Mac, Bernie 1957-

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MAC, Bernie 1957-

PERSONAL: Born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, 1957, in Chicago, IL; married; wife's name Rhonda; children: J'Neice. Ethnicity: "African American."

ADDRESSES: Office—c/o Def Comedy Jam, HBO, 1100 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York, United States 10036.

CAREER: Stand-up comic and actor. Film debut, Mo' Money, 1992; appeared in over a dozen films. Creator and star, Midnight Mac, HBO, 1995; founding member, The Original Kings of Comedy, 1997-00; concert film, The Original Kings of Comedy, 2000; star, The Bernie Mac Show (television series), 2001—.

WRITINGS:

(With Darrell Dawsey) I Ain't Scared of You!, MTV Books (New York, NY), 2001.

(With Pablo F. Fenjves) Maybe You Never Cry Again, Regan Books (New York, NY), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS: Although actor and comedien Bernie Mac, born Bernard Jeffery McCullough, has lived the proverbial Hollywood success story, it took decades to achieve. The "Original Kings of Comedy," a hit concert tour featuring Steve Harvey, D. L. Hughley, and Cedric the Entertainer that was turned into a hit film by Spike Lee, brought Mac crossover fame. He began performing comedy in 1977 and it led him off the streets of Chicago. Bernie's first real standup routine was when he was eight years old. At church, he did a routine about his grandparents sitting at the kitchen table. As a result, Mac's grandmother came up and smacked him, took him outside, and proceeded to "whip" him. It was then that Mac realized the joke was more important than discipline.

In Mac's autobiographical I Ain't Scared of You!, he takes on professional athletes, sex, religion, marriage, child rearing, and his South-side Chicago childhood. A Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that the book "skillfully captures the rhythm and color of street vernacular....Mac shows on more than one occasion that he can reach deep in the pockets of human distress and bring forth a smile."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 29, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2001.

PERIODICALS

Black Issues Book Review, January-February 2002, Michelle Gipson, "Bernie Mac on How Life Is: I Ain't Scared of You," p.69.

Daily Variety, June 3, 2002, Michael Fleming, "Mac Stacks up Pic Roles," p. 1.

Electronic Media, November 26, 2001, Michael Freeman, review of The Bernie Mac Show, p. 1A.

Entertainment Weekly, August 11, 2000, Noah Robischon, movie review of the Kings of Comedy Tour, p. 42; December 1, 2000, p. 90; November 16, 2001, Ken Tucker, review of The Bernie Mac Show, p. 155; December 21, 2001, Ken Tucker, "9 Bernie Mac," p. 42.

Esquire, November, 2001, review of The Bernie Mac Show, p. 42.

Essence, October, 2001.

Hollywood Reporter, November 14, 2001, Barry Garron, review of The Bernie Mac Show, p. 6.

Interview, August, 2000, Susan Johnson, review of The Kings of Comedy Tour, p. 57.

Jet, September 30, 2002, Aldore Collier, "The Bernie Mac Show Back for Second Season," p. 61; December 3, 2001, "Bernie Mac Brings Tough Love and Comedy to The Bernie Mac Show," p. 56.

Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, March 28, 1994, Nick Charles, review of The Bernie Mac Show, p. K4373; November 13, 2001, Ken Parish Perkins, review of The Bernie Mac Show, p. K4; November 13, 2001, Manuel Mendoza, review of The Bernie Mac Show, p. K4374; November 13, 2001, Mike Duffy, review of The Bernie Mac Show, p. K4374.

Los Angeles Times, November 4, 2001, Greg Braxton, review of The Bernie Mac Show, p. F5.

New York Times, August 18, 2000, Elvis Mitchell, review of The Kings of Comedy Tour, p. E12; March 2, 2001, review of Kings of Comedy Tour (video recording), p. E31; November 14, 2001, Neil Genzlinger, review of The Bernie Mac Show, p. 103; December 5, 2001, Bernard Weintraub, review of Kings of Comedy Tour, p. E1.

New York Times Magazine, May 12, 2002, Chris Norris, "Bernie Mac Smacks a Nerve," p. 30.

Publishers Weekly, October 1, 2001, review of I Ain't Scared of You, p. 50; October 15, 2001, review of I Ain't Scared of You, p. 60; November 6, 2001, John F. Baker, review of I Ain't Scared of You, p. 18.

Rolling Stone, December 26, 2002, Mark Binelli, "Bernie Mac's Hostile Takeover," p. 39.

Savoy, May 2002, Jay A. Fernandez, "Papa Don't Take No Mess," p. 53.

Sight and Sound, October, 1998, review of The Players Club, p. 49.

Time, November 5, 2001, James Poniewozik, review of The Bernie Mac Show, p. 103.

TV Guide, February 2, 2002, David Hochman, "Make Room for Bernie Mac," p. 14.

Variety, April 13, 1998, Joe Leyden, movie review of The Players Club, p. 28; April 12, 1999, review of Life, p. 63; November 19, 2001, Michael Speier, review of The Bernie Mac Show, p. 46; January 28, 2002, "Bernie Mac Cooks," p. 21.