Once the Marx Brothers films mercifully ended in 1950 (their last few were terrible), Groucho Marx went on radio to host a new game show called You Bet Your Life, where his razor wit and rapid-fire parley were wonderfully employed, so much so that the radio program soon became a television program that ran for an impressive eleven seasons. And even then, it was cancelled only because the network wanted to use Groucho in another capacity and they wanted to syndicate the old shows.
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Grouch Marx was a natural for this type of venue, as his ad-libs were second to none. Groucho being Groucho, he also pushed the limits of censorship to the breaking point. From the IMDb:
I watched this when I was a teenager in the 50s. I caught a few episodes on cable around ten years ago. It wears well. Groucho was a master at the double entendre. Mae West had nothing on him. One example: there was a married couple who had 19 children. Groucho asked the man why they had so many kids. The man said it was because he liked his wife. Groucho replied, “I like my cigar too, but I take it out once in a while.” This was more than 60 years ago, it is still timely. Watch it, if you can. You won’t regret it.
You Bet Your Life was one of the first TV game shows, and Groucho saw to it that everyone won something. If you were lucky enough to say the Secret Word, a duck dropped down and you won a big cash prize. But even if you would otherwise have gone away empty-handed, Groucho saw to it that you won a consolation prize, even if you were as dumb as a doorknob.
YouTube has many if not all episodes, and I have embedded below a few of the best. Technically, the last is actually an episode of The Jack Benny Show, but the plot is that he disguised himself to play a contestant on You Bet Your Life so he could win prizes. As shall be seen, Jack Benny was no match for Groucho Marx. This is one of the funniest game shows ever, so your time viewing will be well-spent.
Source: neatorama