Australasia lost one of its great and favourite satirists and comedians on Sunday, John Clarke.
Having made a name for himself in his native New Zealand before staking a claim on Australian TV, most famous for his deadpan turns in the Clarke & Dawe political sketches, Clarke was also a familiar face in Australian film and a prolific writer.
One of his most famous mock interview tussles with his regular sparring partner Bryan Dawe was the one where “the front fell off” (view video above).
The clip originally aired in 1991 but took on new life once YouTube came along, bringing it to a global audience some of whom thought it was a real politician being interviewed, which surely says more about the politicians Clarke so enjoyed lampooning than the viewers.
John Clarke died of natural causes while hiking in Victoria’s Grampains National Park on Sunday. He was 68.