actor; comedian
Personal Information
Born in 1957, in Chicago, IL; married Rhonda McCullough; children: J'Neice.
Career
Stand-up comic and actor. Film debut, Mo' Money, 1992; appeared in over a dozen films; created and starred in HBO show, Midnight Mac, 1995; touring comedy show, The Original Kings of Comedy, founding member, 1997-00; concert film, The Original Kings of Comedy, 2000; television series, The Bernie Mac Show, 2001.
Life's Work
From the crime-ridden streets of Chicago's south side to the red-carpeted runways of Hollywood premieres, Comedian Bernie Mac has risen to the top of his game by being true to himself and doing what he loves. "I just get up there and dig deep into my heart and let it go," he told The Florida Times-Union of his performances, "That's what I'm meant to do." Those are pretty sensitive words from a comic whose raw, in-your-face style prompted the Daytona Beach News Journal to write, "Mac, a maniacally evil glint in his eyes at all times, is a walking, sex-scene-spouting parody of conformity." However, as raunchy and strong as his comic style has been, Mac has always communicated a definite point. A family man at heart, Mac has also maintained respect for his audience, his community, and himself. He told Jet that, despite his liberal use of four-letter words, "I talk about self-respect."
Bernie Mac was born in 1957, one of fifteen children, and raised on the South Side of Chicago. Almost from the start he was destined to be a comic. He was just four when he witnessed his mother laughing until she cried as she watched Bill Cosby perform on television. The power Cosby had to elicit such reaction made an impact on Mac. He quickly became the family clown. He told the New York Daily News, "I did two hours at my grandfather's funeral....They asked me to say a few words, and I just started doing him. Imitating his walk and his laugh, and repeating his favorite line: 'I'l kil'yu.'" By the time he graduated high school, his comic reputation was intact, even if he wasn't ready for it. Voted class clown by his fellow students, Mac turned the title down. "I thought it was an insult," he told Entertainment Weekly.
Mac's career started slowly. It's not that he wasn't funny enough, he just wasn't very committed. He worked a series of menial jobs to pay the rent and did impromptu stand-up in the subways, eliciting tips for laughs in between the rush of trains coming and going. Sadly, it took devastating losses to get his career off the platform and on track. An unfortunate series of accidents and illnesses claimed the lives of several close family members. Understandably, he has chosen not to speak in public on these grave personal losses. One thing he has shared is that as a result of the losses he suffered, he finally decided to focus on his first calling--his career as a comic.
Mac quickly became a well-known comic in a town that is well- known for comedy. His fame in Chicago was enough to score him a spot on HBO's Def Comedy Jam. Damon Wayans was the host the night of Mac's appearance. Mac not only won over the audience, but Wayans as well. Before he knew it, he had a role in Wayans's 1992 film Mo' Money. The movie was instantly forgettable, but Mac wasn't. Over the next few years, he would appear in many films. Because he was a comic, he was often cast as a funny sideman. However, he proved himself in dramatic roles as well, most notably as "Flip," a homeless ex-basketball star in 1994's Above the Rim. Of that film he told the New York Daily News, "Where you start is where you end up....So before I got typecast, I wanted to establish that I can go deep." However, on the small screen, it was comedy all the way. He made appearances on The Arsenio Hall Show, hosted an episode of NBC's Later, had a recurring role on the teen hit Moesha, and wrote and starred in his own HBO show, Midnight Mac, which was nominated for a Cable Ace Award.
Even as his small and large screen careers were taking off, Mac stepped up his live performance schedule. With his new-found fame, he could now headline at major comedy clubs and theaters across the country. At one point he was touring almost forty weeks out of the year. This was the early and mid-1990s when black comedians were the talk of the entertainment world. In a 1994 article Jet noted that black comics "are among the hottest on the comedy circuit." In Living Color, Showtime at the Apollo, and Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam were drawing massive audiences and black comics were becoming stars.
It was a great time for comedy, but some critics noted that it was also a time of the re-segregation of comedy. Few whites were in the audience. "Segregated comedy is sad," Mac told The Florida Times-Union, "People are missing out. The world isn't all black or all white." He reiterated that view in a later interview with Jet,"I don't consider myself a Black Comic, I don't consider myself a White Comic. I consider myself a comedian....I can make them all laugh."
In 1997 Mac joined four other comics and began the tour that would propel him into the realm of comedic royalty. Along with Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, and Cedric the Entertainer, Mac embarked on the comedy tour, The Original Kings of Comedy. The show, created by promoter Walter Latham, was two and a half hours of gut-splitting, howling good laughter. "It reminds you of when you were a kid and someone jumped on you to tickle you," Harvey told Jet. "After a while you just want him to stop. You can't take no more. That's what coming to see this show is like."
Audiences across the country could take more, a lot more, and Kings was the first comedy show ever to move from headlining theaters and small arenas to commanding full houses at rock concert-sized coliseums. Within months after forming, the troupe started selling out 11,000 seat stadiums and went on to become the highest grossing comedy tour in history, drawing over $40 million since its inception. In considering the tour's success, Mac offered a sociological reason. "We're doctors. We're medicine. We're something a lot of people wish they could be," he told Jet. "People come and can forget about their hardships. The world is hurting. Most of the people who come may be crying and arguing, but they come to get away and to laugh for a couple of hours."
The show's success drew the attention of director Spike Lee, and in February of 2000 he headed to the Charlotte, North Carolina show with 12 cameras, producing one of Hollywood's most unexpected hits, the film The Original Kings of Comedy. The film provided Mac with a much wider--and whiter--audience and poised him for even greater success.
His fame has spread like spring fever since his stand-up days on the Chicago subway. In 2001, Mac was busy filming the much anticipated re-make of Ocean's Eleven with heavy-hitters Matt Damon, George Clooney, and Brad Pitt. Mac's first book, I Ain't Scared of You, was scheduled for publication in the fall of 2001. Also that fall, FOX planned to launch The Bernie Mac Show. Mac has been fortunate to gain immense success while working in a career he loves. In an interview posted on the theparamount.com website Mac said, "I'm not in it for the ego or any other selfish reasons. I do it because I love it. This is what I chose to do. I'm in it to win it."
Works
Selected filmography
- Films
- Mo' Money, 1992.
- Who's the Man, 1993.
- Above the Rim, 1994.
- The Walking Dead, 1995.
- Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, 1996.
- Get on the Bus, 1996.
- Booty Call, 1997.
- BAPS, 1997.
- How to Be a Player, 1997.
- The Player's Club, 1998.
- Life, 1999.
- The Original Kings of Comedy, 2000.
- What's the Worst That Could Happen?, 2001.
- Ocean's Eleven, 2001.
- Television
- Midnight Mac, HBO Variety Special, 1995.
- The Bernie Mac Show (Pilot), 2001.
Selected writings- I Ain't Scared of You!, MTV Books, Fall 2001
Further Reading
Periodicals
- Daytona Beach News Journal, August 18, 2000.
- Entertainment Weekly, August 11, 2000, p. 42.
- The Florida Times-Union, June 4, 1999.
- Interview, August 2000, p. 57.
- Jet, September 5, 1994, p. 34; September 20, 1999, p. 58.
- New York Daily News, March 28, 1994.
Other- Additional material was obtained online at: http://www.kingsofcomedymovie.com; http://www.theparamount.com/artist/mac/bernie/html; and http://www.imdb.com.
— Candace LaBalle
