Shelley’s swell

“REDEMPTION,” Shelley Berman is quoted as saying in Paul Brownfield’s piece, “is that finally people began to look at me and say, ‘You know, he’s not a prick.’ ”

In my opinion, he has been redeemed 100 times over.

I’m the artist in residence at Santa Susana School of the Arts Theater Academy in Simi Valley. It’s a public magnet school that has a unique program that allows me to co-teach a comedy workshop for television, theater and film. I took a chance and e-mailed Shelley, never having met him previously, to ask if he’d like to speak to our class.

When I got a phone call from him accepting my invitation I was floored.

He showed up, exactly on time, dressed to the nines (including the toupee, about which he delivered his first joke to the kids), and spent two full hours with us.

He introduced our 14- to 17-year-olds to a history of the world through the eyes of comedians, as well as peeks into his career, his life and snippets of his routines, and even weathered a throng of students taking camera-phone photos and asking for autographs.

His generosity and heart are as enormous as his talent. Shelley Berman is a mensch.

After his appearance, Shelley asked me to join him and his wife, Sarah, for lunch. I wanted it to be my treat, since he had just given us the treat of a lifetime. He paid.

We’re still in touch, and he continues to surpass all expectations.

PEGGY ALBRECHT

Westlake Village

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WE were so delighted to see Shelley Berman making a comeback after all this time.

Forty-six years ago, at our engagement party in Montreal, we played the first comedy record we had ever heard. It was Shelley Berman’s, and it was hilarious. Berman helped get our marriage off to a good start, and it is still going strong (as is he).

NAN AND NED WOLFE

Northridge