The TV Zone

Boy, here's a huge departure in the show business world: Bernie Brillstein has died. The Associated Press announced this earlier today in a brief dispatch saying "that Brillstein died of heart disease at a Los Angeles hospital at about 9 p.m. Thursday night. He was 77."

The name "Brillstein" is as well-known as any in Hollywood, off-screen or on, and he had a vital role in some of the cultural landmarks of the last half century, including "Saturday Night Live" and "The Sopranos," latter of which he helped launch along with longtime partner (and now Paramount chief) Brad Grey. He managed John Belushi, worked with Jim Hensen (and may have repped him too for all I know - Brillstein did work with "Sesame Street" in the early days) and was closely tied with other "SNL" alum, and has worked with - and I believe been close friends with - Lorne Michaels going back to the early days. He also produced "NewsRadio," "Just Shoot Me," "Mr. Show," "Dana Carvey," "It's Garry Shandling," "Alf," and waaaay back when, "Hee Haw."

I could go on and on and on and on...(and he did, in a very colorful book about his very colorful career in a autobiography of the late '90s which had a subtitle to the effect that "you're nobody in Hollywood unless someone wants to kill you...")

Apparently many people wanted to kill Bernie. He was that influential.

It's hard to imagine why anyone'd want to (in point of fact, he was and is beloved...) I knew him only superficially, as a reporter, but he was immensely likeable, funny, smart, interesting and (for Hollywood) particularly approachable. Plus, he cut quite the iconic figure - not exactly a slim Jim in the land of skin and bones, who sported a snow white beard and white hair. He was unforgettable. You'll read plenty of Brillstein obits (if you choose) in the next few days, but I suppose his biggest claim to fame was as a manager to talent (like Belushi.) This gig involves immense patience - you're part psychiatrist, part nursemaid, part business partner. Brillstein, by all accounts, was exemplary in the role.

Below, check out this interview he conducted with CNN back in '99, when he was on a promotional tour for his book. It offers a little flavor of both style and approach. (My question: Would "SNL" have succeeded without Brillstein? Quite possibly not...)

Q: What were the early years at "Saturday Night Live" like for you?

Brillstein: John (Belushi) was the most charming -- well, you knew him. He was the boy who "when he was good, he was very, very good, and when he was bad, he was horrid."

The real John Belushi story is the night before The Blues Brothers opened at Universal. I went to rehearsal and I called John over, and it was great. I said, "John, you're at Universal Amphitheater. You cannot saunter out on stage like you do." And he said, "Bernie, I make the greatest entrance since Jimmy Durante."

Now, who in the world would think John Belushi knew who Jimmy Durante was? But he was such a student of comedy and stars and old-time showbiz. He somersaulted to the center of the stage. Those nine days, by the way, were the most exciting I'd had since Martin and Lewis. It was great.

Q: Getting back to "Saturday Night Live."

Brillstein: That first year, there were no agents there, there were no managers there (except for Brillstein). There was no one there. It was just us. And then, right after Chevy (Chase) left to do his first movie, and when John (Belushi) did "Animal House" (1978), we started attracting hordes of people and it's been that way for the last 24 years. Frightening. I added up one day over $7 billion in movie revenues have come from that show. Seven billion dollars.

Q: You know my favorite Belushi film was "Continental Divide" in 1981. He was playing a part that was close to the John I knew. But it doesn't seem that anyone else liked it.

Brillstein: I did. I wanted him to become Spencer Tracy. And he was in shape for that movie. He trained for that movie, he looked great in that movie. I thought (director) Michael Apted did a great job, Blair Brown was delicious. I don't know. They wouldn't accept him as that kind of guy. Maybe if he would have done one more, it would have worked.

Q: But the drug addictions began. (Belushi died of a drug overdose in March 1982.)

Brillstein: Someone, one night, offered me some dope, in front of John. I thought he would kill them. He said, "How can you disrespect him like that?" Oh, my God.

Q: Muppet creator Jim Henson was also a good friend and client who has since died (with pneumonia in May 1990). Your success really started with him, didn't it?

Brillstein: Well, really, Lorne (Michaels) and Jim. It was Jim who was the deep bottom of it. The comedians were over here, when Las Vegas was flourishing. With comedians, they paid for this over here. (Gestures to left.) And Jim paid a lot of what I call "experimental money." Where I could hire young people. You know, where I could represent young people.

And then Lorne came along and gave me John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner. And then Dana Carvey, Mike Myers, Dennis Miller. Brad brought in all those people. And it's been really the cornerstone of our business, yes it has.

Q: It must have been interesting to see all those people make it.

Brillstein: If you see a guy who's a junior star, and all of a sudden has a hit, or gets to be a headliner in Vegas, or gets to be a star of a television show, and you see them right after they make it, they walk differently and carry themselves differently. They're now stars. And that's it. It's a whole big difference.

Q: You speak in your book about the wasteful way that television networks decide to pick their shows each season. They use pilots, which cost a lot to make and many never see the light of day.

Brillstein: You can't predict what's going to be a hit and what's going to make money. You have to make what you think is good. Do enough good things and you'll be OK. The average success of a pilot is one-and-a-half percent. They spend $50 million a year on research. That's insane after all these years. For $50 million, you can do six shows or seven shows. It's all crazy. Have you ever met a Nielsen family? I haven't either. Who are they? Wouldn't it be great if the Mafia took over? That's a Nielsen family.

Q: So has it all been worth it?

Brillstein: I had a great time. Look how lucky I am. Look how lucky.