FULL OF BEANS VALLEY RESIDENT'S NEW BOOK PARODIES CORPORATE CULTURE, L.L BEAN CATALOG IN ONE TWISTED SWOOP BOOK SKEWERS CATALOGS, CORPORATIONS.

Byline: Marla Matzer Rose Staff Writer

WOODLAND HILLS - Larry Bleidner first became famous as a spunky little kid with a mop of red hair and a big appetite. In the early '60s, he was thefirst to utter the Lays potato chips pitch, ``Betcha Can't Eat Just One!'' in a renowned series of with Bert Lahr.

Now, several decades later, the Woodland Hills resident is bringing a smile to people's faces with an edgier brand of humor. With friend and former co-worker Peter Scott, Bleidner co-authored the just-released book ``The L & L Beancounter's Catalog: Survival Gear for Your Career,'' which manages to parody both corporate culture and the L.L Bean mail order catalog in one fell swoop.

``There's so little to laugh at in business, even though it's become such a huge part of our lives,'' said Bleidner, sitting in the living room of his home on a quiet cul-de-sac south of Ventura Boulevard.

In addition to being the book's co-writer, Bleidner was its photographer. Look closely, West Valley-ites: doesn't the background in the photographs on the book's cover look familiar? Yes, it's Warner Park. ``We attracted a small crowd of people wondering what the heck we were doing when we shot that,'' chuckled Bleidner, who in the photograph is choking Scott.

Bleidner's home itself is filled with sights familiar to readers of the book: Bleidner and Scott appear throughout the book, modeling such items as the Golden Parachute Pack and the Aneurysm Detector/Calibrator.

If Bleidner's back yard looks familiar, it's because that's where he shot himself posing as Crocodeath Nastee, proprietor of the ``Kill or Be Killed'' Outback Survival Camp.

Even the face of Bleidner's wife, Irene Zutell, rings a bell. The perky blonde, a writer for People magazine, is the model for such items as the Human Resources Termination Masque. Behind the scenes, she's also been drumming up publicity for the book.

The authors sense a pent-up appetite for business humor that's more in- your-face than, say, the ultra-popular ``Dilbert'' cartoon empire.

And there is some gentle humor in the book. An entry devoted to Ultra- Casual Friday Wear offers big goofy slippers, nightshirts and robes for those who take ``casual Friday'' to the extreme.

But most of the laughs are nastier: references to substance abuse and violent physical attacks are peppered throughout the book, along with some very colorful language.

``Dilbert is like Charlie Brown, all grown up: he's a loser,'' said Scott, speaking from his home in Washington, D.C. ``Dilbert is all about 'take your lumps and shut up.' Dilbert has been incorporated by the human resources department . . . it's approved corporate humor now.''

These guys go a little further. They're a little more extreme.

Scott is a good example. After winning $50,000 on the game show 'Jeopardy' in 1998 he left his advertising job at Fortune magazine. Bleidner, who also worked for Time Warner-owned Fortune, similarly came to the end of his rope one day; it happened while driving his boss around L.A. on an expense-account ``business trip.''

After one too many ridiculous demands, Bleidner left his boss to cool his heels on an exit ramp of the 405 Freeway. It was bye-bye Time Warner for both buddies.

Now, the headstrong duo hopes to turn ``Beancounter's'' into a growing business. Spinoffs already include a Web site (www.bizhumor.com) that offers a few of the gag items featured in the book for sale. They have also been booked by several media firms to perform their Corporate Commandos shtick for employees.

Scott says he particularly looks forward to one booking coming up: it's for a Time Warner group.

``We used to GIVE it away there!'' he crowed.

And, naturally, the co-authors are now entertaining Hollywood offers. They have a feature film script in development at Universal and have penned a proposed television pilot dealing with the relationships and the generation gap in a ``dot com'' company.

``I'd rather sell TV shows than sell Cubicle Periscopes over the Web,'' said Scott, referring to one of the items the duo plans to offer on their Web site. But, he hastily adds, ``Doing this sure beats begging with people to spend $70,000 on a full-page magazine ad.''

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(1 -- 5 -- color) Larry Bleidner gets a headlock on his writing partner, Peter Scott, on the cover of their new book, ``The L & L Beancounter's Catalog: Survival Gear for Your Career,'' which features items no corporate ladder-climbing executive should be without, including letter openers that make their users ``someone to reckon with'' and shackles for temporary workers.

(6) Author Larry Bleidner, at his home in Woodland Hills, discusses his book, ``The L & L Beancounter's Catalog.''

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer