Thursday 28 August 2008

Bernie Mac: America's King of Comedy


We've been cheated out of Bernie Mac's second act.
Dead from pneumonia at a mere 50, Mac leaves behind a legacy of great succeeder and unrealized promise. We can be grateful for the hits, most notably his influential, insufficiently comprehended sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show". But as with any performing artist who dies at the height of his calling, you can't help mentation there would have been more to come.








Born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough in 1957 in Chicago, he was, in show biz circles, a late boner. He didn't come to national tending until he was already well into adulthood, and his funniness came from a in spades adult linear perspective. It could be raw and blustery, but the anger and insights both came from experience, and were frequently softened by a warmness he could turn on and turned at will.


Though he worked in TV and films though the '90s, most notably, perchance, in the 1995 strike "Friday," Mac's career didn't take off until 2000 with the Spike Lee concert photographic film "The Original Kings of Comedy." His co-stars at the time were belike better known: Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley and Steve Harvey. But it was Mac who stone-broke out, ambitious Hollywood to give him a sitcom � a challenge met by Fox the adjacent year with "The Bernie Mac Show."





Loosely based on his possess life," Mac" cast him as a happily married man wHO becomes a not-so-happy father when he's forced to take in his sister's three young children. Addressing "America" now through the camera, Mac let us know precisely what he thought of this and every other turn of event, patch his children and his wife let us go out they knew how to get about him.


The show ran little Joe years and earned "Mac" two Emmy nominations. But as ratings fell and network support vanished, Mac moved on to movies: "Oceans 11" and its sequels, "Guess Who (a Guess Who's Coming to Dinner revamp)," and "Transformer"s among them. He likewise battled health problems brought on by the inflammatory disease sarcoidosis that were clearly more serious then he let on in public.


For all his talents, Mac was not always his best ally. His complaints during the guide of his Fox evince, while sometimes justified, did not do much to endear him to the network, and may feature hastened the end of the series. Most late, his off-color remarks while introducing Barack Obama at a fundraiser in July got him into trouble with both the audience and the campaign.







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