Mad Libs was my favorite thing to buy at my elementary school book fairs, if I had any money. I haven’t done much with them since. I remember introducing them to my children, and somehow they didn’t take to them well. Kids these days.

Mad Libs creator Leonard B. Stern, 88, has died. He has kicked the bucket, breathed his last, headed to the last round-up. Mr. Stern has resumed room temperature. He has cashed in his chips, dropped his oxygen habit, and is permanently out of print. I didn’t know until reading this article that Mr. Stern was one of the men behind Get Smart, Operation Petticoat, and The Honeymooners. In fact, it was while writing for The Honeymooners that he had the idea for Mad Libs.

The Wall Street Journal quotes Stern from 2003, saying, “If we knew the shows were going to become classics we would have written them better.”