Five Minutes with John Clarke

John Clarke gave Kiwi humour a voice 30 years ago through the wise rustic fool of Fred Dagg, and even though Clarke has lived in Australia for decades, he has magically retained a sense of New Zealandness that transcends the Tasman. He has said that "Dagg is laced all through [what I do], it’s just changed its name a bit". That would include The Games (great mock interview about its promotion here), the political interviews on Australian TV, the poetry, the DVDs, the Farnarkelling. Any attempt to define NZ humour must include John (photos: courtesy John Clarke). We thought that given that he started his career with the NZBC, it might be time to renew the relationship. We sat down with a virtual glass of Victorian Bitter and lobbed a few questions.

Have you seen Flight of the Conchords and if so do you see any affinity with your own work?

I first saw Bret and Jemaine some years ago in a theatre full of shared delight; they are very funny, musically gifted, clever, ironical and wherever they go, there's a map of New Zealand in the glove-box. Their current success is the more admirable because subtle, esoteric work requires a larger potential audience, since a cult (even a big one) will occupy only a small percentage of it. May they continue to burn with a blue flame.

Were you never tempted to go beyond Australia? Was it just the flying or did it just not interest you going to London or New York?

I was never interested. I live here.

You told an interviewer you don't get distracted from the writing process by reading other people's books and that “ideas come pretty quickly once you identify your departure point”. But parody requires close attention to the source material, doesn't it, and don't you have to love it at least a little in the first place?

I don't recall saying exactly that to an interviewer and you're quite right, you can't work in a vacuum. I do read other people's books although I'm a better reader of non-fiction than I am of fiction.

Which Oz and NZ authors, poets, columnists etc do you read and rate?

Most writers impress me and I think NZ in particular boxes above its weight.

Was your mother a big influence on your interests and career?

Yes. [Friends of NZBC who know Neva Clarke McKenna revere her.]

The web would seem to be a perfect fit for a polymath like yourself. Did you deliberately wait until “Web 1.0” had done its dash and you could do what you wanted quickly, cheaply and well? Or did you come late to it, as you seem to other things, and there was a eureka moment?

Various projects I've worked on have used the web in quite interesting ways and eventually I got around to setting up my own site. [We'll take that as a yes.]

What are your current obsessions, and do you have a close group of “wonderers”?

I'm not the best judge of my own obsessions and aside from reading perhaps too many of other people's books I think I'm probably one of the more balanced people in my ward. I don't know what “wonderers” are but if they ask, I'll have some tea and a lemon slice.
If "talk is the first draft of a lot of things but it's not the draft you'd submit", what's email?

Similar.
How have things changed in Australia since the election?

I suspect there's a lot of policy discussion going on at the moment in health, education, environmental issues, indigenous affairs and foreign policy, since these are areas where the electorate clearly felt the Howard government was operating on muscle-memory. If there are not significant initiatives in these areas quite quickly, somebody may get a yellow card.

If NZBC readers read only one book this year, which book should it be?

A book by someone else.

What's on your iPod’s “On the go” playlist at the moment, or are you an iPod refusenik?

I don't even have a mobile phone.