Biography

Jim grew up in the small college town of Claremont, California. After earning his degree in Art History from the University of California at Berkeley, Jim moved to San Francisco where he and his high-school friend Barry Lank formed the comedy team of Lank and Earl, debuting at the legendary Holy City Zoo on Clement Street in 1985. Over the next ten years they gained a reputation as "comics' comics" for their unique and offbeat humor, and appeared in a variety of stage and television shows.

Jim went on to become a writer for the popular The Daily Show. During his 4 years there, he won the prestigious Emmy and Peabody Awards.

After leaving The Daily Show, Jim went on to become a pioneer in liberal talk radio as a charter writer and performer for Air America Radio. His work at Air America included writing for the Al Franken, Sam Seder, Janeane Garofalo and Randi Rhodes. But he is best known for creating, writing and performing the top-rated morning comedy segments Rapture Watch, War on Brains, Mourning Remembrance, Sammy the Stem Cell, and many others for the Morning Sedition show starring Marc Maron and Mark Riley. You can also see Jim in the Air America documentary Left of the Dial (2005) and hear his best performances archived for your listening pleasure on his web site.

Returning to California, Jim became head-writer and co-host for the Marc Maron Show on Air America's Los Angeles affiliate KTLK AM 1150. Following that, Jim became a staff writer on TalkShow with Spike Feresten, a late-night comedy show on Fox.

Jim was also head-writer for The Friday ITch, a comedic news web show appearing every Friday at Techweb.com. He also contributed regularly to Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen and the syndicated The Jackie Guerra Show on KTLK 1150AM.

Jim is a regular featured writer and performer on the David Feldman Comedy Podcast. On the show he's written for and performed with: Patton Oswalt, Jeff Garlin, Robert Smigel, Rick Overton, Paul F. Tompkins, Paul Provenza, Greg Proops, Neal Brennan, Tom Kenny and Carlos Alazraqui.

Jim's band, The Clutter Family, released its eponymous debut CD in 2010. The collection of songs has been described as "a crabby, perverse, and catchy mixture of sardonic lyrics and upbeat melodies."
- IMDb mini biography by: Jim Earl