Tom Bodett

Thomas Edward Bodett was born on February 23, 1955, in Champaign, Illinois, and raised in Sturgis, Michigan.^[1] As of 2013^[update], he resided in Dummerston, Vermont, where he is a member of the town's board of selectmen.^[2] After moving to Vermont, Bodett took up woodworking. In 2019, he co-founded HatchSpace, a non-profit workshop in Brattleboro, Vermont, where residents can use tools and collaborate with others.^[3]

In 1986, Bodett was building houses in Homer, Alaska, and contributing to NPR's All Things Considered. A creative director at the Richards Group ad agency heard him on NPR and hired him to record a commercial for Motel 6. Bodett ad-libbed the famous line "We'll leave the light on for you" and has been the chain's spokesperson ever since.^[4] The director David Fowler hired him because Bodett "sound[ed] like the kind of person who stays there."^[5] Fowler said he thought, "Gosh, if I only had an account for a national budget motel brand with a sense of humor and humility, I could make a heck of an advertising campaign with this guy."^[4]

In 2005, Motel 6 began using Bodett for their wake-up calls. The chain hoped to bring a more personal touch to people's day by using their spokesperson's voice.^[6] Bodett was also featured on the first Motel 6 podcast, released for the holidays.

In November 2015, a new marketing campaign featuring Bodett's voice premiered, highlighted by TV and radio commercials touting the investment in and renovation of Motel 6 properties nationwide.

From 1993 to 1994, Bodett was also the spokesperson for Jamesway department stores in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, and recorded radio commercials for it. A discount chain, Jamesway filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the fall of 1995 and closed at the end of the year.

As a broadcaster, Bodett hosted two radio programs: The End of the Road (1988–1990) and Bodett & Company (1993).

In 1999, Bodett started The Loose Leaf Book Company, a radio program that centered on author and book interviews, discussions, and dramatizations.

He was a contributor to The Bob Edwards Show on XMPR and remains a member of the stable of panelists on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, a National Public Radio news quiz show.^[7]

In 2015, he was interviewed as a guest on Episode 301 of Public Radio International's Live Wire Radio.

Bodett hosted the public television program Travels on America's Historic Trails (1997).^[4][8] He also appeared on the Animaniacs cartoon series, doing the voice-over for "Mime Time" and the "Good Idea/Bad Idea" segments featuring Mr. Skullhead, had a brief cameo in Pinky and the Brain, and narrated the direct-to-video Animaniacs movie Wakko's Wish (1999).

Bodett was a regular columnist for the webzine Mr. Showbiz.

Bodett's name was used humorously for various non-playable characters in the Dungeons & Dragons podcast series The Adventure Zone, though these were voiced by DM Griffin McElroy, not Bodett himself.^[9] In the graphic novel under the same name, an uncanny likeness of Bodett can be seen interacting with the series' main characters.^[10]

In 1999, Bodett published his first children's book, Williwaw!^[11]

• As Far As You Can Go Without a Passport (1986), ISBN 0-201-10661-2
• Small Comforts (1987), ISBN 0-201-13417-9
• The End of the Road (1989), ISBN 0-688-08701-9
• The Big Garage on Clear Shot (1990), ISBN 0-688-09525-9
• The Free Fall of Webster Cummings (1996), ISBN 0-7868-6209-2
• America's Historic Trails (1997), ISBN 0-912333-00-6
• Williwaw! (2000), ISBN 0-375-80687-3
• Norman Tuttle on the Last Frontier (2004), ISBN 0-679-89031-9
• "Alaska A to Z: The Most Comprehensive Book of Facts and Figures Ever Compiled About Alaska" (1993), ISBN 1878425757
• "The Free Fall of Webster Cummings: Volume One of "Tom Bodett's American Odyssey" (1960)
• "America's Historic Trails: With Tom Bodett" (1997), ISBN 0912333006
• "Growing Up, Growing Old & Going Fishing at the End of the Road" ISBN 0553470183
• "Those Grand Occasions at the end of the Road"
• "As Far as You Can Go Without a Passport: Views from the End of the Road" (1985)
• "First Words"
• "Old Fools & Young Hearts"
• "No Place Like Home"
• "(The) Last Decent Parking Place in North America", ISBN 055345272X

Audio Cassette - 1991 by Random House Audio "The Free Fall of Webster Cummings: Volume One of "Tom Bodett's American Odyssey" (1960) Audio Cassette

• "The Great Divide, Volume Two (Tom Bodett's American Odyssey)" (1995), ISBN 1561008567 Audio Cassette
• "Peach Picking Time, Volume Three (Tom Bodett's American Odyssey)" (1995), ISBN 1561008575 Audio Cassette
• "No Place Like Home, Volume Four (Tom Bodett's American Odyssey)" (1996), ISBN 1561008583 Audio Cassette
• "Ed's Fruits and Vegetables, Volume 5 (Tom Bodett's American Odyssey)" (1996), ISBN 1561008591 Audio Cassette

Song, Tom Bodett by Mark David Manders

• "Better Part of the Road"(1992), ISBN 0553470191 Audio Cassette

• Official website
• Tom Bodett at IMDb