That list of zingers that gets emailed all over the place claims they were ad-libbed and unscripted. Is that true?
A. No, ad-libs were the exception, not the rule. Most of the “zingers” were written by Bill Armstrong, Jay Redack, Les Anderson and Merrill Heatter (they also wrote a lot of the straight questions). There were a few ad-libs here and there by Abby Dalton and Wally Cox especially, and somewhere on this site there’s at least one from Charley Weaver and even an apparent one from Big Bird. I believe Joey Bishop’s line about the librarian contestant having to return all of her Secret Square prizes inside of two weeks was an ad-lib. Jonathan Winters liked to improvise, which is why his funny answers seem to meander a bit. There were likely a few ad-libs in the now-classic “Beaverface” nighttime show, including the “topper” line by George Gobel (known for being the best ad-libber on the show).
