“But wait, there’s more!” If you grew up watching late-night TV, that line is permanently lodged somewhere in your brain. Infomercials live or die by their catchphrases, and the best ones outlive the products they sold by decades. Here are the 20 most iconic infomercial catchphrases, who said them, what they were selling, and why they stuck.

The Catchphrase Was the Product

An infomercial has 28 minutes to do something most ads only get 30 seconds to attempt: build a brand and close a sale in one sitting. The catchphrase is the load-bearing wall of that whole construction. It compresses the value proposition into something a viewer can repeat at the office water cooler, and it gives the host a hook to return to every two minutes when the script needs a beat.

The best infomercial catchphrases are also memes before the word “meme” existed. They escape into pop culture, get quoted on sitcoms, and become shorthand for situations that have nothing to do with the original product. That cultural overflow is the real prize.

The 20 Most Iconic Infomercial Catchphrases

1. “But wait, there’s more!”

Said by Ron Popeil for various Ronco products from the 1970s onward. This is the granddaddy of all upsell lines, and Popeil used it to introduce the bonus accessory, the second unit, or the surprise free gift. The phrase predates television in carnival pitch tradition, but Ronco made it permanent.

2. “Set it, and forget it!”

Said by Ron Popeil for the Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ in the late 1990s. The studio audience chanted it back at him during demos, which made the line feel like a participatory ritual instead of a sales pitch. For more on the man behind both top entries, see our profiles of famous infomercial pitchmen.

3. “Hi, Billy Mays here!”

Said by Billy Mays for OxiClean and dozens of other products throughout the 2000s. Mays delivered the line at full volume in nearly every spot he made, and the introduction became inseparable from his blue shirt and beard. He passed away in 2009, but the catchphrase still gets referenced in everything from cartoons to Super Bowl ads.

4. “Now how much would you pay?”

Said by various Ronco hosts across decades. The line is a structured pause that sets up the price reveal, and it became so familiar that audiences could deliver the answer themselves. It is the cleanest example of how infomercial catchphrases work as storytelling beats, not just slogans.

5. “Operators are standing by!”

A generic 80s and 90s line that appeared on the bottom-third graphic of nearly every infomercial. It is not associated with any one host or brand, which is exactly why it became cultural shorthand for the whole format. When a sitcom wants to parody an infomercial, this is the line they use.

6. “I’m not only the Hair Club president, I’m also a client.”

Said by Sy Sperling for Hair Club for Men starting in the 80s and running through the 90s. The line worked because Sperling clearly meant it, and his willingness to put his own before-and-after photos on screen built credibility in a category full of scams.

7. “Tap, tap, tap!”

Used in the Ginsu knives demo from the late 70s through the 90s. The line accompanied a scene where the knife chopped through a tin can (“tap, tap, tap”) and then sliced a tomato so thin you could read through it. The phrase is less a slogan than a sound effect, but it became permanently linked to the product.

8. “It slices, it dices, it juliennes!”

Said by Ron Popeil for the Ronco Veg-O-Matic. The triplet of verbs is one of the most quoted patterns in advertising history, and it has been parodied in everything from “Saturday Night Live” sketches to corporate keynote jokes. The phrase still gets used as shorthand for any over-promising sales pitch.

9. “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”

Delivered by an actor in the 1989 LifeCall medical-alert ad, later licensed and trademarked by Life Alert. The line was meant to be sincere, but it became one of the most parodied catchphrases in TV history. Decades later it is still in active use, both seriously by Life Alert and ironically by everyone else.

10. “Don’t just stand there, do something!”

A generic call-to-action used across many 80s and 90s infomercials. The line is meant to push the viewer over the hump from passive watching to dialing the number. Like “operators are standing by,” it became cultural shorthand because it was everywhere.

11. “ShamWow! You’ll be saying wow every time.”

Said by Vince Offer for the ShamWow super-absorbent towel in the late 2000s. Offer’s manic energy, headset microphone, and rapid-fire demo turned the spot into an internet meme. The line itself is structurally interesting because it builds the brand name into a verbal reaction.

12. “You’re gonna love my nuts!”

Said by Vince Offer in the Slap Chop infomercial during the chopped-nuts demo. The double meaning was almost certainly intentional, and the line briefly became a viral catchphrase in its own right. It is one of the few infomercial lines that crossed over from late-night TV to YouTube remixes.

13. “Apply directly to the forehead!”

From the HeadOn topical headache stick, which launched in 2006. The ad repeated the line three times in a row over a single visual, and the sheer aggressive simplicity of it became an internet phenomenon. The product itself was less famous than the ad.

14. “Order now and we’ll double your offer!”

A generic but ubiquitous urgency line. Producers would intercut the line with a flashing “double offer” graphic and an on-screen countdown to make the deal feel time-limited. Almost every kitchen-gadget and beauty infomercial of the 90s and 2000s used some version of this.

15. “It’s time to get serious!”

Said by Billy Blanks in the Tae Bo infomercials of the mid-90s. Blanks delivered the line at peak intensity in front of a sweating studio audience, and it became the energetic kickoff for each demo segment. Like Tae Bo itself, the phrase still shows up in fitness culture today.

16. “Save your back, save your knees!”

Used across various back-saver tools, kneeling pads, and ergonomic kitchen and yard products in the 90s and 2000s. The phrase targeted older homeowners and gardeners, and it works because it leads with the benefit instead of the product feature.

17. “If you call now…”

The standard urgency setup that introduces the limited-time bonus. “If you call now, we’ll throw in…” became so familiar that the audience could complete the sentence with whatever bonus item the product had. It is the connective tissue of every direct-response close.

18. “Powerful stuff!”

Billy Mays said this so often across so many products that it became a personal tag. Mays would lean into the camera, hold up the bottle, and deliver the line with full conviction. It is a great example of how a host can build a personal brand inside the bigger product brand.

19. “And it’s only $19.95!”

The most common price reveal in DRTV history. The $19.95 anchor (sometimes $14.95, sometimes $29.95) became so embedded in the format that producers used it even when the actual price was different. It is the audio equivalent of the flashing yellow “limited time” graphic.

20. “Squeeze, squeeze your way to shapely hips and thighs.”

Said by Suzanne Somers for the ThighMaster in 1991 and through the early 90s. The line is a perfect example of benefit-driven copy: it tells the viewer exactly what action to take and exactly what result to expect, and Somers’s friendly delivery made it land without sounding like a pitch.

What Makes a Catchphrase Stick

Three things separate a catchphrase that lives on T-shirts from a slogan that disappears with the product. First is phonetics: short, punchy words and a clear rhythm. “Set it, and forget it” works because the consonants land hard and the meter is regular. Second is repetition: a 28 minute infomercial repeats the hook a dozen times, and the brain encodes the line whether the viewer wants it to or not. Third is demo reinforcement: the line is paired with a specific, memorable visual, which doubles the recall.

The catchphrases that fail tend to violate at least one of those rules. Long, abstract slogans without a paired demo do not survive the channel switch.

The Pitchmen Behind the Phrases

Most of the entries on this list trace back to a small group of pitchmen who built their careers around a single signature line. Ron Popeil owns “but wait, there’s more” and “set it, and forget it.” Billy Mays owns “hi, Billy Mays here.” Vince Offer built his entire post-2000s career on rapid-fire variants. Suzanne Somers, Sy Sperling, and Billy Blanks each got one defining line. For the longer story, see our roundup of famous infomercial pitchmen and our all-time best infomercials.

The Catchphrase Format in 2026

The catchphrase did not die when late-night TV fragmented. It moved. TikTok product demos lean on the same compressed, repeatable hooks, and the most successful brand-jingle revivals (Liquid Death, Duolingo, Poppi) all use phrasing that would have felt at home in a 1995 infomercial. The format has updated, but the rules have not changed. For background, see our explainer on what an infomercial actually is and our guide to 90s infomercials.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who said “But wait, there’s more” first?

Ron Popeil and Ronco are credited with popularizing “But wait, there’s more” as a structured upsell line in the 1970s. The phrase existed in carnival and pitchman tradition before that, but Ronco’s TV ads turned it into the standard infomercial closing move.

Where did “Set it, and forget it” come from?

Ron Popeil coined “Set it, and forget it” for the Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ in the late 1990s. The line was so memorable that the studio audience would chant it back at him during demos, and it has been quoted, parodied, and licensed for decades since.

What was Billy Mays’s most famous catchphrase?

Billy Mays opened nearly every spot with “Hi, Billy Mays here for OxiClean,” and that introduction became his signature. He also used “powerful stuff” and “just $19.95” so often that they became identifying phrases on their own.

What is the most famous infomercial slogan ever?

“But wait, there’s more!” is the most widely recognized infomercial line in the English-speaking world, and “Set it, and forget it” is a close second. Both come from Ron Popeil and Ronco, which is why Popeil is often called the patron saint of the infomercial.

Are infomercial catchphrases legally protected?

Some are, some are not. “Set it, and forget it” has been registered as a trademark in connection with Ronco, and “I have fallen and I cannot get up” is a registered trademark of Life Alert. Generic urgency phrases like “operators are standing by” are not protectable because they lack distinctiveness.

Why do infomercial catchphrases stick in your head?

Three reasons. First, repetition: a 28 minute infomercial repeats the hook a dozen times. Second, phonetics: most infomercial catchphrases use short, punchy words and a clear rhythm. Third, demo reinforcement: the line is paired with a memorable visual, which doubles the recall.