Editing Fred Dagg

{{Short description|Fictional human}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=June 2015}}
'''Fred Dagg''' is a fictional character from [[New Zealand]] created and acted on stage, film and television by [[satirist]] [[John Clarke (satirist)|John Clarke]]. Clarke appeared on [[New Zealand]] TV screens as Dagg during the mid to late 1970s, "[[wikt:take the piss|taking the piss]]" out of the post-pioneering [[Kiwi (nickname)|Kiwi]] "[[bloke]]s" and "blokesses". The sense of the name "Dagg" is associated with the slang term ''[[Dag (slang)|dag]]''. The Fred Dagg character is a stereotypical farmer and New Zealand bloke: clad in a black [[Sleeveless shirt|singlet]] and [[gumboots]], hailing from the isolated rural town of [[Taihape]], and attended by numerous associates (or sons) all named "[[Trev]]". One memorable expression was uttered whenever there was a knock at the door: "That'll be the door." When Clarke first unveiled the character of Fred Dagg in recordings and on New Zealand TV in 1975, he became a national star. He also recorded a series of records and cassettes as Dagg,<ref>
{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article262542297 |title=Dagg's humour |newspaper=[[The Australian Jewish News]] |volume=XLVII |issue=7 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=17 October 1980 |accessdate=4 September 2023 |page=35 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> as well as publishing several books.

In 1977, Clarke moved from New Zealand to [[Australia]], where he went on to establish himself as a top script writer and personality.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Nicklin, Lenore | title=Deadpan Dagg in deadly earnest. -Barry Humphries calls him Australia's best humourist but John Clarke, alias Fred Dagg insists he's a 'totally uninteresting' person- | journal=Bulletin (Sydney) | publication-date=1990-11-20 | issue=20 Nov 1990 | pages=48–49 | issn=1440-7485}}</ref>

He appeared regularly on Australian television delivering political satire sketches with actor comedian [[Bryan Dawe]] until his death in April 2017.<ref>{{Citation | title=Comedy delivered with an acidic bite (30 April 1984) | journal=The bulletin | publication-date=1984-04-30 | publisher=John Haynes and J.F. Archibald | volume=104 | issue=5414 | pages=60 | issn=0007-4039}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Satirist John Clarke, of Clarke and Dawe fame, dies aged 68 |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-10/john-clarke-dies-aged-68/8430174 |work=ABC News |access-date=2017-04-10}}</ref>

==Influence==
Clarke stated that the inspiration for Fred Dagg came primarily from his uncles who would talk in such a way, using intonation and speech rhythm, to cause laughter without the standard telling of jokes.

Much of the comedy coming into New Zealand at the time was British radio and this was an inspiration to him.

==Works==
John Clarke slowly refined the character of Fred Dagg in short comedic interview segments that screened occasionally on the New Zealand current affairs show ''Nationwide'' throughout 1974. In December of that year the character was the subject of a satirical [[mockumentary]] spoof episode on the [[NZBC]] farming show, ''[[Country Calendar]]''. Fred Dagg went on to become a household name in New Zealand in 1975 with further comedy skit appearances on the Television One news programme ''Tonight at Nine'' and with the release by Clarke (as Dagg) of two singles with [[EMI]], "Traditional Air"/"Unlabelled", and "We Don't Know How Lucky We Are"/"Larry Loves Barry", with the latter making it to number 17 on the national music single charts.

An album called ''Fred Dagg's Greatest Hits'' followed and was a massive seller.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Clarke, John | title=Fred Dagg's greatest hits | publication-date=1976 | publisher=EMI | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18376022 | access-date=11 February 2020 }}</ref> Thirty years after its release this album remains one of New Zealand's all-time biggest selling records.

Another single recorded with [[Diamond Lil (band)|Diamond Lil]] was an even bigger hit in 1976. "Gumboots"/"Save The Last Dance For Me" climbed to number 6 on the charts. "Gumboots" was a modified version of [[Billy Connolly]]'s "If It Wasna For Your Wellies", itself an adaptation of the old song "The Work Of The Weavers".<ref>"Gumboots" ''New Zealand Geographic'' No85 May–June 2007</ref>

A second album, ''Fred Dagg Live'' was released in 1976.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Clarke, John | title=Fred Dagg live | publication-date=1976 | publisher=EMI Records | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21074679 | access-date=11 February 2020 }}</ref> Following on in the style of the first, it was also a huge seller.

1977 saw the release of the film ''[[Dagg Day Afternoon]]'', co-directed and co-written by John Clarke and [[Geoff Murphy]], and starring Fred Dagg. The film, under 45 minutes long, is essentially a series of sketches tied together with a loose narrative about Dagg's secret mission to find a "bionic sheep" (or 6 million dollar ram) which has been lost by the government.

By 1978 John Clarke and his young family had settled in Australia but he briefly commuted back to New Zealand during that year to create a Fred Dagg television series for South Pacific Television (TV2). ''The Fred Dagg Lectures on Leisure'' consisted of 20 five-minute long episodes which screened Sunday nights from September 1978 through to February 1979. The programmes featured Fred holding forth on a variety of diverse subjects such as golf, photography, how to write an autobiography, UFO spotting, saving whales and tree-felling. The original master tapes of all these episodes no longer exist and are thought to have either been wiped or lost by SPTV when the company was dissolved and amalgamated with Television One in 1980.<ref>{{cite journal|title=First steps: an overview of John Clarke's television work in New Zealand before 1980|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2040610X.2019.1592370|journal=Comedy Studies|year=2019 |doi=10.1080/2040610X.2019.1592370 |access-date=16 June 2021|last1=Horan |first1=Paul |last2=Hutchings |first2=Mark |volume=10 |pages=119–126 |s2cid=194640769 }}</ref>

A third and final album was released in 1979 called ''The Fred Dagg Tapes''.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Clarke, John | title=The Fred Dagg tapes | publication-date=1979 | publisher=Festival | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18182384 | access-date=11 February 2020 }}</ref>

In 1998 the ''Fred Dagg Anthology'' CD was released by [[Columbia Records|Columbia]].<ref>{{Citation | author1=Clarke, John | author2=Rayner, Eddie | title=Fred Dagg anthology | publication-date=1998 | publisher=Columbia | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/28188668 | access-date=11 February 2020 }}</ref> It contained most of Dagg's best-known material. A lot of the second half of the ''Anthology'' isn't genuine "Fred Dagg" material, having been created by Clarke after he'd retired Fred Dagg and moved to Australia. A number of [[John Clarke (satirist)#Mock interviews|mock interviews]] were first broadcast on Australian current affairs television, and lampoon prominent people (such as businessman [[Alan Bond (businessman)|Alan Bond]]) who would not be familiar to a New Zealand audience. There are also six "farnarkeling" reports, which parody sports news and were first performed by Clarke on the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]]'s ''[[The Gillies Report]]''.

"We Don't Know How Lucky We Are!" was re-released in 1998 with revised lyrics. This re-recording was driven by Graeme Hill, and Sky TV's ''[[SportsCafe]]''.

==Discography==
===Studio and live albums===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
|+ List of albums
! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Title
! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Album details
! scope="col" colspan="1" | Peak chart positions
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | [[ARIA Charts|AUS]]<br/><ref name=aus>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=81}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" | ''Fred Dagg's Greatest Hits''
|
* Released: 1975
* Label: EMI (DAGG 1)
* Format: LP, Cassette
| -
|-
! scope="row" | ''Fred Dagg Live''
|
* Released: 1976
* Label: EMI (DAGG 3)
* Format: LP, Cassette
| -
|-
! scope="row" | ''The Fred Dagg Tapes''
|
* Released: 1979
* Label: EMI (EMC 159)
* Format: LP, CD
| 36
|}

===Compilation albums===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
|+ List of compilation
! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Title
! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Album details
! scope="col" colspan="1" | Peak chart positions
! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:14em;"| [[List of music recording certifications|Certifications]]
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | [[RIANZ|NZ]]<ref name="NZchart">{{cite web|url=https://charts.nz/search.asp?search=FRED+DAGG&cat=s|title=Fred Dagg NZ Charts|website=Charts.nz|access-date=12 July 2020}}</ref>
|-  
! scope="row" | ''Fred Dagg Anthology''
|
* Released: 1998
* Label: Columbia (489885-2)
* Format: CD, Cassette
| 2
|
*[[Recorded Music NZ|RMNZ]]: Gold<ref name="teawa-certs">{{cite web|title=Gold and platinum New Zealand albums to 2013|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/42563/gold-and-platinum-new-zealand-albums-to-2013|website=Te Ara|publisher=Encyclopedia of NZ|access-date=12 July 2020}}</ref>
|- 
! scope="row" | ''The Taihape Years''
|
* Released: August 2008
* Label: Jigsaw
* Format: CD, DD
| 34
|
|}

==See also==
*[[Agriculture in New Zealand]]
*[[Gumboot Day]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://mrjohnclarke.com/projects/fred-dagg Fred Dagg on John Clarke's official website]
* [http://www.sergent.com.au/music/freddagg.html Fred Dagg] on New Zealand Music.
* [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/630295 Fred Dagg's gumboots at the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa]
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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dagg, Fred}}
[[Category:New Zealand humour]]
[[Category:Fictional New Zealand people]]
[[Category:Fictional farmers]]