Jeffrey Klarik is an American television writer and producer. He created the series Half & Half and co-produced the sitcom Mad About You. With his partner David Crane, Klarik co-created the award-winning comedy Episodes and the ensemble sitcom The Class.
Early life and education Klarik was raised in Connecticut in a Jewish family of Russian descent. His father was a comedy fan and took him to see performers including Schecky Greene, Jackie Mason and Woody Allen in comedy clubs. He graduated from the Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts in 1969.
Career In the 1990s, Klarik and his partner David Crane both wrote for the HBO series Dream On. Crane went on to serve as the executive producer on Friends, and Klarik has described himself as an "unofficial writer" on that show.
After working on the CBS sitcom Ink, Klarik created the series Half & Half for UPN. Starring Rachel True and Essence Atkins as estranged half-sisters, the show's pilot premiered in 1999, and the series ran from 2002 to 2006. He served as a writer and co-producer on the NBC sitcom Mad About You starring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt.
Klarik and Crane co-created The Class, which debuted in 2006. Though it was inspired by the popular series Lost and marketed as "the next Friends," the show was cancelled after just 19 episodes. The duo also collaborated on the BBC/Showtime sitcom Episodes, which aired from 2011 to 2017 and featured Friends star Matt LeBlanc as a fictional version of himself working on a series with Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig playing the showrunners. The series was nominated 4 times for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards.
In 2017, Klarik and Crane were recognized for their contributions to television at the Nantucket Film Festival.
Personal life On New Year's Eve 2016, Klarik and Crane eloped after over 30 years of dating; the couple met through mutual friends. They told The Advocate how their experiences as gay men informed their work in a joint 2017 interview.
Filmography YearTitleNotes1990-1996Dream OnWriter1992-1999Mad About YouWriter, co-producer1995-1998The Naked TruthProducer, writer1996-1997InkProducer, writer2001Carly (pilot)Creator, executive producer2002B.S (pilot)Creator, executive producer2002-2006Half & HalfCreator, consulting producer2006-2007The Class Creator, writer, executive producer2011-2017EpisodesCreator, writer, executive producer
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref 1995Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Comedy Series Mad About You 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Writing for a Comedy SeriesEpisodes 2012 Writers Guild of America Awards Television: New Series 2013 Writers Guild of America Awards Television: Episodic Comedy British Academy Television Awards Best Situation Comedy Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series 2014 Primetime Emmy Awards 2015 Primetime Emmy Awards 2017 Nantucket Film Festival Excellence in Television Writing Episodes / Friends / The Class
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