ad-lib

Comic actors have a sense of timing and an ability to ad-lib when the teleprompter spits out duds, as John Mulaney proved with his inspired rant about masculinity when he presented.

From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2026

The notion that he’d ad-lib a mention of Harp, or include one in his prepared remarks without thinking through the possible ramifications, strains believability.

From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026

Payne could virtuosically ad-lib live through the bridge of “Summer Love” or hit piercing high notes on a cover of Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2024

It has a pantomime theatricality to it, featuring shots of the audience and including moments when the actors corpse - a term used to describe breaking character and laughing - and ad-lib on stage.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2024

Kids wouldn’t move to the right places during rehearsals, or would ad-lib wisecracks, which Mrs. Finley didn’t think at all funny.

From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers

Geller, last year’s valedictorian, ad-libbed “millionaires suck” during his commencement address.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026

Two singers stepped out of the ranks to recite the closing lines, and one of them ad-libbed an addition.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2025

“I was too young to be in the Senate,” he then ad-libbed in a joke, “and too old to be the president.”

From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2024

But not just any communication: an informal, minute-by-minute written down substitution for what might otherwise have been said out loud ad-libbed remarks, lost to the ether moments after their utterance.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2023

“We have received your summons, O mighty ones,” Marshall chanted and then ad-libbed, “and it’s nothing but an old pigeon feather.”

From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

His ad-libbing in the post-kinetic stage isn’t his finest hour.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026

The Fijians have always been everyone’s favorite longshots at the Rugby World Cup due to the way they play, an inventive, ad-libbing attack-from-anywhere kind of ethos.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 18, 2023

“You look like a fallen constellation,” she told the crowd, ad-libbing some poetry.

From New York Times ● Jun. 11, 2023

“It’s made me less precious about my performance. I’m more willing to fail and be messy,” said Snook, who, like Macfadyen, faces the added challenge of ad-libbing in her nonnative accent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2023

Next thing I know, TJ and I are ad-libbing back and forth in harmony over the chorus.

From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles