Sad, sad news today … after contracting a vicious case of pneumonia, comedian Bernie Mac succumbed to the illness and passed away today. Last weekend, there were rumors going around that Bernie had died but I immediately scoffed at those rumors and was very relieved to hear from his reps that he had not passed away but was only struggling with pneumonia. I am very sad to report that Bernie has, today, lost that struggle:

Bernie Mac, a stand-up comic who played evil-tongued but lovable rogues in films like ‘Bad Santa’ and ‘Mr. 3000′ and combined menace and sentiment as a reluctant foster father on ‘The Bernie Mac Show’ on Fox, died on Saturday in Evanston, Ill. He was 50 and lived near Chicago. The cause was complications from pneumonia, said his publicist, Danica Smith. Mr. Mac, an imposing stage presence with a line of scabrous insults, parlayed his success as a stand-up comedian onto the big screen in a string of comedies that cast him in cameo roles, usually as wily con men like Pastor Clever in ‘Friday’ and Gin, the store detective in ‘Bad Santa.’ He also excelled as short-tempered misanthropes, notably in his starring role as Stan Ross, the nation’s most hated baseball player, in ‘Mr. 3000.’ In 2001, the Fox network took a gamble with ‘The Bernie Mac Show,’ an unconventional family comedy with Mr. Mac portraying a childless married comedian who reluctantly takes in his sister’s three youngsters when she goes into a drug-treatment program. The irascible Mr. Mac made a different kind of TV dad, ‘more Ike Turner than Dr. Spock,’ Chris Norris wrote in a 2002 profile for The New York Times Magazine. Mr. Mac’s special style of tough love — ‘I’m gonna bust your head ’til the white meat shows,’ he warns his surly teenage neice — set the show apart from other family sitcoms and raised a few critical eyebrows, but audiences saw enough of the character’s soft center to find the show touching. ‘The success of my comedy has been not being afraid to touch on subject matters or issues that everyone else is politically scared of,’ Mr. Mac told The Times in 2001. ‘It’s a joke, believe me. I’m not trying to hurt anybody.’ Mr. Mac incorporated aspects of his standup act and during each episode would break the fictional world of the show and address the audience directly. On one show, he swiveled in his chair and said, ‘Now America, tell me again, why can’t I whip that girl?’ ‘The Bernie Mac Show’ show ran for five seasons, and Mr. Mac won Emmy awards as outstanding actor in a comedy series in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Bernard Jeffrey McCullough was born in Chicago to a single mother who inspired him, indirectly, to become a comedian. When he was 5, he told a television interviewer in 2001, he saw her sitting in front of the television set crying. ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ was playing, and when Bill Cosby began telling a story about snakes in the bathroom, she started laughing despite herself. ‘When I saw her laughing, I told her that I was going to be a comedian so she’d never cry again,’ Mr. Mac said … In 1990, he was invited to do two shows with Def Comedy Jam, a tour featuring young black comedians that was filmed for HBO. Small film roles followed, in ‘Mo’ Money’ (1992), ‘Who’s The Man?’ (1993) and ‘House Party 3′ (1994), as well as an HBO variety series, ‘Midnight Mac,’ and a spot with the Original Kings of Comedy, a tour that showcased some of the most popular contemporary black comedians. The tour, which grossed an astounding $59 million, generated several HBO specials and a film by Spike Lee, ‘The Original Kings of Comedy.’

Man, this is very sad news. I am not a fan of stand-up comedy, not by any means, but Bernie Mac was deffo one of the comedians who could always make me laugh. I absolutely fell in love with him in The Original Kings of Comedy. I kid you not, I have never embarrassed myself so fully in public in all my life. I promise, I am not exaggerating here by any means … Bernie‘s routine in Kings of Comedy (and if you’ve seen it — and I implore you to seek it out and watch it if you haven’t — you know that Bernie‘s routine in the movie is roughly the basis for his TV show The Bernie Mac Show … but cleaned up, a lot) had me laughing so loudly, so riotously that I had to leave the theater to stop laughing. True story. The news of his passing is just very sad, I doubt I’ll ever be able to laugh that much ever again now that he’s gone. I feel I must also add that Bernie Mac played the first African American Bosley in any of the Charlie’s Angels TV shows or movies — he took over for Bill Murray in Charlie’s Angels 2 and did a hilarious job. Again, he will be sorely missed … and will never be replaced. May you rest in eternal peace, Bernie … thank you for all the laughs.

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