Fisher spent his childhood in Cattaraugus County, New York, a rural area in western New York, south of Buffalo. He was born in Salamanca, got his first job at WGGO there and graduated from Little Valley Central High School in 1965. He attended college at the State University of New York at Fredonia but left before graduating for a four-year stint in the Air Force. He was stationed in Syracuse, New York and attended Syracuse University, majoring in drama and Russian; he later worked for the Air Force as a Russian translator. He has a Master of Fine Arts from New England College.