If you are no stranger to late-night television (and here we don't the hilariously unfunny network talk shows or Film of the Night on Cinemax, but rather the world of late-night infomercials), you are probably no stranger to Ron Popeil. Who, you say? That name doesn't register?

Set it, and forget it!

Does it register now?

Ron, who is Jewish, is much more than just infomercial king. He is an inventor, a modern-day Thomas Edison; from the Veg-O-Matic to the Pocket Fisherman to the Showtime Rotisserie, they are all Popeil's creations, or at least he claims them to be.

Of course, what separates him from Thomas Edison is that Edison's inventions didn't come with promises of free shipping and handling and didn't break a few months after you bought them. And Edison never invented Hair in a Can Spray. Yet who knows, maybe 100 years from now, Popeil's name will be absolved of these shortcomings and he will be considered the greatest inventor of the late 20th century.

Or not.