ALEX BROWN
Anthony Clark, the stand-up comedian who played uptight film-industry dad Greg Warner on CBS’s Yes, Dear for six seasons, has died. He was 62. His friend and former co-star Mike O’Malley shared the news on social media, saying Clark died on Tuesday, November 10, according to Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. Fox News, citing Deadline, reports the cause was complications of pneumonia; no other details about his death have been released.
Tributes from the comedy world have been pouring in since O’Malley’s post, and the news has been one of the most-read entertainment stories of the week, joining a run of recent losses that also includes Mike Hammer star Stacy Keach and Soul Food’s Irma P. Hall.
How did Anthony Clark die?
When O’Malley first announced the death on November 11, The Hollywood Reporter noted that a cause had not been made public. Fox News Digital later reported, attributing the detail to Deadline, that Clark died from complications of pneumonia. His family has not released a public statement beyond what has been shared by friends and representatives, and Nerdism will update this story if more is confirmed.
In his tribute, O’Malley remembered Clark as a comic who laughed along with the audience at his own stories, which only made the crowd laugh harder. He added that the two had spoken by phone about three weeks earlier, and that Clark had largely stepped away from show business after the sitcom wrapped. ABC7 Los Angeles highlighted one line from the post: “I was a fan before I was a friend.”
Clark’s longtime manager, Barry Katz, told Fox News Digital that Clark was one of the funniest and most gifted comedians he had ever represented, and comedian Nick Swardson also shared a throwback photo of the pair on Instagram, ABC7 reported.
Who was Anthony Clark? From Lynchburg to the Boston comedy scene
Clark was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, and studied mass communication at Boston’s Emerson College, graduating in 1986. The Hollywood Reporter notes he won a top college comedian prize while still a student there. He built his name in Boston’s stand-up clubs, where, according to O’Malley, he was already selling out shows by the mid-1990s, and he was featured in HBO’s Young Comedians special in 1995.
Before television, he picked up small film roles in the early ’90s, including Dogfight and The Thing Called Love, and he had a memorable bit part as a hotel barber in Michael Bay’s 1996 action hit The Rock.
Anthony Clark’s TV shows: Boston Common, Soul Man and Yes, Dear
Clark’s first sitcom lead came with NBC’s Boston Common (1996–1997), where he played Boyd Pritchett, a Virginia transplant who follows his sister to college in Boston, a role that leaned on his own background. He followed it with ABC’s Soul Man, the Home Improvement spin-off, playing Reverend Todd Tucker.
His biggest success arrived in 2000 with Yes, Dear, the CBS family comedy from Greg Garcia and Alan Kirschenbaum. Clark starred as Greg Warner, a high-strung new dad, opposite Jean Louisa Kelly, with O’Malley and Liza Snyder as the looser in-laws next door. The series ran six seasons and 122 episodes, ending in 2006, and helped launch Billy Gardell, who later led Mike & Molly.
After Yes, Dear ended, Clark took over hosting duties on NBC’s Last Comic Standing for its fourth season in 2006. Later credits included the indie comedies Say Uncle and My Uncle Rafael, and he released the stand-up special Anthony Clark: Ambiguous in 2012. His last screen credit was a 2019 episode of the series West of Liberty.
Where to watch Yes, Dear
Streaming rights for older CBS sitcoms shift often, so fans looking to revisit Clark’s run as Greg Warner should check current listings on services such as Paramount+ and free ad-supported platforms. Memorial details have not been announced. If more information about his death or a public tribute is released, we’ll add it here.
This is a developing story.
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Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, ABC7 Los Angeles, Fox News, E! News via Yahoo