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Lenny Clarke (born September 16, 1953) is an American comedian, famous for his thick Boston accent. Sometime during the 1970s, as related in the Comedy Central roast of Clarke's friend Denis Leary, Clarke ran for mayor of Cambridge, MA. When asked by Leary what his platform was, Clarke replied "Fuck the Kennedys". Clarke had buttons and bumper stickers made with this slogan on them. In an attempt to spark interest in his campaign, Clarke stole a Boston bus and began driving it around until he realized it was just him driving a bus. Clarke then began to pick up random people and drop them at their doors.
Clarke was the most famous "saloon comic" in Boston during the 1980's, the heyday of the Boston comedy scene. The DVD release When Standup Stood Out (2006) details Clarke's early career and his 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. As of 2006, Clarke appears 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.
Clarke has been cast in the US remake of the hit British show Life on Mars, although it is not known which character he will play.
During the early 1980s he spent a few years as regular host of the comedy open-mike nights at the now-defunct Ding-Ho Restaurant in Cambridge, Mass.
He is now doing stand-up for high school functions in the Boston area, including Malden Catholic High School in Malden, Massachusetts.
Attended University of Massachusetts
Long-time stand-up comedian.
Recently (2006) lost over 100 pounds on a diet.