Sacramento businessman and TV pitchman Tom LaBrie dead at 67

by

Tom LaBrie appears in a promotion on KTXL's "Night Comfort Theater." [Photo: Supplied]
Tom LaBrie appears in a promotion on KTXL’s “Night Comfort Theater.” [Photo: Supplied]
Famed Sacramento television pitchman and businessman Tom LaBrie died on Sunday at the age of 67.

LaBrie was best known to television viewers across the west coast as a television pitchman who appeared regularly during late-night broadcasts on independent stations in the 1970s  and 1980s, interviewing celebrities and introducing classic films while promoting his water bed empire.

Locally, LaBrie’s promotions would air on KTXL (Channel 40) under the brand “Night Comfort Theater.” His synonymous soft-spoken nature influenced other late-night commercial programs across the country.

“When I started off, I didn’t really think that people up at that hour wanted to be yelled at,” LaBrie told the Sacramento Bee newspaper in a 1986 interview.

LaBrie passed away from natural causes, the Bee reported in an obituary published on Friday. HIs funeral arrangements are pending.

Sacramento Bee: TV pitchman Tom LaBrie dies at 67