Leonard B. Stern, the creator of Mad Libs, has died.
I never thought about the fact that Mad Libs even had a creator, although of course it did. The classic Mad Libs were an integral part of my childhood, and one of the funnest (and most potentially risqué) things ever to an 8-year-old, especially on rainy days at summer camp. Plus, the game had enormous redeeming educational importance: it was a great way (and for some kids, the only way) of learning the parts of speech.
The obituary reminded me of someone I hadn’t thought of in many decades: Mad Libs received its public debut on the Steve Allen Show. Allen was the original host of “The Tonight Show” in the 50s, and he had a uniquely relaxed yet zany (especially for its times) sense of humor. I thought he was the funniest man in the world.
I haven’t been able to find a YouTube clip of him doing Mad Libs, so this segment of him playing with another toy will have to do:
Query: Did you have a lot of ______[noun] ______[verb]ing with Mad Libs when you were ______[adjective]?
Previously a lifelong Democrat, born in New York and living in New England, surrounded by liberals on all sides, I've found myself slowly but surely 
June 10th, 2011 at 1:33 pm
Loved Mad Libs! It was a favorite to take to summer camp & perfect for rainy days.
Thank you Leonard Stern. Would have thanked you earlier, but didn’t think of Mad Libs having an inventor –just as Neo.
Just pictured somewhere in an office of some big company, people sat around a table and wrote these (sort of like I imagine TV scripts — particularly comedy — being written!)
But then I was about 9 or 10 at the time. What did I know?
June 10th, 2011 at 1:56 pm
alcohol
mess
drunk
June 10th, 2011 at 1:56 pm
trouble
read
illiterate
June 10th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
I remember having great times with MadLibs when I was a kid, and my own children thoroughly enjoyed them too. Like Neo and csimon, it never occurred to me to wonder who created the things! What a clever mind Leonard Stern had.
June 10th, 2011 at 2:38 pm
My kids LOVED Mad Libs, although I couldn’t quite see the attraction. And I’ve never watched Steve Allen before, having grown up without a TV in England and New Zealand. I love that old music, he was very smooth.
June 10th, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Another zany great was Ernie Kovacs. His skit “The Nairobi Trio” certainly shows how politically incorrect we once were, but we really laughed hard at it.
June 10th, 2011 at 4:28 pm
Since my birthday was during the summer, an inexpensive way to celebrate was to pitch the family tent in the backyard and have a handful of kids sleep over in it. We spent a lot of time doing Mad Libs at those sleep overs.
June 10th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
hives
scratch
infected
June 10th, 2011 at 9:04 pm
that’s because he *was* the funniest guy
June 11th, 2011 at 1:13 am
Loved mad libs. Thought they were so much fun and so funny!
June 12th, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Lovely writing and trenchant thoughts, Neo. And I quite agree, and recall playing as kid, though MadLibs weren’t popular at camp; comic books were. One might profitably (and humorously) consider a latter-day MadLibs, featuring angry folks on the left, caricatures (of human beings) such as Maxine Waters, Weiner, Al Franken. Not to quibble, but the last part-of-speech in your MadLib should be “adverb” rather than adjective, if I recall my grammar (learned in a public school when they still taught such quaint subjects). An adjective modifies only a noun; an adverb modifies a verb (or adjective). N’est-ce pas?
June 12th, 2011 at 4:36 pm
Bill: I don’t believe adverb would be correct.
The test sentence I had in mind was, “Did you have a lot of fun playing with Mad Libs when you were young?”
The word “young” is an adjective modifying the pronoun “you.”
June 12th, 2011 at 5:08 pm
Hmmmm. “Young” modifies “were”, not “you.” “Young” would indeed be an adjective in “young man,” but that’s because it doesn’t modify a verb. But I think we’re both wrong, or both right. That is, folks might reasonably differ, I believe, as to what “young” actually modifies. There’s also the issue of “young”‘s being part of a phrase, which would be an adverbial phrase, I think–that would modify “you”…as an adjective. Rooting around on Google might give the definitive answer, though I now suspect there isn’t one.
June 12th, 2011 at 5:38 pm
Bill: see definition “ii” for adjectives, here.
In the case we’re talking about, the verb “be” is involved (“were” being the past tense of “to be”).
See also this:
June 13th, 2011 at 8:51 am
Oh Lord – thanks for the Mad Lib at the end. I haven’t even looked at a Mad Lib for at least 35 years, but the old reflexes come back. I immediately started looking for toilet and/or sexual humor. And I thought I was grown up.