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The series featured comic actor Bernie Mac and his wife Wanda raising his sister"s three kids: Jordan, Vanessa, and Bryana.

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The series was loosely based on Mac"s stand-up comedy acts. In real life, Bernie "Mac" McCullough was married with one daughter; Mac"s character on the show a stand-up comedian was married with no children of his own.

Bernie Mac Smacks A Nerve

The pilot episode, aired on November 14, , set up the basic premise for the series: the character Bernie Mac takes in his sister"s children after she enters rehab a premise taken from one of Mac"s routines in the film, The Original Kings of Comedy. Much of the humor in the show was derived from Mac"s continual adjustment to and his unique take on parenthood.

A frequent motif of the show was the juxtaposition of Mac"s acerbic comments, such as his threats to "bust the children"s heads "til the white meat shows," and the deep parental affection he felt towards the trio, which often brought him to the verge of tears during happy moments. Towards the end of the series, Bryana"s long-lost father Anthony Anderson returns and drops by from time to time to help Bernie and Wanda with the kids.

And so much more!

Bernie Mac Original "Milk & Cookies"

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  • How 'The Bernie Mac Show' Helped To Break The Mold For The Present-Day Black Sitcoms;

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How 'The Bernie Mac Show' Helped To Break The Mold For The Present-Day Black Sitcoms

Translate this page. Sign up for our Smart Spark newsletter to start curious conversations with your kids. Thank you for subscribing! In the programme he especially battled the teenage niece he called "the Evil One", and would turn to the audience to ask questions such as "tell me why I can't whip that girl". The fact that Mac's character was a celebrity allowed other famous actors to make guest appearances on the show as themselves, including Halle Berry, Ice Cube and Isaac Hayes. The Bernie Mac Show won an Emmy for the writer Larry Wilmore, and garnered Mac two Emmy nominations for best comedy actor; it also received a prestigious Peabody award for its portrayal of race relations.

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But it quickly lost its edge, with Mac blaming the network for constantly restraining his team, and was cancelled after five seasons. Meanwhile, he was an egotistical baseball star in Mr , played the Spencer Tracy role in the race-inverted remake Guess Who and starred in Pride about a black swimming team.

He had completed a film, Soul Men, about the reunion of a feuding music duo, which will be released later this year; it co-starred Samuel L Jackson and Hayes. In June, Mac performed at a fundraiser for Barack Obama, offending some of the more politically correct audience and drawing a winking rebuke from the candidate, who said: "Bernie, you've got to clean up your act next time.

Mac had already announced he would retire, to produce films and enjoy more time with his family.

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He is survived by his wife and daughter; George Clooney, star of the Ocean's films, said of his death: "The world just got a little less funny. Topics Comedy. Television obituaries.