Product Description
Beginning in the William Morris mail room in 1955, Bernie Brillstein wanted only three things: “to walk into a restaurant and have people know who I am…to be the guy who gets the phone calls and doesn’t have to make them…to represent the one performer people must have.”

Where Did I Go Right? is Brillstein’s street-smart, funny, and thoroughly human story of a life in show business. With his trademark wit and candor, he speaks out for the first time about his feud with Mike Ovitz, and how it felt to pass the leadership of his company to his partner, Brad Grey, and “no longer be the king.” He describes his close relationship with John Belushi and what it was like being alone with Belushi’s body as it lay “stretched out across two cramped seats in a tiny jet, wrapped up in a body bag” on the way to his funeral. He shares stories about Jim Henson and Gilda Radner, about Lorne Michaels and the early days of Saturday Night Live.Amazon.com Review
"My wink is binding," Bernie Brillstein writes in the middle part of his memoir of a career in showbiz. At this point the movie-star manager has already admitted that he wanted power and prestige as soon as he started in the William Morris agency mailroom. And that he chased after a Don Corleone-ish kind of respect afterward. But even when he became a clout-carrying manager and near-mogul he kept his people-first credo. You suspect he loves it too for the way it echoes the Borscht Belt, since that's the kind of verbal energy he draws on throughout this anecdote-crammed autobiography. He calls himself "show," but in four decades he had to be "business" too, tough enough to tell clients, as he says he did, when to start their career over from scratch. The book begins with a graphically honest memory of his visit to the proctologist with his family when he was 24--something he guffaws off, but it's probably not far from the sort of reality check he regularly gave clients like Jim Henson, Norm Crosby, Lorne Michaels, John Belushi, and Brad Pitt. He cops to a gambling addiction, a love of "high class call girls," and to the way he stole from Laugh-Into invent Hee Haw. But he also brokered Lorne Michael's big break with SNL, produced Dangerous Liaisons, and eventually got News Radio and The Sopranos on the air. He candidly assesses professional pains too, including Michael Ovitz's pathology, Garry Shandling's riddling neuroses, and the loss of Belushi and Henson. "I care," he writes finally, "because that's who I am." It's easy to smile at that, but by the end of the book it's also easy to believe he means it. --Lyall Bush ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

Hard to put this book down
Bernie, I wish I had meet you in real life. This book is like having a conversation with him and discussing his life in show business. The up's the down's and the moments in between which were plagued with self-doubt and ego trips. I could not stop reading this book once I started. I knew nothing of the man before I bought his bio except for what was on wikipedia. I'm truly glad I purchased this book and its worth the read to anyone who wants to know.

One of the last great talent "Managers"...
The best advice from this book is "Answer and return every phone call, and always say thank you". Many life lessons to be had here, not only for Hollywood, but living as a human being with dignity and respect. Thanks for a great read Mr. Brillstein.

Entertaining!
I enjoyed this book very much.Very insightful in regards to dealing with the entertainment industry in Hollywood.

REALLY JUST A SALESMAN, AFTER ALL THE FUSS!!
Because we're so star-struck in America, we tend to be overly impressed with ShowBiz and the people who inhabit that world.But as charming, determined and persistent a personality Mr. Brillstein may be, he's essentially just a salesman - NOT the creator, but a "dealmaker" of the ShowBiz Old School - and after almost 400 pages, I found he'd worn thin his welcome!However dramatic it may have been FOR HIM to accompany John Belushi's body back East, or "duke it out" with the Big Boys in corporate takeovers while at Lorimar, the emotions are thinly drawn and shallow in this book.Brillstein made me less than intrigued with his machinations, unimpressed by his self-aggrandizing spin on events and ultimately unsympathetic to his life challenges.(His obvious misogyny doesn't help, either - he has no use for women outside of the sack, it appears.) Here's another absurdly fortunate, rich powerful older man feeling sorry for himself because time changes everything?I'd have hoped he'd have learned to adjust better to the slings and arrows of life by the time he got to his 60s and 70s!

This book was distressing to me because I REALLY WANTED to LIKE the guy - but I found I couldn't.He's kinda ordinary, and once you remove the "famous" names and large amounts of money, his anecdotes are kinda ordinary!He's not terribly brilliant, sage or extraordinary in any other way than being sublimely LUCKY!I gave the book 3 stars, because it's certainly not dreck, but for inspiration or insight, I'd advise looking elsewhere!

Brillstein is as a big a star as those he represents
I'm not sure what drove me to buy the Brillstein book.I had heard of him of years, but wasn't sure that a managers tale was all that interesting.Oh, but is!This book is filled with humor, honesty, and and ego.Bernie seems like a terrific guy and he tells fantastic stories. Some are filled with love: Belushi, Radner, etc.Others venom (and these are the most fun, he pulls no punches): Ovitz, Shandling (more would have better on this), etc.You learn about the inside story of Hee Haw, The Muppets, SNL, and Lorimar.My favorite stuff was about Jim Henson, rarely have I seen so much great stuff written about one of my heroes.

While this may not be a roast, I raise my glass to Big Bernie and the wonderful life he has led.Thanks for sharing. ... Read more