Honest Pitches / Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame: the infomercial pioneers
The pitchmen, pitchwomen, and behind-the-scenes players who built the direct-response craft Honest Pitches extends. Same lineage, different medium — the pitch now lives on a permanent URL with the audience score.
Why a Hall of Fame
Every modern direct-response pitch owes a debt to the people on this page. Ron Popeil taught a generation that the offer must keep closing. Billy Mays taught a generation that conviction is a frequency. Suzanne Somers, Joan Collins, and Kathy Smith proved the camera was the equalizer. Ed Valenti coined the line that still survives every ad break: “But wait, there's more!”. Kevin Harrington turned the format into a business. Bob Circosta cut the very first televised product pitch. The pioneers here are the ones the Honest Pitches platform — and every other permanent-pitch-page platform that follows — inherits from. The format changed. The craft didn't.
The pioneers
PIONEER
Ron Popeil
The visionary pioneer who turned the kitchen gadget into a national event. “Set it and forget it.”
PIONEER
Billy Mays
The booming voice and the blue oxford shirt. The most-quoted pitchman of the modern era, and the standard every subsequent OxiClean spokesperson is still measured against.
PIONEER
Anthony Sullivan
Took over the OxiClean chair and built his own line of household-goods pitches. The bridge between the Mays era and the modern YouTube-shopping era.
PIONEER
Vince Offer
The aggressive, irreverent pitch style that broke through in the late-2000s. “YouTube it!” became the watchword for a generation that shopped on their phones.
PIONEER
Phil Swift
The high-energy icon of the meme era. “That's a lotta damage!” and the saw-a-boat-in-half demo turned a rubber sealant into a recurring late-night joke and a real business.
PIONEER
Tony Little
The ponytail, the enthusiastic “You can do it!” catchphrase, and the cardio machine every late-night viewer tried once. He made home fitness feel achievable and a little funny.
PIONEER
Suzanne Somers
From sitcom star (Chrissy Snow on “Three's Company”) to one of the most successful celebrity pitchpeople of the format. Proved a familiar face could open the door, and the product could keep it open.
PIONEER
Ed Valenti
The man behind the most-quoted line in direct response. “But wait, there's more!” is the canonical — still-used, still-parodied, still-on-broadcast — anchor of every add-on offer in the format.
PIONEER
Kevin Harrington
The businessman behind the scenes who turned the direct-response pitch into a venture-scale industry. First Shark on “Shark Tank”; before that, two decades of building DRTV brands and the deal flow around them.
PIONEER
Bob Circosta
Cut the very first televised product pitch in 1980 and went on to decades at Home Shopping Network. The on-camera origin point of every home-shopping format that followed.
PIONEER
Richard Simmons
The sparkly tank top and the boundless energy. Made home fitness feel like a friend showing up, not a lecture. Carried a fitness empire across VHS, DVD, and the early web.
PIONEER
Kathy Smith
One of the most trusted names in home fitness from the late 1980s onward. Helped define the format that turned the workout video into a household product.
PIONEER
Joan Collins
The Dynasty icon who crossed over into direct response with the same cool authority she brought to Alexis Carrington. Proved a glamour face could sell a serious product.
PIONEER
Matthew Lesko
The flamboyant suit and the question marks stitched on every jacket. Turned the obscure world of government grants into a pitch format the late-night audience actually remembered.
PIONEER
Chuck Norris
Walker, Texas Ranger and the Total Gym. Proved the celebrity-as-pitchman lane could carry a real product line — not just a cameo, but years of recurring direct-response work.