BREAKING: CINEMA NOW COMPULSORY
“To put it bluntly, there is simply gold everywhere you look. Highly recommended.” - Herald Sun.
“An entertaining, humorous, beautiful viewing experience.” - The Australian.
“Just about one of the most enriching and delightful experiences you’ll have this year.” - The Curb.
WATCH: NOT ONLY FRED DAGG BUT ALSO JOHN CLARKE TRAILER
“Entertaining, touching and very, very funny.”
- FILM INK
“This works on pretty much every level you could ask for.”
- IT’S BETTER IN THE DARK
“A deliciously enjoyable, and masterfully made, piece of cinema.”
- GLAM ADELAIDE
“Lorin Clarke’s remarkable effort in weaving so much material together and measuring against too much hagiography in favour of insights and giggles in equal measure shows that the apple hasn’t fallen too far from Fred Dagg’s tree.”
- SCREEN HUB
“Australia has always liked John Clarke. And thanks to his daughter’s delightful film, it will perhaps come to know him just that little bit better, too."
- THE AGE
“There is something thrilling and poignant about watching Lorin Clarke’s beautifully observed documentary about her father, John Clarke”.
- FREMANTLE SHIPPING NEWS
“A fascinating celebration of a life fully lived by a person who enriched many other lives.”
- THE SCOOP
“The special pleasure of But Also John Clarke lies in discovering that the John Clarke seen and heard in family home movies, tape recordings and so forth looks, sounds and behaves exactly like the John Clarke beloved by the public.”
- THE AGE
FILM IN CINEMAS NOW
Written and directed by me, NOT ONLY FRED DAGG BUT ALSO JOHN CLARKE is a documentary feature film about my father, writer, performer, comedian and satirist, John Clarke. Check out the official film website.
Australians! See it now BUT NOT FOR LONG at a cinema near you.
Kiwis! It’ll be on your screens before Christmas.
Everyone else: I’m doing my very best to figure out how you can see it.
The film set wasn’t always this pretty.
Literary Awards.
I’ve recently been on some judging panels for a couple of pretty incredible awards.
First, the new category in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards; the John Clarke prize for humour writing. When he moved to Australia from New Zealand in 1977, my father, satirist John Clarke decided to learn to write. The Clarke family is deeply grateful to the State government of Victoria, especially The Hon. Colin Brooks MP, for backing the $25,000 prize. Thank you to the absolutely terrifying Kay Setches AM, to previous Minister Danny Pearson, to Andrew Kenyon, to Jonathan Pickering, and to arts hero Claire Febey. And of course congratulations to the many excellent writers whose work we read for the prize, and to the inaugural winner, Robert Skinner.
Congratulations, too, to Lech Blaine for winning The Age Book Of The Year non-fiction book. This was another list of brilliant books and the short list is just hit after hit. Lech’s book is funny and touching and thought-provoking and unique. Have a read why don’t you.
Oh look my book exists!
If you wish to know more about the book, here is a review in Inside Story and one in The Conversation. Here is a review in ArtsHub. If you’re a comedy nerd, you might know about Tumbleweeds, which also reviewed the book.
My book, existing.
“Now Lorin, the elder of John’s two daughters, has her say, and shows that she has arrived as a writer. Her metier is the fragment, its supply responsive to local movements of thought and emotion. The remarkable thing is how deftly she deals with sentiment without becoming sentimental, how amusing she can be without becoming (unduly) competitive. The story she has to tell is one of an ensemble, not the more common tale of a towering genius who draws those around him into his vortex.”
Fitzroy Diaries peeps!
I get asked a lot whether The Fitzroy Diaries is going to have another season. I wish I could say yes, but the fact is, my partner in crime, Sophie Townsend, is busy with her own projects, and I’m busy with a bunch of other things too. Meanwhile, do go and have a listen to me reading my audiobook. There’s even an extract or two from Fitzroy Diaries in there.
If you haven’t heard the Fitzroy Diaries, you can listen to it wherever you find your podcasts. Written and narrated by yours truly and produced by ABC Radio National by the incredible Sophie Townsend.
Big Issue Peeps!
Hello! Bless your cotton socks for being Big Issue peeps. Some of you have pointed out that I have been very lax at posting my column on the website lately. I am going to attempt to get in the habit again. But I’m in every edition so you can’t miss it in real life: support your local vendor. I do sometimes post them here.
Kids’ TV shows…
Aussie rules legend Eddie Betts is behind this show, set in an urban neighbourhood where a mob of kids have the run of the place and sometimes break out into a rap. The kids love it and it’s exactly what should be on Australian TV. I wrote a few episodes.
These lovely creatures are Beep and Mort, from a TV show for small people called Beep and Mort. Don’t you wish you could visit them? They are designed by Jonathon Oxlade. You can find them on the ABC.