tomboddet

Tom Bodett was born a middle class baby boomer among the corn and cows of the Midwest, and raised in the small town factory culture of Sturgis, Michigan. He learned to write terrible poetry at a young age and attended Michigan State University just long enough to produce several empty -headed short stories. Before fleeing to Western skies for something even remotely interesting to write about he sold his books, records, and his 1955 Pontiac StarChief with the Hydra-matic transmission, and stuck a thumb toward the Pacific Ocean.

Upon arrival in the West he blew himself apart on a high power line in the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon precipitating his return to Michigan where he licked his wounds (not really) while driving a taxi and steering clear of all things electrical.

Returning to the interstates one year later — uglier but fully recovered — Bodett pushed his luck all the way to the end of the road, arriving in Homer, Alaska in the summer of 1976. The same summer a far ranging unmanned space probe landed on the surface of Mars.

Where the Mars probe failed Bodett succeeded, finding plenty of life and things to do in the farthest reaches of the North American landscape. Feeling at home among the loggers, fishermen, miners, and irreverent citizenry of Alaska, Bodett tried his hand at many different ill-advised occupations before finally settling into the construction trade. He worked as an independent house builder for many years until a life changing experience finally robbed him of an honest living and irreversibly changed Bodett into a writer and broadcast personality.

It seems that while in the throes of nicotine withdrawal after years of chain smoking, Bodett needed something to keep his hands busy. He suddenly remembered he’d come out West to write about something — what, he did not know. He sat down at the family typewriter and pounded out a desperate commentary on the joys and sorrows of cold turkey tobacco withdrawal. Wracked with nicotine jitters (and apparently hallucinating) Bodett was sure he’d seen worse writing than that in the Anchorage newspaper.

Fueled by nothing more than wishful thinking, Bodett submitted the piece of work to the Anchorage Daily News who arbitrarily published it in their Sunday magazine the very next weekend. After robbing every newspaper box in Homer for extra copies, Bodett could have died a happy man right then and there – having accomplished more in the field of arts and letters than he or any of his former teachers ever thought he would.

But, much to the chagrin of book critics from Boston to Anaheim, Bodett didn’t die right then and there. In fact, he got a call from an acquaintance at the local public radio station inviting him to record similar material for the local news broadcast. Rising to the challenge, and tired of roofing houses in the rain anyway, Bodett next wrote a twisted and insensitive piece of commentary about having his dog castrated. As broadcast history will prove to embarrass him for the rest of his days, this was to become the first radio appearance of his career.

Within three months, due no doubt to these high literary standards, Bodett was a regular commentator on National Public Radio’s popular news program, All Things Considered, and had been given a book contract with Addison-Wesley Publishing Company of Boston. That agreement led to the publication of a collection of his radio commentaries As Far As You Can Go Without A Passport, the View from the End of the Road in 1985. Being that it was still raining outside, or worse, Bodett immediately began work on his second collection, Small Comforts, which was published in 1987.
In the meantime, the phone started ringing. Several were just the neighbors complaining about the dog but others were from fans, old friends, interviewers, some weirdoes, and an advertising agency in Dallas, Texas who had a new client called Motel 6.

The Richards Group ad agency asked Bodett if he’d be willing to devote his considerable talents as a deadpan radio bullfrog to the marketing of a national chain of economy motels. Checking the weather outside the front door and seeing that it was still raining or worse, Bodett returned to the phone and said “Yes. When would you like me to start?”

Ad libbing the tagline, “We’ll Leave the Light on for You”, in the very first session gained Bodett the reputation for being unbelievably lucky. Bodett remains lucky and very honored to still be the spokesperson for Motel 6 after twenty two years. The campaign is one of the longest running advertising campaigns in history and continues to win awards for its creativity and its effectiveness in the lodging industry.

Bodett’s other broadcast endeavors include the award winning syndicated radio programs The End of the Road from 1988 to 1990 and Bodett & Company in 1993. The End of the Road stories were published in two very successful books by William Morrow and Company: The End of the Road in 1989 and The Big Garage on Clear Shot in 1990. The Free Fall of Webster Cummings, a novel serialized on Bodett & Company, was released by Brilliance Corporation as a five volume audio series titled Tom Bodett’s American Odyssey in 1995. The printed novel was published, somewhat novelly, one year later by Hyperion.

Bodett has recorded his written works in nine audio releases for Bantam Audio as well as a double CD program for William Ackerman’s Gang of Seven spoken word label called, Exploded – the true and convoluted stage monologue based on his experience with the high power line in his misspent youth.

Bodett then turned from his own youth to today’s youth. His book, Williwaw!, published by Knopf in April 1999, is his first novel for young readers. The unabridged audio cassette edition is available from Random House/Listening Library. (Random House) His latest book for younger readers, Norman Tuttle on the Last Frontier, is also published from Knopf and the audio edition is available in cassette and CD from Listening Library.

In addition to Bodett’s seven books and sixteen current audio publications, his writing credits include book reviews for the New York Times and reviews and articles for The Los Angeles Times. His work has appeared in TV Guide, Reader’s Digest, Redbook, Harper’s Magazine’s, In a Word, and he was a regular columnist for Mr. Showbiz, a satirical entertainment magazine published by Starwave Corporation on the World Wide Web.

Bodett has not returned to pounding nails in the rain for almost twenty years, but continues to keep his eye on the weather. He also lends his talents to Steven Spielberg’s animated cartoon, Animaniacs, the feature length Animaniacs video, The Wishing Star, and the Pinky and the Brain series for Warner Brothers Animation. Bodett has also been heard on Saturday Night Live, National Geographic Explorer and several Ken Burns’ documentaries. He is currently a panelist on NPR’s satirical weekend news quiz, “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!”.

Bodett has left his beloved Alaska for the balmy breezes of New England. He lives in the middle of a hay field somewhere in Vermont. The weather’s not much better.