THE “POSTAL PEST”

PEOPLE No, SHELBY FRIED-MAN is not a figment of BLACKIE SHERROD’ s imagination. Or HELEN BRYANT’s.. Or DICKHITT’S. He’s a real guy who just happens to hand local columnists and talk-show hosts some of the worst puns and groaner jokes you’ve ever heard.

Friedman, whom Sherrod calls ’’the postal pest,” invented the Van Gogh Cocktail: you know, drink two and you’ll talk somebody’s ear off! (Ouch!) He tells us that the SPCA has opened a Bureau of Missing Persians! (Argh!) And don’t forget the Phi Beta Kappa who smoked in bed and made a smart ash of himself! (Aiiieee!)

“It’s sort of a compulsive thing,” says Friedman, 78. “They just pop into my head, sometimes in the middle of the night. During the average day I’ll think up 20 or 30, type them up, and send them in. Over the years I’ve had ’em in Reader’s Digest, The Wall Street Journal, the National Enquirer. . .”

Unlike many creative types, Friedman deals with rejection well. Dick Hitt says that for every Shelby-ism he uses, he may throw away 50- not always because they’re bad, but because, sometimes, they’re blue.

Friedman has developed something of a following, with folks recognizing his name when he signs the checks in grocery stores and so on. The reason may be that Shelby Friedman is a lot like his own bad joke about Polynesian food; an hour later, you want Samoa.