John Clarke, the man behind the iconic Fred Dagg, has died

The late, great John Clarke/Fred Dagg on the meaning of life excerpted:

“Of course, in the 20th century, we have produced a fair array of theories about what life’s actually about and probably the existentialists take the buttered confection for getting closest to thinking they had it all worked out. They used to hang about in the Paris area, which is in what we used to call Gaul, and talk about how terrible life was and how they didn’t know if they’d really get to the weekend. They reckoned life was a pretty dreadful business and was filled with a thing called ennui.
“Now, ennui is a terrible thing, and seems to have roughly the same effect as terminal boredom. Ennui actually is a French word meaning Henry. And the story goes that once you get a touch of the Henry’s, it’s all downhill and the only way to relive the symptoms is to whip down the harbour and pull a wave over your bonce and call it a day.”

The full piece is below. 

Rest in Peace. Reports through from Sydney this morning he’s died, aged 68.

Clarke was the closest New Zealand has come to a genuine comic genius. An original, one who, mostly, based his humour on the way New Zealanders talk rather than by just adapting a sketch from Monty Python or Stan Freberg or the Frost Report to local conditions.
He first appeared to a wider audience on Country Calendar in the mid-1970s, just as the country’s economic reliance on pastoral products and the Brits was being pulverised.

He was a breath of fresh air, in so many ways: mostly because of how he talked.

It was very buttoned down Kiwi but with an ornate side to it: “It’s a wee bit horrendous, this town going,” a diffident Dagg mutters in a voice over as he is seen parking his Landrover in Wellington’s Harris St.

He laughed at the way we talked but it was a laughter without jeers.

Clarke had the true comic’s gift of being able to show what was funny about New Zealanders but in a way which, somehow, celebrated rather than sneered at it.

There was always a sense of heart, a generosity of spirit, as he laughed – or rather, as he showed us what was funny.

MORE: John Clarke: 10 of the best clips from a career of withering satire

Sad to hear of the death of John Clarke, aka Fred Dagg. His humour captured the experience of life in NZ and Australia.

— Bill English (@pmbillenglish) April 10, 2017

We just didn't realise how fortunate we were
We had no idea the luck we possessed collectively
We just didn't know how lucky we all were pic.twitter.com/EvyM0Eozb0

— Nick Grant (@Nof_Grant) April 10, 2017

We knew how lucky we were.
RIP John Clark.

— Te Radar (@teradar) April 10, 2017

Very sorry to see passing of John Clarke. One of my childhood heroes. Memorized the Fred Dagg weather sketch and sang all the songs.

— Steven Joyce (@stevenljoyce) April 10, 2017