The Secret Word is "Public Domain"

A lot of people first knew Groucho Marx not as a comedian but as a funny game show host. From 1947 to 1961, You Bet Your Life aired first on radio, then on radio and television and then finally just on television. Unlike most quiz programs, the main premise was not to watch people win a lot of money. The main premise of You Bet Your Life was for contestants to come on and for Groucho to be very funny interviewing them. After he did that, they'd get to the secondary premise which was people winning a modest amount of money, mainly as a means of thanking them for coming in and playing stooge to Groucho. At least, that's the way it always seemed to me.

Groucho was funny on the show in part because he was such a great ad-libber but he had a lot of help. There were a lot of lines pre-scripted by a team of comedy writers and to hide that assist, the writers were credited as Production Assistants or some other title. On radio, Groucho would have their lines on cards before him. On TV, they'd be projected on an offstage screen that only Groucho could see behind the contestants.

And then there was the fact that the show was recorded and edited for broadcast. Groucho would do a ten-minute interview with someone and that would be chopped down to the funniest four minutes. Some interviews were discarded altogether.

A number of uncut recordings have survived from the radio version and they're available online for your downloading 'n' listening pleasure. They include moments of Groucho talking with the crew or the audience — chatter that was never intended to make it to air. Here's a playlist for you. And while we're at it, here's a long playlist of You Bet Your Life radio shows as broadcast.