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'Well, The Front Fell Off': The Best Of John Clarke

"I'd just like to the make the point that is not normal."

From his iconic sketches with Bryan Dawe, to The Games' brilliantly incisive take on the absurdity of bureaucracy, satirist John Clarke will be remembered as a legend of Australian comedy.

It was announced on Monday that New Zealand-born Clarke had died, aged 68, while hiking in Victoria over the weekend.

As a duo, 'Clarke and Dawe' managed to cut through to the core of bad politics with a deft hand, making light of domestic and foreign policy with the timing of an Abbott and Costello routine.

Perhaps their most famous sketch, 'The Front Fell Off', easily stands the test of time nearly 26 years after it first went to air.

From former Labor minister Joel Fitzgibbon's handling of immigration policy, to the breakdown of debt and bail-outs in Europe's fraught financial crisis -- Clarke and Dawe were always at the cutting edge of current affairs.

With Clarke playing the subject and Dawe playing the interviewer, the pair's timing was second to none. In this popular bit about the U.S. oil spill from 2010, Clarke nails the role of a spokesman in damage control: refusing to answer questions directly, wrapping himself up in corporate double-speak.

In 1998, as Sydney prepared to host the Olympics, Clarke masterminded 'The Games', a satirical mockumentary which documented the organisation of the event.

One of the best scenes depicts a conversation about the Olympic Rings, from the episode 'Rural and Environment' in the first season.

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