December 7, 2025 • 8 mins
We catch up with the daughter of iconic Kiwi comedian John Clarke (aka Fred Dagg) ahead of tomorrow night’s premiere in Palmerston North of her movie/doco “Not only Fred Dagg”.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We don't know how we are in this country, so
it's all going to be kicking off and pame tomorrow night. Yes,
the movie premiere or the docco premiere of the new
Fred Dag movie, not only Fred Dagg. Let's welcome onto
the country. And I've been lucky enough to have an
advanced screening of this, so I sort of know what
I'm talking about. Fred's or John Clark's daughter, Lauren Clark, Lauren,
(00:23):
I loved your Docco fantastic and fred Dag for many
of us who grew up with them as just one
of the most iconic Kiwis of all time. You must
be so proud of your father.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I am proud of him. He's he very much sort
of There was a moment there where he describes it
in the movie as he talks about how there was
sort of one or two of them who broke through
the opposition back line and made it onto television in
the early seventies and were the first. He was one
(00:55):
of the first people to sort of be a New
Zealander on screen. You know, I had a Kiwi accent.
He was laid back, he was embodying a character that
he sort of chose as the sort of metaphor for Kiwism,
which was the farmer of course. And you know, when
(01:19):
you look back, it's interesting because that period of time,
which for a certain generation of New Zealanders feels like
it was a whole era, was actually lasted for less
than four years. He was only he only did fred
Dagg for yeah, three and a bit years. But it
(01:40):
had such an impact because before that nobody had done
anything that was quite that specifically Kiwi.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
He moved to Australia, had great success there, further great
success there. Did fred Dagg out grow New Zealand?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I think I don't know fred Dagg outgrew New Zealand,
but I think he was. He was, absolutely he was embraced.
That character was embraced so fully that it was it
was difficult for Dad and his audience to sort of
(02:21):
reconfigure and you know, to use a contemporary overused word
that he would hate pivot, you know, he he will
he sort of. It was such a kind of a
beautiful thing and it was such a that was so
much a part of his audience's experience of him in
New Zealand that he would have had to there was
(02:46):
sort of not a sort of second act in that
and there were lots of reasons why he then moved
to Australia, But yeah, I think that was you know,
it was a small media environment. I mean it really
was back then. There was not a lot of other
stuff going on, and in a way, he was one
(03:08):
of the first New Zealand comedians. He made a living.
He made his work sort of being funny on television
and so you know, if you're one of the first
people to do that, and you do it with a
memorable character, it's kind of always going to be difficult
to in a small pond do something different with that.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Lauren Clark with us John Clark's daughter aka fred Dag.
He was famous a shooting star really in the mid
to late seventies. Of course, that Prime Minister back then
was Rob Muldoon and fred Dagg was a satirist and
he used to do some quiet cutting stuff. And I'm
picking on one scene in the movie or the docco
(03:55):
where he's dealing with two black sheep and he's calling
them overstaars. This was a direct shot at Rob Muldoon
and how he treated the overstars in New Zealand at
the time. Now Muldoon didn't like it, but the state broadcaster,
the NZBC didn't like it either.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Lauren, No, that's right, and I think that is partly,
you know, an early reaction to something that sort of
hadn't happened a lot before that the somebody in the
media environment poking fun at the at the people in power,
that sort of was a bit new. But also it
(04:35):
is something that comes with the territory. You know, he
had things like that happen when he was on television
in Australia twenty years later. People don't like it when
somebody points out, you know, something that the audience is seeing,
you know, but when somebody sort of represents the audience
(04:58):
and stands there and and that means the old, the
old fashioned way of saying it is, you know, points
out there and has no clothes, that's obviously going to
ruffle feathers. And if people aren't used to that happening,
it's something that that can can get in the way.
So it definitely Several times over Dad's career, I mean
(05:20):
he was fired by the ABC and the one for
briand Or who he did the satirical interviews with the
Clark and Door interviews, they were they were let go
in political rough times. Just you know, it was disguised
as a sort of budgetary coincidence and things like that.
(05:40):
You know that that sort of stuff happened throughout his career,
and I suppose in a way it's one measure of
how successful he was at at doing it, that that
that happened, but also that it didn't happen more. Is
is another trick that he was got better and better
at pulling.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I think we all have inspirations in our life. Fred
Dagg's or John Clark, your father's inspiration was a British
comic or comedian by the name of Peter Cock who
did a whole lot of stuff with Dudley Moore. So
that's kind of how he started, or he based his
comic work off that. But what I found really interesting
in the docco or the movie was he based the
(06:19):
fred Dagg voice of Peter Kelly, a race caller.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah. Not only that he lived down the road, so
he used to go visit him as often as he
could and just listen to him talk, Listen to the
rhythm of his voice, listened to the sort of lilt
and the rise and the pauses and everything, and there
is a sort of you know, there is a quality
(06:50):
to dad sort of even though he didn't do impressions,
but you can see it even in some of those
you know, satirical interviews who's and in his sort of
you know, the key we drawl of the thread character,
you can see him imitating, you know, you can see
(07:10):
the way he's using language. He's a reflection. And he
used to say about you know, about fred Dag that
that was based on. I mean, he didn't grow up
on a farm. He grew up in Pami in sort
of deep suburbia, but his you know family, he had
uncles and endless uncles on farms, and he when he
(07:33):
was kicked out of school, he joined shearing gangs. And
he didn't just like the farmers. He just thought it
was so inventive with language and something. He was really
sort of I mean, he really did think that was
a bit of a Kiwi trade, you know that. You know,
if there's nothing to do, we'll sit here and we'll
just be interesting with the way we express ourselves for
(07:56):
the next half an hour, and the half hour will
go much faster.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
We've told the story beautifully. The movie is not only
fred Dagg, or that's what it's titled here in New Zealand.
The premiere is in Pami tomorrow night. It'll be in
cinemas on Boxing Day. Lauren Clark, great the chat with you.
As I said, I'm of a generation who grew up
with fred Dagg and loved him. I think everyone loved
fred Dagg. Thanks for your time. It's a great watch.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Thank you so much, Jamie Cheers
We don't know how we are in this country, so
it's all going to be kicking off and pame tomorrow night. Yes,
the movie premiere or the docco premiere of the new
Fred Dag movie, not only Fred Dagg. Let's welcome onto
the country. And I've been lucky enough to have an
advanced screening of this, so I sort of know what
I'm talking about. Fred's or John Clark's daughter, Lauren Clark, Lauren,
(00:23):
I loved your Docco fantastic and fred Dag for many
of us who grew up with them as just one
of the most iconic Kiwis of all time. You must
be so proud of your father.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I am proud of him. He's he very much sort
of There was a moment there where he describes it
in the movie as he talks about how there was
sort of one or two of them who broke through
the opposition back line and made it onto television in
the early seventies and were the first. He was one
(00:55):
of the first people to sort of be a New
Zealander on screen. You know, I had a Kiwi accent.
He was laid back, he was embodying a character that
he sort of chose as the sort of metaphor for Kiwism,
which was the farmer of course. And you know, when
(01:19):
you look back, it's interesting because that period of time,
which for a certain generation of New Zealanders feels like
it was a whole era, was actually lasted for less
than four years. He was only he only did fred
Dagg for yeah, three and a bit years. But it
(01:40):
had such an impact because before that nobody had done
anything that was quite that specifically Kiwi.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
He moved to Australia, had great success there, further great
success there. Did fred Dagg out grow New Zealand?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I think I don't know fred Dagg outgrew New Zealand,
but I think he was. He was, absolutely he was embraced.
That character was embraced so fully that it was it
was difficult for Dad and his audience to sort of
(02:21):
reconfigure and you know, to use a contemporary overused word
that he would hate pivot, you know, he he will
he sort of. It was such a kind of a
beautiful thing and it was such a that was so
much a part of his audience's experience of him in
New Zealand that he would have had to there was
(02:46):
sort of not a sort of second act in that
and there were lots of reasons why he then moved
to Australia, But yeah, I think that was you know,
it was a small media environment. I mean it really
was back then. There was not a lot of other
stuff going on, and in a way, he was one
(03:08):
of the first New Zealand comedians. He made a living.
He made his work sort of being funny on television
and so you know, if you're one of the first
people to do that, and you do it with a
memorable character, it's kind of always going to be difficult
to in a small pond do something different with that.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Lauren Clark with us John Clark's daughter aka fred Dag.
He was famous a shooting star really in the mid
to late seventies. Of course, that Prime Minister back then
was Rob Muldoon and fred Dagg was a satirist and
he used to do some quiet cutting stuff. And I'm
picking on one scene in the movie or the docco
(03:55):
where he's dealing with two black sheep and he's calling
them overstaars. This was a direct shot at Rob Muldoon
and how he treated the overstars in New Zealand at
the time. Now Muldoon didn't like it, but the state broadcaster,
the NZBC didn't like it either.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Lauren, No, that's right, and I think that is partly,
you know, an early reaction to something that sort of
hadn't happened a lot before that the somebody in the
media environment poking fun at the at the people in power,
that sort of was a bit new. But also it
(04:35):
is something that comes with the territory. You know, he
had things like that happen when he was on television
in Australia twenty years later. People don't like it when
somebody points out, you know, something that the audience is seeing,
you know, but when somebody sort of represents the audience
(04:58):
and stands there and and that means the old, the
old fashioned way of saying it is, you know, points
out there and has no clothes, that's obviously going to
ruffle feathers. And if people aren't used to that happening,
it's something that that can can get in the way.
So it definitely Several times over Dad's career, I mean
(05:20):
he was fired by the ABC and the one for
briand Or who he did the satirical interviews with the
Clark and Door interviews, they were they were let go
in political rough times. Just you know, it was disguised
as a sort of budgetary coincidence and things like that.
(05:40):
You know that that sort of stuff happened throughout his career,
and I suppose in a way it's one measure of
how successful he was at at doing it, that that
that happened, but also that it didn't happen more. Is
is another trick that he was got better and better
at pulling.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I think we all have inspirations in our life. Fred
Dagg's or John Clark, your father's inspiration was a British
comic or comedian by the name of Peter Cock who
did a whole lot of stuff with Dudley Moore. So
that's kind of how he started, or he based his
comic work off that. But what I found really interesting
in the docco or the movie was he based the
(06:19):
fred Dagg voice of Peter Kelly, a race caller.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah. Not only that he lived down the road, so
he used to go visit him as often as he
could and just listen to him talk, Listen to the
rhythm of his voice, listened to the sort of lilt
and the rise and the pauses and everything, and there
is a sort of you know, there is a quality
(06:50):
to dad sort of even though he didn't do impressions,
but you can see it even in some of those
you know, satirical interviews who's and in his sort of
you know, the key we drawl of the thread character,
you can see him imitating, you know, you can see
(07:10):
the way he's using language. He's a reflection. And he
used to say about you know, about fred Dag that
that was based on. I mean, he didn't grow up
on a farm. He grew up in Pami in sort
of deep suburbia, but his you know family, he had
uncles and endless uncles on farms, and he when he
(07:33):
was kicked out of school, he joined shearing gangs. And
he didn't just like the farmers. He just thought it
was so inventive with language and something. He was really
sort of I mean, he really did think that was
a bit of a Kiwi trade, you know that. You know,
if there's nothing to do, we'll sit here and we'll
just be interesting with the way we express ourselves for
(07:56):
the next half an hour, and the half hour will
go much faster.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
We've told the story beautifully. The movie is not only
fred Dagg, or that's what it's titled here in New Zealand.
The premiere is in Pami tomorrow night. It'll be in
cinemas on Boxing Day. Lauren Clark, great the chat with you.
As I said, I'm of a generation who grew up
with fred Dagg and loved him. I think everyone loved
fred Dagg. Thanks for your time. It's a great watch.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Thank you so much, Jamie Cheers
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.