Stand-up comedian and actor Anthony Clark, best known for starring as Greg Warner across six seasons of the CBS sitcom Yes, Dear, died on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at age 62. His former Yes, Dear co-star Mike O’Malley announced the death on social media, and Clark’s longtime manager Barry Katz confirmed the passing to Us Weekly.
Deadline reported that Clark died from complications related to pneumonia, according to the Hindustan Times, though his family has not publicly confirmed a cause of death.
O’Malley first shared the news on Wednesday, Nov. 11, according to TV Insider, while E! News reported that O’Malley posted his tribute to Instagram on Thursday, Nov. 12. Alongside snapshots from their final day on the Yes, Dear set, O’Malley recalled speaking with Clark on the phone three weeks earlier, noting that Clark had them laughing loudly as usual. O’Malley also shared that Clark had invested his money well and essentially retired after the sitcom wrapped 20 years ago.
Tributes from Mike O’Malley and Fellow Comedians
Before the two actors played brothers-in-law on television, O’Malley knew Clark from his stand-up sets in Massachusetts during the 1990s. “Anthony Clark died yesterday. He was a hilarious guy. When my wife Lisa and I were dating back in the mid-nineties, Anthony was already famous in Boston, regularly selling out comedy shows,” O’Malley wrote in his social media tribute. “He was so unique—one of those comics who is laughing along with you at the absurdity of his stories and observations and it just made you laugh harder because he was laughing.”
Katz, who represented Clark, described his longtime client in a tribute reported by E! News as “arguably one of the funniest people that I have ever met in my lifetime.” In his statement to Us Weekly, Katz added that “[Clark was] one of the funniest and most talented comedian/actors I have ever had the pleasure of watching.”
Yes, Dear executive producer Greg Garcia told Deadline, as reported by Parade, that Clark had been joyful and encouraging when he recently learned Garcia was trying stand-up comedy for the first time, adding that the two had been laughing on the phone and trading jokes just weeks earlier.
Fellow veterans of the Boston comedy circuit also paid tribute to Clark’s live stage work. Comedian Jay Mohr wrote on social media, “Never saw anyone destroy like Tony at Stitches in Boston,” while Dane Cook remembered sharing stages with him at the Faneuil Hall Comedy Connection, calling Clark one of the best live acts he had ever seen. Comedian Nick Swardson, who opened for Clark for years, remembered him on Instagram for his stand-up work out of Boston and his roles in Boston Common, Yes, Dear, and the film The Rock.
From Boston Comedy Clubs to ‘Yes, Dear’
Born on April 4, 1964, in Lynchburg, Virginia, Clark attended Emerson College in Boston, graduating in 1986 with a degree in mass communications. He built a major following in local comedy clubs before making his television debut on PBS’s American Playhouse in 1991. In 1995, he appeared on HBO’s Young Comedians special alongside Dave Chappelle, Dave Attell, and Garry Shandling.
Clark landed early screen roles in the films Dogfight, The Thing Called Love in 1993, and Michael Bay’s The Rock in 1996, as well as Ellen DeGeneres’ sitcom Ellen. In 1996, he booked the lead role of Boyd Pritchett on the NBC sitcom Boston Common, followed by a role in the sitcom Soul Man.
From October 2000 to February 2006, Clark starred as studio executive Greg Warner across 122 episodes of CBS’s Yes, Dear opposite O’Malley, Jean Louisa Kelly, and Liza Snyder. The multi-camera comedy followed two couples with contrasting parenting styles living on the same property. After Yes, Dear concluded its six-season run, Clark hosted Season 4 of NBC’s Last Comic Standing in 2006 and made a few additional screen appearances, including the film My Uncle Rafael, before stepping away from Hollywood after 2019.