Dick Clair was born Richard Jones in San Francisco, California. He served in the military for two years from 1955 to 1957.

He never married or had children. In the early 1970s, Clair performed husband-and-wife comedy routines for The Ed Sullivan Show and The Dean Martin Show with his writing partner Jenna McMahon. Clair was a screenwriter for episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show in addition to his Emmy Award winning writing for the comedy-variety TV program The Carol Burnett Show.