In an inspiring 2002 interview with Oprah, one where she takes her shoes off to get more comfortable, she asked Bernie Mac, “What was your ultimate goal? What did you want to do?”
Mac replied, while holding his heart, “To be the best, within myself. I’m not in competition with anybody.”
Mac went on to say that he was never concerned about money; and staying true to himself without allowing his on stage persona to dictate his personal and familial relationships was one of his greatest achievements.
In a separate standout moment, Mac was featured in a 2008 fundraiser for then presidential hopeful Barack Obama. He performed an unapologetic stand-up, as a Chicago legend in Chicago.
"My little nephew came to me and he said, 'Uncle, what's the difference between a hypothetical question and a realistic question?"' Mac countered, "I said, I don't know, but I said, 'Go upstairs and ask your mother if she'd make love to the mailman for $50,000."'
He also instructs his nephew to go ask his sister if she’d make love to the neighbor for $50,000, to which the sister also says she would.
"Hypothetically speaking, we should have $100,000. But realistically speaking we live with two hos," Mac quipped, delivering the punch line.
Obama’s camp rebuked the joke, but Mac didn’t apologize. He came there to support a Black nominee while doing his jokes, in his city, for his presidential candidate. Full stop.
Bernie Mac is the only Original King of Comedy who is no longer with us. Yet, he is an OG in the Black comedy arena whose art continues to not only influence the Black culture but inspires outsiders so drawn by his conviction, they become Bernie Mac disciples.
Long live the King.
