James Finn Garner was born in Detroit and grew up in the company town of Dearborn, Michigan. After graduating from the University of Michigan (where he won a Hopwood Award for one of his short plays), he moved to Chicago and worked in a number of jobs, including house painter, baker, warehouse clerk, public relations whipping boy, and editor of real estate appraisal publications. Seeking a creative outlet, he began to take improvisational comedy classes and terrorized various Chicago nightclubs for many years.
His most infamous project–the performance art comedy troupe JazzPoetry…TRUTH!–was labeled “out-and-out painful in its sheer stupidity” by the Chicago Tribune and “one of the funniest things I have ever seen” by one of the founders of The Second City. His other stage creations include “The Waveland Radio Playhouse,” “McCracken After Dark,” and “Theatre of the Bizarre.” One of the pieces from “Theatre of the Bizarre” later evolved into Politically Correct Bedtime Stories. (source)
