You can't be a doctor if you don't know the entire parts of the body.
— Bernie Mac
My family are police officers, detectives. My brother Mitch is FBI. Mitch is like that - a stern enforcer.
My grandmother always told me how you start is how you finish.
Only way you can you get upset is when you expecting something.
I can act. I've been acting for a long time, but like anything else, don't nobody owe you nothing. You've go to pay your dues. You go from A to Z; you don't go from M to Z.
I don't ever watch myself. By watching, you try to perfect yourself, become a robot.
I love my daughter, but there's a certain feeling, a certain emotion when you got a granddaughter, you know?
I don't think the people wanna see me play Clyde Johnson the architect.
When you're offstage, that's the footprint. That's the man God's gonna judge.
I ain't running for office. I ain't running for nothing.
Bernie Mac is happy.
I want to speak directly to the audience, to say, 'I'm like you - I'm frustrated, I'm not an expert, I don't have a manual on parenting, I make mistakes, I'm selfish too.'
We're so politically correct; we take things so seriously.
I came from a place where there wasn't a lot of joy.
I think a lot of TV insults the audience.
I'm a big fan of TV.
My name is Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, but people know me as Bernie Mac. My mama, God rest her soul - she used to call me Beanie. Used to say, 'Don't you worry about Beanie. Beanie gonna be just fine. Beanie gonna surprise everyone.'
I have so much respect for what's funny.
Fear is not one of my attributes.
I always wanted to scuba dive. I used to scuba dive undercover like black Aquaman.
It's a pleasure to work with someone who is just as strong as you are.
I know doing movies is where I need to be. That's where my audience wants to see me.
I've never been no superficial cat.
Why do people love Richard Pryor so much? 'Cause he had problems.
I'm so black, I leave fingerprints on coal.
The two sides of Bernie - that's a quiet weapon that I have.
I was good at keeping my mother from crying.
Bernie Mac is talented!
I can't build myself by beating somebody down.
The one thing about comedy, making it become a part of you, the audience loves it, because you become part of them.
Comedy has been so good to me.
You're never going to see me playing a buffoon.
People like rumors. They're going to say things like, 'You was at the club with Lil' Kim, and you and Kanye West got into a fist fight.' You can't get upset. You've got to keep hope alive.
As I got older, I got into all kinds of things in the streets - but for some reason, I never got caught up with the gangs growing up. Everybody dug me, man. I never had problems.
I get facials. I get a manicure and pedicure every week. I get my hair cut, and I oil myself down from head to toe. I got that from my brother. I was so impressed with how high maintenance he was. When he left the room, you could still smell him for an hour.
Stand-up is what I am; stand-up is what made me.
I came up in the community center. I used to be physical director of the South Central Community Center in Chicago on 83rd. It's still there. It used to be around there when I was a kid.
I want to play a villain - I can't wait to play a villain.
My girlfriend Rhonda, who's now my wife, I graduated from high school, she got pregnant. My grandfather said, 'You've got to do the right thing.'
My daughter was a beautiful child.
Black audiences are hard. They always think they're better than you. So you got to come with a little extra to satisfy them.
I love who I am. I love what I've become.
My humor had changed from foolishness to making sense.
Bernie Mac is relentless. That's one thing I like about him. He's not PC. He doesn't care what you think. He's going out there to please that audience.
I've been in training for stardom.
When I go onstage, I want to relieve your mind, your pressures.
That's the whole key to anything: Don't be afraid to fail. And Bernie Mac is not afraid to fail.
I was a street performer for two years.
I'm not ashamed to tell the truth about what happened in my family. I think that's what makes my comedy different.
I was born October 5, 1957, on the South Side of Chicago, in the Woodlawn area, a neighborhood that hasn't changed much in forty-five years. Our house was on 66th and Blackstone, but the city tore it down when the rats took over.
