Geoffrey Rush, David Wenham and Gina Riley joined a line-up of some of Australia's biggest names in television to pay a final tribute to renowned satirist John Clarke on Sunday.

About 2000 people, among them family, friends and fans of the New Zealand-born comedic legend, known for being one-half of the ABC's long-running satire Clarke & Dawe, packed out the Melbourne Town Hall to farewell the late Clarke in the most fitting fashion possible; with funny people reading aloud things they find funny.

Geoffrey Rush spoke at the memorial for John Clarke at Melbourne Town Hall. Credit:Paul Jeffers

Humorists Read Humorists, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival's longest running event, was Clarke's idea some 30 years ago.

"This is a very dad idea, no bells and whistles, no centralised power structure, very democratic, and all about a mutual affection for the written word," daughter Lorin Clarke said.