Life and career

Clarke was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was the most famous "saloon comic" in Boston during the 1980s, the heyday of the Boston comedy scene. The DVD release When Standup Stood Out (2006) details Clarke's early career and affiliations with other famous Boston comics, such as Steven Wright and Denis Leary, his good friends. In 1980, Clarke wrote and starred in a local television show Lenny Clarke's Late Show featuring Wright and Leary, in collaboration with Boston comedy writer Martin Olson. Clarke and Olson were roommates, and their apartment, known by comedians as "The Barracks", was a notorious "crash pad" for comics visiting Boston, and the subject of a documentary film as Clarke and Leary explain in When Standup Stood Out.

Since his early days in Boston, Clarke starred in his own short-lived network sitcom Lenny (1990), and in such TV shows as Contest Searchlight, The Job, The John Larroquette Show and It's All Relative and movies like Monument Ave., Fever Pitch and Southie. From 2004 to 2011, Clarke appeared in the recurring role of Uncle Teddy on the FX comedy-drama Rescue Me.

In 2006, Clarke and Leary appeared on television during a Red Sox telecast and, upon realizing that Red Sox 1st baseman Kevin Youkilis is Jewish, delivered a criticism of Mel Gibson's anti-semitic comments.

In 2007, Clarke played the role of Ron Abbot on the short lived Fox comedy series The Winner. The show was cancelled after six episodes due to low ratings on May 16, 2007.

Clark is also an occasional guest on the WEEI radio shows in Boston. It was on this show that he announced he would be a regular on the 2009 Fox Sitcom Brothers as the racist neighbor who is married to a black woman. He wound up appearing in three episodes before the series was cancelled. In the 2011-12 TV season, he landed a role as the main character's father on the NBC mid-season replacement sitcom Are You There, Chelsea?.

On the evening of January 19, 2010, Clarke appeared on stage at the victory speech of Republican Senator elect from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, who was elected to the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Edward Kennedy.

He had appeared on ESPN's: 30 for 30 - 4 Days in October; alongside ESPN sports and pop culture columnist Bill Simmons as a narrator giving insight on the 2004 ALCS comeback by the Red Sox against the New York Yankees.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Director	Notes
1987	Smart Alex		Steve Oedekerk
1988	The Wrong Guys	Cab Driver	Danny Bilson
1996	Two If by Sea	Kelly	Bill Bennett
1997	Meet Wally Sparks	Joey	Peter Baldwin
1998	Monument Ave.	Skunk	Ted Demme
	Southie	Fat Eddie	John Shea
	Getting Personal	L.J.	Ron Burrus
	There's Something About Mary	Fireman	Peter and Bobby Farrelly
	Rounders	Savino	John Dahl
2000	Me, Myself & Irene	Barber Shop Car Owner	Peter and Bobby Farrelly
	Massholes	Cop	John Chase
2001	What's the Worst That Could Happen?	Windham	Sam Weisman
2002	Moonlight Mile	Gordy	Brad Silberling
2003	Stuck on You	Jailhouse Comic	Peter and Bobby Farrelly
	Just Another Story	Jelly	GQ
2004	Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events	Gruff Grocer	Brad Silberling
2005	Fever Pitch	Uncle Carl	Peter and Bobby Farrelly
2007	Sides	Lenny	Franco Trombino
	The Child King	Tow Truck Owner	Frank Kerr
2008	What Doesn't Kill You	Hogie	Brian Goodman
2010	Hosed	Lenny	Marc A. Dole	Short film
2011	The Restaurant	Mario	Robert Scali	Short film
2012	Here Comes the Boom	Loud Dietrich Fan	Frank Coraci
2014	Lazarus Rising	Father Parsons	John Depew
2015	Three Sheets	Lucky	Rufus Chaffee

TV series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Lenny	Lenny Callahan	Series Lead (1990-1991)
1991	The Sunday Comics	Host
1993	The John Larroquette Show	Officer Adam Hampton	1993-1996
1998	Love Boat: The Next Wave	Casey O'Keefe	1.01 "Smooth Sailing"
1999	Touched by an Angel	Larry	6.03 "The Last Day of the Rest of Your Life"
2001	The Job	Frank Harrigan	2001-2002
2002	7th Heaven	Lenny	7.06 "Regarding Eric"
2003	It's All Relative	Mace O'Neil	2003-2004
2004	Rescue Me	Uncle Teddy	2004-2011
2007	The Winner	Ron Abbott
2009	Brothers	Lenny	1.05 "Lenny"; 1.06 "Commercial/Coach DMV"; 1.11 "Christmas"
2010	'Til Death	Mr. Donnelly	4.23 "Joy's Mom"
2011	Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe	Rawlins	Television film
2012	Are You There, Chelsea?	Melvin Newman
2013	Clear History	Poker Buddy	Television film
	DECo.	Jim Zimmer	1.01 "Pilot"; 1.04 "The Visit"
2014	Sirens	Johnny's Father	1.04 "Famous Last Words"; 1.06 "The Finger"; 1.10 "Shotgun Wedding"
	Wicked Bites	Himself	1.22 "Pitching in for Kids with the Boston Red Sox"

Producer/executive producer

Year	Title	Notes
2002	Contest Searchlight

Writer

Year	Title	Notes
1985	Nothin' Goes Right	Uncredited
1991	The Sunday Comics
2002	Comedy Central Presents	6.05 "Lenny Clarke"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]