Bryan Dawe
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Bryan John Dawe (born 21 March 1948) is an Australian writer, comedian, actor, political satirist, songwriter, photographer and social activist. He is known predominantly for his long-running collaboration with fellow satirist, John Clarke, which lasted from 1989 until Clarke's death in 2017; Dawe has also achieved success as a painter and public speaker.


Collaboration with John Clarke

Dawe was a regular collaborator of fellow satirist the late John Clarke in the form of mock interviews, first for '' A Current Affair'' and then for '' The 7.30 Report''. Dawe would take on the role of interviewer, with Clarke playing the role of a prominent figure or politician. Unusually for topical satire of this type-such as one of Clarke's earlier ventures, ''
The Gillies Report ''The Gillies Report'' is an Australian topical satirical sketch comedy television series that was broadcast on the ABC between 1984 and 1985. The program was best known for sending up politicians and media personalities of the day such as Pri ...
'' (1984-1985)-Clarke never attempted to explicitly impersonate the figures he represents and always performed them in his own voice and manner. The format generally involved Dawe trying to press for an answer and Clarke trying to evade the question. The duo began writing and presenting the segments in 1989 and switched to ''The 7.30 Report'' not long after leaving ''A Current Affair'' in 1997. The pair continued to present their weekly interview segment at the end of the Thursday edition of '' The 7.30 Report''. During the 2014 Australian television season, ''Clarke and Dawe'' became a self-contained program on the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...
. The interviews have also been compiled into several books and CD releases, two of which, '' Great Interviews of the Twentieth Century'' and '' The Annual Report'', won the
ARIA Award The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austra ...
for Best Australian Comedy Record. ''Secret Men's Business'' was nominated for the same award in 1997.


Other roles

Dawe has a number of other roles outside of his interview collaborations with Clarke. He is a songwriter, winning (along with musician Steve Groves) the Australian Song Festival and then representing Australia in Tokyo at the World Song Festival. Prior to this, in the early 1970s, he worked as an A&R manager for
Astor Records Astor Records was an Australian recorded music manufacturer and distributor that operated from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. Astor was the trade name of the consumer electronics manufacturer Radio Corporation Pty. Ltd., a division of Electro ...
and played a significant role in making the
Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. He has written and ...
album '' Hot August Night'' a major hit in Australia. He is also a painter and photographer and has featured in several gallery exhibitions which combine these two interests. In the 1980s he wrote and performed with actress Jody Seidel in a long-running radio comedy series centred on the characters of elderly couple Roly and Sonya Parks. In 1990, after four years as head of ABC Radio's comedy unit, he had a stint as both a writer and actor on the comedy series '' Fast Forward''. Dawe had a minor role in the successful Australian film '' The Castle'' in 1997. However, of these, the most successful was his role, along with Clarke, in the satirical series '' The Games''. The series was a
mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...
about the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and ran from 1998 to 2000. Dawe also had a minor role in the 2003 film '' The Honourable Wally Norman''. In addition to his interview commitments, Dawe regularly appears on the speaker's circuit as an MC, as guest speaker: either as himself or as one of his alter egos, Sir Murray Rivers QC (retired). Dawe has written and performed extensively on ABC Radio with his satirical characters Sir Murray Rivers and Roly Parks. Some of his Roly Park's ''Letters from Kalangadoo'' segments have subsequently been released on a series of CDs. Dawe has been chair of Common Fate, a not for profit organisation supporting the reconciliation work of Aboriginal leaders Pat Dodson and Paul Briggs. He is a longtime supporter of the fight for a Palestine homeland. He is also an inveterate traveller and has written various articles and a radio series on his travels. He has organised and conducted group tours to Eastern Europe, Syria and Jordan. In 2012, Dawe had a guest role in the third season of the Australian drama series '' Tangle''.


Discography


Studio albums


Awards and nominations


ARIA Music Awards

The
ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...
is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of
Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions o ...
. Bryan Dawe has won two awards from three nominations. , - ,
1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...
, ''Great Interviews of the 20th Century'' , rowspan="3", Best Comedy Release , , - ,
1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...
, ''The Annual Report'' , , - ,
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
, ''Secret Men's Business'' , , -


References


External links

*
Clarke & Dawe on John Clarke's official website
(Archived copy) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dawe, Bryan ARIA Award winners Australian male comedians Australian radio personalities Australian satirists Living people 1948 births Comedians from Adelaide