RIP Ron Popeil, father of the infomercial

Do you remember Dan Ackroyd pitching the Bass-o-Matic? He was sending up Ron Popeil, inventor, pitchman and founder of Ronco. Popeil’s brain children included the Pocket Fisherman, Mr. Microphone, the Veg-a-Matic and many other familiar “as seen on TV” products. Through his pioneering use of 30-minute infomercials, Popeil blazed the trail that eventually led to Mike the Sweater Guy.

He gave us so much.

2 thoughts on “RIP Ron Popeil, father of the infomercial

  1. He also had a record label – Ronco Records, a rival to K-Tel. From what I remember as a kid, he’d buy the rights to distribute hit songs of the day as compilation albums, such as “Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)”, which I remember from a Ronco album named “In Concert”, despite that there were no live tracks. The guy had an iron in the fire in just about everything.

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