John Clarke (born 29 July 1948, Palmerston North, New Zealand – died 9 April 2017, Grampians National Park, Victoria, Australia) was a New Zealand comedian, writer, and satirist. Since the 1970s he had lived in Australia and was a regular actor and writer on Australian television. He created the character . Apart from the Fred Dagg character, he may be best known for the satirical mock interviews he performed with , first on the Nine Network in 1989, and later on the ABC.