Wichita Eagle Logo

Infomercial guy looks for next big inventor | The Wichita Eagle

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Archives
    • Buy Photos and Pages
    • Contact Us
    • Eagle+ Sign In
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Newsletters
    • Newspaper in Education
    • Subscribe
    • Subscriber Services
    • About Us

    • News
    • Crime & Courts
    • Local
    • Databases
    • Education
    • Lottery
    • Nation & World
    • Politics
    • Special Projects
    • Weather
    • Weird News
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Finger on the Weather
    • Prairie Politics
    • Sports
    • Wichita State
    • Varsity Kansas
    • Chiefs
    • K-State
    • Kansas
    • Outdoors
    • Royals
    • State Colleges
    • Wingnuts
    • NBC baseball
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Bob Lutz
    • Jayhawk Dispatch
    • K-Stated
    • Lutz Blog
    • Michael Pearce
    • Shockwaves
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • Business
    • Agribusiness
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Health Care
    • Small Business
    • Forward Wichita
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Air Capital Insider
    • Business Casual
    • Business Perspectives
    • Carrie Rengers
    • Living
    • Celebrations
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Pets
    • Religion
    • Travel
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Suzanne Tobias
    • Entertainment
    • The Arts
    • Books
    • Celebrities
    • Comics
    • Games & Puzzles
    • Horoscopes
    • Restaurants
    • Events
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Dining with Denise
    • Movie Maniac
    • Keeper of the Plans
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters
    • Opinion Columns
    • Submit a Letter
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Richard Crowson
    • Kirk Seminoff's Pivot Point
  • Obituaries

    • Classifieds
    • Auctions/Estate Sales
    • Garage Sales
    • Jobs
    • Legal Notices
    • Merchandise
    • Pets
    • Service Directory
    • Place An Ad
    • Merchandise
    • Jobs
    • Cars
    • Homes
    • Apartments
    • Other Categories
    • Classified Support Center
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Mobile & Apps

National

Infomercial guy looks for next big inventor

By JOHN ROGERS

    ORDER REPRINT →

March 07, 2010 12:00 AM

LOS ANGELES — There wasn't a bottle of Oxiclean or a ShamWow anywhere. But there was Dawn Stephens' nifty new, all-in-one toilet-bowl-cleaning brush.

"We don't have to look for the cleaning liquid and the brush. The cleaning liquid is right inside the brush!" the chirpy, singsongy Stephens shouted in delight as she pitched her invention last week to a panel of judges that included infomercial king AJ Khubani.

Khubani, founder of the Telebrands "As Seen on TV" products company, has made a fortune hawking products like the Ped Egg (to trim calluses off your feet) and has spent the better part of three decades looking for the next hot thing to sell to insomniacs hooked on late-night TV.

But in this era of endless reality TV and get-rich-and-famous-quick schemes, Khubani is changing his entrepreneurial approach. Instead of trotting the globe looking for the next Thighmaster or inviting inventors to his New Jersey headquarters, he's assembled an "American Idol"-like panel of judges and taken them on the road.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Wichita Eagle

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

The group plans stops at several other, still-to-be-determined cities, and it is unclear how many inventors they will pick to promote. There is no reality show yet, but television cameras are filming — in case Khubani strikes a television deal.

Khubani's first stop was Los Angeles, where Stephens found herself with nearly three dozen other inventors from around the country, each waiting for five minutes to make their pitch to Khubani and his fellow judges.

As they passed the time waiting to be called, many kept busy pitching their products to one another.

"Where do you put your arms on an airplane?" Chad Hassell of Salt Lake City would ask people before pulling out the Cozy Traveler, a combination blanket-sling that keeps a passenger's arms securely tucked to the chest so the person doesn't bump their neighbors on a long flight.

"Look, it's even got a pocket for your iPod," Hassell said.

Khubani has a proven track record in picking the next big product. The little map that holds the quarters from each state? That was his. So was the Smart-Mop Shammy, the Jack LaLanne Mini Stepper and the Windshield Wonder. (He uses that latter product himself, he says, to reach those hard-to-get-to places on his car's windshield.)

  Comments  

Videos

Third graders shave their heads to support classmate with Alopecia

Upper Midwest roads go nearly invisible during ‘Arctic Blast’

View More Video

Trending Stories

Meet the man influencing state lawmakers across U.S. to file anti-gay, anti-porn bills

February 19, 2019 12:07 PM

K-State takeaways: Why Barry Brown is making a case for Big 12 Player of the Year

February 19, 2019 12:22 AM

19-year-old Wichita woman killed in Monday’s rollover crash

February 19, 2019 11:28 AM

Sub-state brackets: See the 2019 Kansas high school basketball postseason tournaments

February 19, 2019 11:15 PM

Wichita-area weather cancellations and postponements

February 19, 2019 04:18 PM

Read Next

The Latest: Smollett lawyers meeting with investigators

Celebrities

The Latest: Smollett lawyers meeting with investigators

The Associated Press

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 20, 2019 03:10 PM

A police official says lawyers for Jussie Smollett are meeting with prosecutors and police investigators about the reported attack on the "Empire" actor late last month.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Wichita Eagle

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE NATIONAL

Nation & World

APNewsBreak: Senator wants review of Guard assault policies

February 20, 2019 02:48 PM
Iconic ‘firefall’ returns — briefly — at Yosemite as sunlight turns waterfall blazing red

National

Iconic ‘firefall’ returns — briefly — at Yosemite as sunlight turns waterfall blazing red

February 20, 2019 02:42 PM
Man says he watched ‘Cops’ and decided it’d be fun to run from officers, Ark. police say

National

Man says he watched ‘Cops’ and decided it’d be fun to run from officers, Ark. police say

February 20, 2019 02:10 PM
Strawberries from Mexico packed with 900 pounds of ‘ice’ — the illegal kind, authorities say

Latest News

Strawberries from Mexico packed with 900 pounds of ‘ice’ — the illegal kind, authorities say

February 20, 2019 08:14 AM
Vandals tried to burn a Confederate statue in NC — but it was the wrong General Lee

National

Vandals tried to burn a Confederate statue in NC — but it was the wrong General Lee

February 20, 2019 11:01 AM
Thanks to this Hanoi barber, Donald Trump-Kim Jong Un summit already a hair-raiser

National

Thanks to this Hanoi barber, Donald Trump-Kim Jong Un summit already a hair-raiser

February 20, 2019 12:42 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
Advertising
  • Information
  • Digital Advertising
  • Rates
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story