Ridiculous Infomercial Review Blog

One of the all time great knock-down, drag-out TV infomercial feuds has broken out. I’ve written about it before but now I’ve found the video so that everyone can see this crap-fight for themselves.

The original version of the Almighty Cleanse infomercial contains an infamous scene in which Danny Vierra identifies himself as a “Christian health evangelist” and then goes through the Old and New Testaments citing passages he believes endorse various types of “purifying and cleansing” cures. Contrary to what many people assume, Danny Vierra never says on the infomercial that colon cleansing itself is in the Bible nor that the entire formula for his product is found in the pages of the Scripture. He does, however, say that the same kind of clay Jesus used to heal the blind man is an ingredient in The Almighty Cleanse!

I’ve written more about this scene in my full review of the Almighty Cleanse infomercial.

Well, Klee Irwin—the craggily face of the Dual Action Cleanse colon cleaning formula—wasn’t going to let that go unchallenged! In his newest infomercial, Klee Irwin and host Dr. James Chappell clearly talk trash about Danny Vierra, although they never outright name him or his product:

For a lot more on Klee Irwin calling out Danny Vierra, see my full review of the Dual Action Cleanse 2 infomercial.

Fitness celebrity Jack LaLanne was one of the first people to have his own exercise show on television. This was during the 1950s when it was considered eccentric for a man in his 30s and 40s to be concerned with fitness and health. Through the decades Jack LaLanne, usually clad in his trademark jumpsuit, maintained his persona as the older man still vigorous and energetic through exercise and healthy living.

Fast forward to early 1990s. Here comes along Jay Kordich, calling himself “The Juiceman”. And the Juiceman pretty much adopts Jack LaLanne’s persona as the vigorous and eccentric older gentleman into fitness. Only this time the persona was used to market juicing machines on infomercials. In some ways Jay Kordich seemed even more LaLanne than Jack. Whereas Jack was energetic, the Juiceman seemed hyperactive. Whereas LaLanne came across as eccentric, Kordich often came across as downright strange.

So how does Jack LaLanne respond? He decides to take The Juiceman’s marketing methods and sell his own brand of juicer and appear in his own infomercials to sell them.

It’s a case of Jay taking from Jack and Jack taking from Jay!

The only problem was that in the very first infomercial Jack appeared in for his Jack LaLanne Power Juicer he didn’t exhibit much pep and energy at all. In fact he looked tired and disoriented, as if someone had just dragged him from his convalescent home and he really just wanted to get back to bed. (This was the infomercial hosted by the fetching brunette whose name I didn’t catch.)

Someone must have known something was wrong with that first infomercial for the Jack LaLanne Power Juicer. A second infomercial was made, this one hosted by veteran infomercial hostess Forbes Riley, in which Jack appears with his wife Elaine. In this infomercial the old energetic Jack is back! The infomercial even concludes with Jack belting out his old TV theme song.

Meanwhile, Jay Kordich hasn’t made an infomercial in years. The most recent version of the infomercial for The Juiceman Juicer (you can see a clip of it here) doesn’t feature Jay Kordich at all. It appears, however, that Jay Kordich is still alive and plans on hosting several classes for the Learning Annex in 2007.