A former electrical engineer and copy writer for mail advertisements,[1] Levey started a Dial-A-Joke line in the 1970s called The Mainline in Los Angeles.

[1] Levey rose to fame as the host of Amazing Discoveries, a series of episodic infomercials that began airing in 1989.

His onscreen persona as the enthusiastic "Sweater Man" was often parodied in films like The Cat in the Hat and on the comedy sketch series MADtv.

At the height of his fame, Levey received 500 fan letters a week and was dubbed "the most viewed person on television".

[3] On August 2, 2003, Levey died from cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.