 5:05 pm

    My comment with reference to John’s mother, refers to her book Angel in God’s Office.
    There are some of this book on Trade Me. She was as interesting and lively as her son,
    or vice versa.
    http://www.trademe.co.nz/books/nonfiction/war-military/world-war-ii/auction-1296956354.htm

  16. greywarshark 16
    10 April 2017 at 5:21 pm

    I should have a couple of comments for this post that are floating around or in mod if someone has time to check and get them out.

  17. ropata 17
    10 April 2017 at 6:22 pm

    RIP John Clarke, all the Trevs will be as gutted as we are. Here's Fred Dagg's original gumboots, in the history collections at Te Papa. pic.twitter.com/3TN667QFZ1— Te Papa (@Te_Papa) April 10, 2017

    Nice photo of their Dagg installation … 🙂

  18. Jenny Kirk 18
    10 April 2017 at 7:06 pm

    Really sorry to hear. John Clarke will be badly missed – he was so clever, so funny.
    I can still recall the quickness and wit of the series he did when the Olympic Games were to be held in Sydney – right on the ball, he was. Each episode.

  19. WILD KATIPO 19
    10 April 2017 at 8:10 pm

    There was another side about Clarke that was endearing, – something to do with the timbre of his voice. You hear it in the broad Aussie accent as well ,… that when these blokes are on the job you feel its in capable hands.

    Difficult to describe.

    But its warmth, cheerfulness, able to get the job done, gruff but fair , possibly antagonistic to overly academic theory but doing it none the less. Like cops who leap into raging waters to rescue family’s trapped in cars. And there’s the counterpart to that in the Dagg- esses up and down the country. Staunch ,.. and someone you don’t want to cross if they feel small children or young animals may be threatened.

    There was a hint of all that in John Clarke’s ‘ Fred Dagg ‘ ,… dammit , … he will be sorely missed.

  20. Drowsy M. Kram 20
    10 April 2017 at 8:17 pm

    A sad shock; sympathy to family and friends.

    The way Clarke and Dawe skewered authority and politicians (of all shades) was masterful, and Clarke was going strong to the end.

    He had such a fine sense of the ridiculousness of some human priorities and pastimes.

    Farnarkeling

    And thank’s for the Gumboot Song (@4)) – a great anthem and sound advice. Don’t you worry about Daggy Boy…

  21. r0b 21
    10 April 2017 at 9:24 pm

    Too young, Trev. Too young by half.

    • greywarshark 22.1
      12 April 2017 at 11:07 am

      joe90
      That was such a powerful and witty-clever way to show Australian rednecks how they could say ‘sorry’ and show they really mean it.

  23. exkiwiforces 23
    10 April 2017 at 11:55 pm

    This was on the ABC’s 7:30 report tonight. My partner said tonight our Thursday night just before news is going to boring now without Clarke & Dawes show.

    http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2017/s4651571.htm

  24. tc 24
    11 April 2017 at 7:11 am

    Suggest folk look up ‘the fast lane’ a comedy he wrote in the mid 80’s and ‘death in brunswick’ a movie he and Sam Neill were central characters in.

    IMO they sum up his unique deadpan delivery and the fast lane is regarded by some as one of the finest local sitcoms ever made.

    An underrated actor and highly valued writer who often worked behind the scenes as a script editor.

    He will be mourned deeply by probably more Aussies than kiwis as melbourne saw his best years of output and Oz public broadcasting gladly gave him the platform to deliver.

    RIP John Clark one damm funny human being.

  25. JanM 25
    11 April 2017 at 12:18 pm

    I kept dreaming that somehow he would come back and save us from all the idiots running our country 🙁

  26. mosa 26
    11 April 2017 at 8:08 pm

    See ya Trev….travel well my man.

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