FORGET THE CHICKEN SOUP - WE'LL WING IT.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY

``It's great. We get to make up things we know absolutely nothing about. Just like politicians.''

- Joe Malatsky

Forget chicken soup. I've found something better. Harvey Fleckman.

He runs a comedy workshop over at the Valley Storefront in North Hollywood, and the word is out he's knocking more years off the age of seniors in his class than Viagra and wrinkle cream combined.

He's doing it with some of the oldest and best medicine ever known to mankind. A good laugh.

For a couple of hours once a week, seniors like Joe Malatsky, 89, and Essie Auerbach - who says it's none of your damn business how old she is - walk into Fleckman's comedy class, and they become someone else.

Someone funny and quick witted. Someone exciting and outrageous. Someone who gets to lie about things they don't have a clue about.

``We take a subject we know nothing about, and argue about it,'' Malatsky says, laughing. ``Harvey throws us a sentence and we have to make up stories.''

Last week, each member of the class had to pick a famous person or occupation. Then Fleckman told them they were in a lifeboat with only one preserver.

The skit was for each of them to argue why they were more important than the others and should get the preserver.

``I tell them not to go for jokes or punch lines, but to let the comedy come out of the situation,'' Fleckman says.

It works. Before long, the six people in the lifeboat are laughing almost as hard as the audience watching them.

With each laugh you can just see the years melting away as their minds race faster than they've raced in years.

And that makes Harvey Fleckman one of the most valuable resources we've got. Much better than chicken soup.

``He's a very talented, charming man, who gets our people going,'' says Dorie Gradwohl, director of the Valley Storefront Jewish Family Services. ``They are enjoying this workshop immensely.''

Essie Auerbach says Fleckman gives her a stage to express herself. ``I have a certain amount of talent, like a million people in L.A., and love to show it off,'' she says, laughing.

``Harvey lets us all do that. He makes you lose whatever shyness you have, and forces you to think fast and come up with answers.

``For a lot of seniors, who have become accustomed to thinking slow, it's wonderful therapy, much better than going to a shrink,'' Essie says.

Joe Malatsky agrees. ``At our ages using our minds is vital, and that's the big thing about Harvey's workshop,'' he says.

``He keeps our minds working and thinking fast, and he isn't afraid to bawl us out if we stray and don't keep up.''

It's all improv,' says Fleckman, who had tried his hand at it in L.A. nightclubs of the '70s. He decided to teach the technique at schools and senior centers once he retired from a career in textile designing.

``I've always loved comedy, and seen the value of laughter,'' he says. ``People having a good time have a hard time being sad or lonely. They're too busy enjoying themselves.''

Another thing Fleckman teaches that has a residual payoff is brevity. It's an important element of comedy, and makes you a much better conversationalist, he says.

``You know how annoying it is when you're talking to someone, and they're always pausing with a `you know' or `uh', slow in getting to the point,'' Fleckman said. ``People admire a good conversationalist.

``In comedy, I teach them you have to get in and get out. Get to the point, which is get a laugh. Don't amble around.''

With that, Joe Malatsky and Essie Auerbach take the stage.

The scene is the showroom floor of upscale Tiffany's. They've just walked in together.

He's a plumber, she's a high-class call girl.

You take it from there.

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Photo

PHOTO Harvey Fleckman runs a comedy workshop in North Hollywood.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer