Ron Popeil dies: "Set it and Forget it!!!" Infomercial King was 86

TMZ

Popeil, who died this morning after suffering a medical emergency on Tuesday, was a TV sensation for decades with a string of bestselling products, including the Chop-O-Matic, Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ, Pocket Fisherman and Hair in a Can. He was also known for his famous catchphrases, from "Set it and Forget it!!!" to "But wait, there's more!!!" "Popeil has been called the Einstein of the Infomercial," Mike Sager wrote in a Mel Magazine profile of Popeil five years ago. "The Hemingway of Home Shopping. The Salesman of the Century. He’s played himself on The Simpsons and has been parodied on Saturday Night Live. Weird Al Yankovic even produced a song about him, on which Popeil’s half-sister sang all the backup parts. Since he made his first commercial, in the early 1950s for the Chop-O-Matic hand food processor ('Ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to show you the greatest kitchen appliance ever made.'), he’s been copied by every television pitchman and woman who has plied the airwaves. Popeil has brought us such enduring products as Mr. Microphone, the Smokeless Ashtray, the Popeil Pocket Fisherman, the Ronco Electric Food Dehydrator and his spray-on remedy for bald spots, GLH Formula #9. (The GLH stands for Great Looking Hair. Like all the rest, he came up with the name himself."