Exactly one year ago, today, we realized than an icon was gone and he was not coming back. While we knew that we had lost a special person, we just did not know how much we had lost.

Many of you probably still remember it like it was yesterday, the news was reporting early that morning that comedian, Bernie Mac, was dead. It was not a misreport, it was true, one of the greatests of all time, an original king of comedy was dead.

It is ironic that he died when he did, only months short of seeing fellow Chicagoan, Barack Obama become the first black president. During Obama’s campaign, he joked that he has relatives that look like Bernie Mac and relatives that look like Margaret Thatcher.

Mac was a big supporter of Obama, but caused some controversy after Mac made a sexist joke on the then-Senator during a campaign rally. The Obama campaign asked Bernie Mac to clean up his act, but he did not have enough time to.

In addition to his political activity, Bernie Mac had a critically-acclaimed sitcom on FOX that ran from 2001 until 2006. Some fans of Mac were hoping for another sitcom, there were a few rumors circulating about a new Bernie Mac sitcom.

Mac began his rise to stardom with his own HBO series that was followed by a minor role in Ice Cube’s Friday, then a minor role in the UPN sitcom, “Moesha,” then his own sitcom, “The Bernie Mac Show,” that ran for five seasons.

There are black men and black women who love each other regardless of the social stigma that is constantly sold to them. Society uses a fearless tactic that is constructed to do the most horrible destruction on black relationships. It is constructed to make the black women as the enemy and the black man as a victim of her ferocious claws. Off-course this construction can also be attached to the black man. The black man is then seen as violent and uncivilized and so the black woman becomes a victim who must struggle to escape his institution. Remember shows like Cosby, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Bernie Mac Show and lately, My Wife and Kids? These structures showed us that they could struggle together but yet enjoy success together as well. But I’m glad to those relationships that do work out and the couples that continue to shine like hope. Here are a few of my favourite black celebrity couples, in real life and in the movies, who are holding the front lines in love: 

The Washingtons are stunning and bonded in deep love.

Pauletta Pearson and her Denzel. Wow couple.

Hip hop power couple both in and out of courts. 

Power-couple Jay-Z and Beyonce

In a Family That Prey’s, Tyler Perry unites black love and hope. 

Tyler Perry's Family That Preys.

Angela Bassett and the family: Very adorable.

Angela Bassett and beautiful family.

Will and Jada smith are steam love, hot love, mutual love: 

Timeless Love.

Obama love from mom to dad to kids to beyond the Whitehouse:

Gentleman and Lady are in love and you can tell.

Nelly needs Ashanti and Ashanti needs Nelly and that’s the way it should be. Private couple. I’m rooting for them.

Nelly and Ashanti keep it private and sweet.

Meet the Whitakers. Fierce supportive Team Whitaker. 

The couple that laughs together, stays together. U digg?

Love untied by the knot but outlasting shallow perceptions. 

Happily unmarried. Oprah and her Stedman.

Ruby Dee and Ozzie Davis: Till death did them apart: 

Camille and Bill Cosby: Love outlast:

Married over 40 years. Family man and woman.

Omar Epps and wifey: 

Love within love.

Rodney and Holly Robinson: 

Going strong.

Okay I had to close with a cute family and hot couple Chris Rock and wife Malaak: 

Super cute and I you best agree.

Here is to all the love and hope out there for black love.

I was watching the Bernie Mac Show on FX the other day when it hit me – damn, Bernie Mac is dead and he was one of the funniest guys I’ve ever seen.  The man just oozed comedic gold, ever since his first bigtime routine, popularized on Def Comedy Jam, “I Ain’t Scared of You Mothafuckas!”  Here’s the routine:

If you don’t start laughing at least 3 times, then you need to get your funny bone checked.  His standup work was gold; go watch the Kings of Comedy if you really want proof – he was the closer for a reason.  But as I was watching the show and remembering just how great he was a comic, I got to thinking about comedy now.  The Kings of Comedy was almost a decade ago; many of the black comic heavyweights are older and aren’t doing comedy very much anymore, or at least not to the popularity that they may have had some 10-15 years ago.  The crowd has changed, and the taste has definitely changed.  Dave Chappelle is still hilarious, and Chris Rock has maintained his comedic steam, going worldwide with his performances.  Katt Williams’ star shone bright a couple of years ago, but I just don’t see that black comic we can all point to and go, “He’s just funny – period.”

Before I continue, I wanna say I love African-American comics.  I loved Comicview on BET as a secondary Def Comedy Jam that helped give some comedians their breaks.  There was a comic who always had an onstage persona of being a drunk, and he had a joke I’ll never forget because it put me to tears for a half hour.

“A woman gets this mirror at an antique shop, and hangs it on her bathroom door. One night, while getting changed, she says “Mirror, mirror, on my door, make my bustline forty four”.  There’s a flash of light, and her breasts get huge!  She goes to tell her husband what happened, and the husband goes to the mirror himself.  The husband say “Mirror mirror on the door, make my johnson touch the floor!”….and his legs fell off.  And the moral of the story is, ‘be careful what you wish for…”

I hollered my ass off when that man said that joke.  But enough reminiscing; more on the current comedy.  I don’t have any problem with white comedians; many are funny, but the delivery style of black comedians just seems to resonate with me.  The subject matter seems to resonate with me.  Lavell Crawford, a St. Louis native, had a bit that always has me rolling, you can watch it here.  And before I get caught up in comedic nostalgia again, I wanted to talk about the difference in comedy now.

It’s shock based.  Say or do something so damn ridiculous that people can’t help but laugh.  I watched The Hangover (the link is to a quick review on YouTube) and I laughed.  I chuckled.  I went, “What the hell?!”  It evoked emotion from me, so I guess it did its job.  But when I left, I couldn’t help but feel like I shouldn’t have laughed at some of this stuff.  I don’t want to spoil any moments in the movie, but I called my brother up after I left and said to him, “Funny just isn’t funny anymore to me.”  It could be that I’m stuck in the past.  But don’t get me wrong; I did laugh during The Hangover, just like I laughed during My Best Friend’s Girl, a movie that similarly just has people saying or doing whatever to gain a laugh.  And there’s a skill inherent to that type of slapstick comedy.  I guess it’s still good for people to not take themselves so seriously and that movie really set that up.  But still, there’s something about the new type of comedy, where it’s say whatever/do whatever that just rubs me the wrong way.  A lot of cursing, yelling and absurdity is what I find with popular comics currently and now in popular comedy movies.  And the hype machine, good God, was beyond belief with this movie.  But I don’t want to bash it – it was a funny movie, but I felt guilty for laughing.

Sometimes it seems like comedy has gotten down to making solid one liners that have no meaning anywhere else but within the context of that movie scene, and are another demarcation for what “the cool kids” know and talk about and what everybody else knows and talks about.  So many Facebook statuses changed to lines from The Hangover so fast I didn’t need to watch the movie; I saw all the lines already.  “Not you Fat Jesus” was comedy during that scene, but I dunno, these movies don’t seem so comedically fulfilling anymore.

I should say that in these days I just don’t laugh out loud as often as I used to unless the joke/punchline/event is actually funny haha to me, but it doesn’t really matter.  Comedy is going to evolve, and this is the next stage – the “Dane Cookification” of pop comedy.  But that’s another matter for later.  If you take anything away from all this, you should probably go see The Hangover and get some laughs, and you should go find some good stand up comedy and get some more laughs.

Tyrese Gibson Online • a fan site run by and for Tyrese fans …

kellita-smith-picture-1 You may remember her as Bernie Mac&s wife on the Bernie Mac show but add movie roles in King&s Ransom, Three Can Play That Game, and NAACP Award winner to that list and you Ms. Kellita Smith. …

kellita-smith-picture-1 You may remember her as Bernie Mac&s wife on the Bernie Mac show but add movie roles in King&s Ransom, Three Can Play That Game, and NAACP Award winner to that list and you Ms. Kellita Smith. …

Invited guests include Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Mark Wahlberg, Oscar De La Hoya, Marcus Allen, Elise Neal, Nelly, Salli Richardson, Eric Dickerson, Tyrese Gibson, Boris Kodjoe, Kellita Smith, Flex Alexander, …

Having played Wanda McCullough on &The Bernie Mac Show& for five seasons, Kellita Smith showed different ranges as a actress, and comedian, and now with the show now cancelled, she&s taking her skills to the film industry and letting …

Having played Wanda McCullough on &The Bernie Mac Show& for five seasons, Kellita Smith showed different ranges as a actress, and comedian, and now with the show now cancelled, she&s taking her skills to the film industry and letting …

Squee! It’s Audrey Wasilewski tonight on Bones! In addition to having seen Wasilewski on fare as wide-ranging as Big Love, Mad Men, Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies (make a wish!), Gilmore Girls, Wonderfalls, Friends, and The Bernie Mac Show (wow), you’ve almost certainly heard her, as she’s an accomplished voice actor who’s done work on animation and video games alike. Come on–she was even Rosie O’Donnell in Queer Duck. Not to mention that she was Janice Trumbull, the White House staffer unlucky enough to love Star Trek in Josh Lyman’s general vicinity in That West Wing Episode Where Aaron Sorkin Really Ticked Us Off (you don’t even want to know about the Title IX ep. Seriously). Catch the adorable Audrey Wasilewski on FOX tonight at 8 Eastern/Pacific, 7 Central and Mountain.

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This was a rough weekend for celebrity news with both Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac dead. Crazy. Isaac Hayes who was the composer for the score to Shaft, the voice of Chef in South Park, as well as an accomplished artist and producer himself has one of the most soulful voices you will ever hear. His music has been sampled to all hell by Hip-Hop and he will be sorely missed. Bernie always had me cracking up in his number of movie roles and with the Bernie Mac Show. Not to mention that he will always be a King of Comedy. RIP to both men.

Isaac Hayes, 1942-2008

Bernie Mac dead because of complications from pneumonia

Isaac Hayes’ Son, Ike Dirty, Reacts to His Father’s Death

Two of my favorite artistic forms took a solid hit this weekend. It began with the early exit of comedian/actor Bernie Mac. No doubt, if you’ve ever heard him, you recognize his signature cadence. If you’ve ever seen him it’s easy to recall the facial expressions that seemed to be punchlines all by themselves. If you’ve ever seen him deliver stand-up you know that he could handle a four-letter-word like a ninja does nunchucks. But he did make a highly respectable mark on popular culture with his family oriented The Bernie Mac Show that painted a colorful portrait of African American middle class life. He also earned some movie roles in Ocean’s 11, 12 & 13 and Guess Who. He was taken away at 50 due to complications of pneumonia. I will always respect him because despite growing up under adverse conditions on the south side of Chicago, Mac seemed determined to succeed without excuses. He persevered despite losing his only true parent to cancer when he was 16 years-old. He didn’t get his show biz break until he was 32 but until that point he punched clocks at UPS, a bread company and furniture moving company while trying to achieve as an entertainer. When he “made it” he did not take his celebrity for granted. He worked to be a positive role model for young people (in spite of foul language). Thank you Bernie Mac! You will be missed.

Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008)

Unique and memorable marks made in very short lives.

Rest in peace, fellas.

Bernie Mac (October 5, 1957–August 9, 2008)

Isaac Hayes (August 20, 1942–August 10, 2008)

My heart just broke yesterday when I heard comedian and actor Bernie Mac died yesterday. Mac, 50, died of complications of pneumonia. 

I guess I first really got into Mac after seeing him in “Kings of Comedy” (filmed in NC–represent!). He had me howling and I was instantly a fan. From then on, I enjoyed seeing him inject hilarity into films such as “Ocean’s 11″ and on his show, “The Bernie Mac Show.” 

I’d like to share one of my favorite bits from “Kings of Comedy.” R.I.P., Bernie Mac, your laughter and talent will be missed.

Original King of Comedy Bernie Mac passed away yesterday after a brief battle with pneumonia. He was 50-years-old.

Most people know him from his popular Fox sitcom, The Bernie Mac Show, which ended it’s 5-year run in 2006. But his stand-up appearances put him on the map. I miss his booming voice and wide smile already.

Forget rock and roll heaven, TV Heaven is filling up way too fast this year. Way too fast.

Photo. Gawker.com

http://news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20080810/en_celeb_eo/23032

Ator morre de pneumonia aos 50 anos.

Hospitalizado por pneumonia desde o início do mês, o ator Bernie Mac morreu nesse sábado (09 de agosto) por uma complicação no seu estado.

O ator com muitos filmes na carreira já havia trabalhado em Onze Homens e Um Segredo, e nos outros dois filmes da série, já havia sido Bosley em As Panteras – Detonando, além de ser um dos principais humoristas do programa King Of Comedy e ter o próprio seriado, o The Bernie Mac Show, que ainda é exibido nos Estados Unidos.

Recentemente Bernie Mac participou da campanha do candidato à presidência Barac Obama.

É de minha opnião que se vai um grande comediante. Fará falta concerteza.

THIS IS ONE GUY THAT IS WORTH A POST/TRIBUTE IN MY BLOG. BEING A FATHER OF TWO GIRLS MYSELF, I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANY FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT THAT CONNECTED WITH ME LIKE BERNIE MAC DID IN THE BERNIE MAC SHOW.

SURE, I KNOW ABOUT THE KINGS OF COMEDY AND THE “I AINT SCARED OF YOU MOTHA F’ERS”. BUT THE MAC SHOW WAS ALL BROTHA, NO CHASER.

HIS “I HATE YOU M’FERS” LINE IN HOW TO BE A PLAYER IS LEGENDARY TO ME. IT’S EXACTLY HOW I FEEL ABOUT CERTAIN SEGMENTS OF MY PEOPLE SOMETIMES. AND I’M UNAPOLOGETIC ABOUT IT. JUST LIKE THE MAC MAN WOULD BE.

BERNIE MAC,

R.I.P