ad libbing
Going off script
Ad libbing is improvising speech or action without preparation or a script.
A comedian ad libs when a joke falls flat; an actor ad libs when forgetting a line.
The term comes from Latin *ad libitum* (at one's pleasure).
The noun is ad lib, the adjective ad-lib: an ad-lib remark.
To do something ad lib is to wing it.
Speak without preparation
- impromptuWithout advance preparation
- freestyleWithout prescribed technique
- offhandCasually unrehearsed
- unrehearsedNot practiced beforehand
winging · improvisational · unscripted · vamping · jamming · riffing · on-the-spot · unprepared
extemporize
Speak without preparation
- impromptuWithout advance preparation
- freestyleWithout prescribed technique
- offhandCasually unrehearsed
unrehearsed · winging · improvisational · unscripted · vamping · jamming · riffing · on-the-spot · unprepared · extemporaneous
jazz
Improvisational American music genre
soloing · vamping · noodling · bebop · freeform · cadenza · lick · groove · session · combo
comedy
Work meant to amuse
theater · stage · audience · timing · delivery · banter · callback · heckler · one-liner · punchline
- scene stealinghamming, mugging, upstaging, grandstanding, showboating
- Storytelling skillspacing, timing, voice modulation, character voices, suspense building