11 years after his passing, the legacy of actor and comedian Bernie Mac continues to live in on.

In an interview on The D.L. Hughley Show, writer and comedian Larry Wilmore discussed his reasoning for creating The Bernie Mac Show.

The show, which was loosely based on Mac’s stand-up routines, aired on Fox from November 2001 to April 2006.

Wilmore revealed that the show 1900 House and his work on The PJs served as inspirations for the concept of The Bernie Mac Show.

“It was timing. I had the idea without Bernie based on a show. There was a show on PBS called 1900 House and people had to live as if it was 1900,” he said. “They rigged cameras in the house. I wanted to do a show where it felt like we were observing this family, rather than the action pushed at us”

Wilmore said he approached Bernie Mac to do a single-camera show after seeing one of his stand-up routines. He also revealed that Fox liked the pitch, however, there was resistance on their part.

“There was still resistance to the form of it,” he added. “The form was so different and the rhythms were so different.”

Bernie Mac died of complications from pneumonia at the age of 50 in 2008.

 

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Photo by Michael Tran/FilmMagic

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