‘Nut’ Case Isn’t Original

Ted L. Nancy--or perhaps Jerry Seinfeld--may well have been responsible for the book “Letters From a Nut” and its various sequels, soon to be the basis of a comedy series pilot on ABC (“Sounds Like the Plot of a ‘Seinfeld’ Episode,” by Lisa de Moraes, June 1), but he certainly wasn’t the first to send outlandish letters to famous people/companies to see what kind of replies he would get and publish the results.

That honor belongs to Don Novello of Father Guido Sarducci fame, author of “The Lazlo Letters: The Amazing, Real-Life, Actual Correspondence of Lazlo Toth, American!” (1977) and its sequel, “Citizen Lazlo!: The Continuing, Unrelenting Correspondence of Lazlo Toth, American!” (1991).

We wouldn’t want Ted (or Jerry) to get all the credit.

DAVID BUTLER

Los Angeles