# Leonard Stern, inventor of Mad Libs, dies. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978 "2011-06-10T14:20:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/1 "2011-06-10T14:20:06Z")
He was 88. Here’s the story: [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/arts/television/leonard-b-stern-creator-of-mad-libs-dies-at-88.html?\_r=1&src=ISMR\_HP\_LO\_MST\_FB](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/arts/television/leonard-b-stern-creator-of-mad-libs-dies-at-88.html?_r=1&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB) Let’s all take a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ to \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ him. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/2 "2011-06-10T14:25:43Z")
Thanks, Mr. Stern, for all of those hugely fun Mad Libs Moments. I can’t say how many hours our family spent playing ML on summer roadtrips. (BTW, are those blanks supposed to be verbs, nouns, or adjectives?) ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/3 "2011-06-10T14:32:47Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Thanks, Mr. Stern, for all of those hugely fun Mad Libs Moments. I can’t say how many hours our family spent playing ML on summer roadtrips. (BTW, are those blanks supposed to be verbs, nouns, or adjectives?) **noun** , then **verb**. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/4 "2011-06-10T14:38:14Z")
Oh, okay then…“tree” and “run”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/5 "2011-06-10T15:39:09Z")
Aww. I can’t hang-glide you how purple I am to vacuum that. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/6 "2011-06-10T16:08:47Z")
my favourite nerd game. my nerd herd could play for hours, laughing 'till it felt like we did hundreds of situps. thank you mr stern. may your memory be eternal. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/7 "2011-06-10T16:11:42Z")
My banana goes out to the entire Stern car. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/8 "2011-06-10T16:22:15Z")
He was also a writer and executive producer for the show **Get Smart**. A couple of months ago I was for some reason reading up on the show and ran across an [interview](http://www.wouldyoubelieve.com/stern.html) with Stern that’s worth reading if you’re a fan of the show. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/9 "2011-06-10T16:29:55Z")
I am adjective about this news. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/10 "2011-06-10T16:30:20Z")
I **verb** my deepest **noun** to **person in room** ’s family. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/11 "2011-06-10T16:45:22Z")
You know, we could do this on the board. [Starting thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13900723#post13900723) in Game Room… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/12 "2011-06-10T16:56:12Z")
The Times obit for him had Mad Libs style blanks. It also said that he invented it while writing for the Honeymooners, when he needed an adjective. Another writer gave him two which were funny (since the adjective was to refer to the nose of Ralph’s boss) and the two of them went on from there. ---
**Author:** ![CCYMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@CCYMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCYMan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/13 "2011-06-10T17:01:57Z")
The next time you play Mad Libs, try using “butt” for every single word, regardless of the word type. Trust me on this, just try it once - it’s funnier than you’d think! (and then stop. It’s only funny once in a row). ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/14 "2011-06-10T17:13:05Z")
Stern’s partner for Mad Libs, Roger Price, was a funny guy as well. He created the obscure-but very amusing “Grump” magazine, which featured some great satire by some well-known authors. I was surprised to see the image for the magazine in Wikipedia was provided by Price himself. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/15 "2011-06-10T22:12:40Z")
I had the original _Droodles_ book and the first three editions of _Mad Libs_–so how have I gone all this time without ever hearing of _Grump_? Thank you, I think… And now begins another obsessive search for back-issues! ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/16 "2011-06-11T15:04:17Z")
My ankle goes out to Mr. Stern’s cactus. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/17 "2011-06-12T00:34:18Z")
Price/Stern/Sloan books published lots of other things, including the interminable string of 1960s Elephant jokes (in the books _The Elephant Book_ and _Elephants, Grapes, and Pickles_. Not to mention _The Monster Joke Book_, the aforementioned _Droodles_, and many others). ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-stern-inventor-of-mad-libs-dies/584978/18 "2011-06-13T12:53:32Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Stern’s partner for Mad Libs, Roger Price, was a funny guy as well. He created the obscure-but very amusing “Grump” magazine, which featured some great satire by some well-known authors. I was surprised to see the image for the magazine in Wikipedia was provided by Price himself. It wasn’t. Someone just uploaded the image and unhelpfully wrote “Source: Roger Price”, which could mean just about anything, but most likely means that the uploader mistakenly considered Price to be the original creator of the image.