Ridiculous Infomercial Review Blog

Infomercial fans recognize Cathy Mitchell as the veteran hostess who has used her matronly charms to pitch countless kitchen products, such as GreenBags and the Flat Fold Colander. Because of her iconic status, the producers of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! on Adult Swim tapped Mitchell to play herself in an infomercial parody sketch. In this sketch, Cathy Mitchell plays it straight as the hostess of an infomercial for a cooking product called the Griddleman Griddle. The Griddleman is similar to the GT Xpress 101 product that Mitchell endorses in real life—except that I don’t remember any “Horse Grease” on the GT Xpress infomercial! All the other humor in this sketch comes from her co-host, Dr. Steve Brule, played by the well-know comedic actor John C. Reilly. Cathy Mitchell gently tries to guide Dr. Brule, who is as clueless as can be:

Big thanks to Ridiculous Infomercial Review reader Jennifer for letting me know about this Cathy Mitchell sketch.

We know that many people watch Cathy Mitchell infomercials for the emotional comfort. Now it seems that Cathy Mitchell and her GT Xpress 101 have inspired an entire blog.

It’s called the Semicircular Vegan, and blog author Paula explains:

I guess I’ll start by admitting that I <3 infomercials...But my all-time favorite, and obsession for the last few years, is the GT Xpress 101, endorsed by Cathy Mitchell: TV Personality and Food Expert...Basically, it’s like any other sort of Foreman Grill type food cooker. It heats on the top and the bottom, but the catch is, ALL YOUR FOOD COMES OUT IN A SEMICIRCLE!...This blog will be dedicated to my adventures making vegan, semicircular food in this device. I will try and replicate some of the recipes that came in the handy cookbook and also create my own semicircular dishes.

An entire blog dedicated to making vegan recipes in the GT Xpress 101? Talk about your narrow niches!

Maybe someone will start a blog about all the mixed drinks they make with their Magic Bullet…if they get out of their stupor long enough to get to a keyboard.

Why do people watch infomercials? Most watch them because they are interested in buying the advertised product. Others watch them to get to sleep. People such as myself and the fans of this website watch them for the unintentional humor.

But how about watching infomercials for emotional comfort and to heal a broken heart?

One blogger at TVGuide.com who goes by the handle Coggie wrote a post in July titled Cathy Mitchell Singlehandedly Saved My Life. In this post Coggie describes how, in the aftermath of a breakup, she found solace in watching Cathy Mitchell hawk some gadget on TV:

I found comfort in her soothing, maternal, perky voice as if to assure me that all would be well, as long as I tried a hot pocket apple pie, done in seconds! Amazingly, I never tired of watching this infomercial, every hour it was on, on one channel or another.

And she admits that even today as a married woman when she sees the host of GT Xpress 101 and GeMagic on TV she ends up “right back where I was before.”

Coggie makes the statement: “To sum up: Infomercials are for lonely hearts.”

And lest you think Coggie is alone in this Cathy Mitchell fixation, in the comments section “Klotar”, who claims to have watched the GT Xpress 101 infomercial “hundreds of times,” adds:

I thought I was alone is this bizarre obsession with Cathy Mitchell. My best friend teased me over this until, one day, Cathy was on and I insisted she watch it. My intention was to have her feel the lure and get off my back.

And the next person who comments has the habit just as bad:

OHMIGAWD! I, too, thought I was the only Cathy Mitchell nut out there! Something about that red-headed, Ma-type is strangely appealing…I’ve Googled her name many times, just trying to find out more about her! Wouldn’t you LOVE to have her as a neighbor?…We all should form a support group - CMAA - Cathy Mitchell Addicts Anonymous!

It appears that Cathy Mitchell’s hold on these people has something of the preternatural about it. Coggie mentions her “devil lures” and Klotar calls her “the devil wrapped in apple pie.” So perhaps Cathy Mitchell’s appeal is less analogous to comfort food than to crack cocaine.

I suspect this type of visceral reaction to infomercials is something unique to Cathy Mitchell and her grandmotherly charms.

I doubt anyone has ever sought to heal a broken heart by watching The Juiceman or Matthew Lesko.