I'll Be Back Right After This

This engaging memoir tracks one-time newsman/entertainment reporter O'Brien from his humble South Dakota roots through a dazzling array of life experiences. Through luck and determination, O'Brien was successively a teenage rock and roll keyboardist playing to thousands, a standout university student, a political gofer, and newsroom assistant to David Brinkley. He then moved up the ranks of local, regional, and national news reporting, eventually switching to sports, then entertainment. The book wobbles from one star-studded anecdote to another, some quite uncomplimentary to their participants. Seemingly candid, O'Brien confesses his worsening drug and alcohol habits. Though he sometimes uses his substance abuse troubles as an excuse for his behavior, he also details his many rehabs and eventual recovery. Unsurprising, swagger oozes from O'Brien's fast-delivery narration, which is smooth-talking to the point of oily.