John Clarke

For over 40 years, the iconic John Clarke tickled the funny bones of Australian and New Zealand audiences. Now, in this intimately produced documentary, hear his story in his own words. In a remarkable series of recorded conversations between John and his daughter, writer/director Lorin Clarke, he traces his steadfast resistance to authority back to his childhood and offers delightful insights into his four decades in the entertainment industry.

Fat middle aged 24/7 drunkard Les Patterson represents Australia at the UN where his fart literally incinerates an Arab ambassador. Patterson is reassigned to the Middle East so he can be tortured to death by the country he insulted. Patterson's arrival is the prefect distract of a coup and he is spared. At a bar Patterson meets a bio weapons scientist who's developed a horrific disease for the KGB whom plan to distribute it to the Pentagon via toilet seats. Patterson of course is far too drunk to understand anything happening and teams up with Dane Edna to save the world.

Barry McKenzie sets off for England with his aunt, Edna Everage, to advance his cultural education. Bazza is an innocent abroad, fond of beer, Bondi and beautiful sheilas, but he soon settles into the Australian ghetto in Earls Court, where his old mate Curly has a flat.

The Sounds of Aus tells the story of the Australian accent: how it came about, how it has evolved over two hundred years of colonial and cultural history, and how it is today.

A reserved man in need of a job, Carl Fitzgerald finds employment at a Greek restaurant. Upon meeting waitress Sophie, Carl begins dating the attractive woman. Though it seems things are improving for Carl, an unexpected situation leads to the death of Mustafa, a shady coworker, and Carl must figure out how to cover up the incident. Unsure of what to do, Carl enlists the help of his buddy, Dave, to get rid of Mustafa's corpse.

Featuring the characters from Murray Ball's "Footrot Flats" (New Zealands most beloved local cartoon strip), questions to be answered include: Will Wal Footrot win the affections of Cheeky Hobson over the sleazy Spit Murphy? Will the Dog win the affections of the lovely Jess? Will Wal make a good impression on the selectors at Saturday's rugby match? Can Rangi and Pongo save Cooch's prize stag from the depths of Blackwater Station, home of the Murphys, their vicious dogs and deadly croco-pigs? All this and more will be answered as the small town of Raupo comes to life on the big screen.

The political adviser to Australia's Minister of the Arts investigates the suspicious death of a disgruntled artist.

Investigative journalist Alf Winters (Morrison), meets his American girlfriend, Melissa Jones (Eilbacher), at Auckland airport. As they park outside Alf's house, it explodes. It is soon apparent that persons unknown want them dead, but the police are either skeptical or in the pay of those responsible. They play hide and seek around New Zealand with the stalkers, all the while coping with car chases, plane crashes, bullets and explosions.

On an obscure Pacific Island just north of Australia, the Japanese Empire has operated a prisoner of war camp for Australian soldiers. At the close of World War II, the liberated POWs tell a gruesome tale of mass executions of over eight hundred persons as well as torture style killings of downed Australian airmen. In an attempt to bring those responsible to justice, the Australian Army establishes a War Crimes Tribunal to pass judgement on the Japanese men and officers who ran the Ambon camp. In an added twist, a high ranking Japanese admiral is implicated, and politics become involoved with justice as American authorities in Japan lobby for the Admiral's release. Written by Anthony Hughes

Auteur filmmaker Paul Cox contemplates his own mortality and his life's work as he wits for a life saving liver transplant.

Frank Mollard, divorced but still attached, can't move on and also can't sell a house in a property boom, much less connect with his teenage son. One night Frank gets a phone call from his mother. Nothing out of the ordinary there – apart from the fact that she died the year before.

In this offbeat comedy, an unlikely romance develops between a flamboyant, middle-aged piano tuner and an extremely timid office worker.

When dwindling membership and increasing overheads makes a local bowling club a prime candidate for a takeover, it's all hands on deck to save the club, in what turns into an epic battle where young meets old, greed meets good and people rise to the occasion in extraordinary circumstances.

Documentary by John Clarke about his greatest creation - Fred Dagg.

A disturbed woman murders her husband, and others, so that she can be haunted by their "wronged" spirits.

Roy Höllsdotter (Darren Casey) is a stand-up comedian in his late 30s making an adequate living as a pub performer. However, all is not well in his personal life – he’s drinking too much and has been stalking his ex-girlfriend Cate (Asher Keddie). When his best friend Simmo (Luke Elliot) finds out what Roy is doing, he tries to intervene, but Roy’s problems only worsen and begin to affect his ability to create and perform his stand-up routines.

A series of sketches about Kiwi extraordinaire Fred Dagg's secret mission to find a "bionic sheep" which has been lost by the government.

The story of two itinerant con men, the Wild Man and the Colonel, who operate on the West Coast gold mining towns of the New Zealand South Island during the latter part of the last century.

Kath and Kim, a dysfunctional mother-daughter duo, navigate through relationship troubles, personal issues and life while trying to stay sane.

The Games was an Australian mockumentary television series about the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The series was originally broadcast on the ABC and had two seasons of 13 episodes each, the first in 1998 and the second in 2000. 'The Games' starred satirists John Clarke and Bryan Dawe along with Australian comedian Gina Riley and actor Nicholas Bell. It was written by John Clarke and Ross Stevenson. The series centred on the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and satirised corruption and cronyism in the Olympic movement, bureaucratic ineptness in the New South Wales public service, and unethical behaviour within politics and the media. An unusual feature of the show was that the characters shared the same name as the actors who played them, to enhance the illusion of a documentary on the Sydney Games.

The late sports lover and renowned satirist John Clarke looks at how Australia came to take its sport so seriously and what it means to be a sporting nation.

The greenhouse effect has plunged the near-future world into recession and the Stark Corporation is making billions from the crisis; an eco protester ends caught up in a global conspiracy involving some Australian land, toxic waste, and a mysterious beauty called Rachel. Based on the novel Stark by Ben Elton.

As our third longest serving Prime Minister, Andrew Dugdale mattered. He dined with presidents and kings, hosted world summits and changed the lives of millions of his fellow Australians. But now he's retired; a not-so-elder statesman with time on his hands to ponder the question - was it all worth it? Not that he's asking of course. No, his inquisitive and over enthusiastic ghostwriter Ellen has an unhelpfully insatiable appetite for the truth.