Nearly 7,000 Friends and Fans Memorialize Bernie Mac; Chicago Bids Adieu to Native Son

By: Jackie Jones

People began sleeping outside Friday night to be sure they had a seat. They started lining up outside the doors about four hours before the noon event started.

About 7,000 people poured into the 10,000-seat House of Hope on Bishop Ford Freeway in Chicago to bid farewell to Bernie Mac, one of the "Original Kings of Comedy."

His brothers in royalty -- D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Steve Harvey -- broke down at times as they paid tribute to Mac, who died Aug. 9 at age 50 of complications from pneumonia. But they also broke it down and kept the congregation laughing.

“I was laughing so hard at times, it was hard to take notes,” said Kelley Carter, an entertainment writer for the Chicago Tribune, who covered the service.

“The Kings of Comedy, they were emoting; they were very physically distraught,” Carter told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “They broke down during their tributes, but they had people in stitches.”

Cedric the Entertainer looked at the huge crowd that turned out for the service and cracked that even in death that Mac was “still the hottest ticket in town.”

Mac's stage attire each night on the Kings of Comedy tour was so bold, Hughley said, that “Bernie would wear colors that crayons hadn't even thought of yet.”

Nearly 7,000 Friends and Fans Memorialize Bernie Mac....

Bernie Mac's death puts sarcoidosis in spotlight

By Judith Graham | Chicago Tribune

Andrea Wilson felt sick to her stomach Saturday when she heard comedian Bernie Mac had died in a Chicago hospital.

It was her private fear—the fear of sudden death—suddenly splashed across the news.

Like Mac, Wilson has sarcoidosis, a mysterious and sometimes devastating immune system disorder that causes cells to cluster and can damage organs throughout the body.

Last year, the disease jumped to her brain and started causing stroke-like symptoms—vision changes, numbness in her left side, tingling in her face and mouth—as well as extreme pain. When sarcoidosis flares up in her skin, she gets lesions on her face, knees and legs and lumps "like cauliflower growing out of your body," said Wilson, 43, who lives in Chicago.

When it becomes active inside her heart, she gets palpitations and feels like she's going to faint or have a heart attack. Wilson has had two exploratory heart surgeries related to sarcoidosis. The disease has also made a home in her lungs, causing its signature symptoms—shortness of breath, wheezing and difficulty breathing.

There is no cure for sarcoidosis, an affliction that hits adults younger than 40 and disproportionately affects African-Americans, especially women. Sometimes the illness is mild and goes into remission, but sometimes it is severe and unremitting, causing progressive damage to multiple organs. Often misdiagnosed, sarcoidosis remains a little known disorder, even in the medical community.

Bernie Mac's death puts sarcoidosis in spotlight....

Actor and comedian Bernie Mac dies at age 50

By F.N. D'ALESSIO

CHICAGO (AP) — Bernie Mac, the actor and comedian who teamed up in the casino heist caper "Ocean's Eleven" and gained a prestigious Peabody Award for his sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show," died Saturday at age 50.

"Actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away this morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital," his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles.

She said no other details were available and asked that his family's privacy be respected.

Actor and comedian Bernie Mac dies at age 50....

OBAMA DOES DAMAGE CONTROL OVER BERNIE MAC: Comedian's humor too blue for blue crowd.

Comedian Bernie Mac ruffled some feathers at a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Friday night when some of his jokes apparently crossed the line.

The 50-year-old star of "The Bernie Mac Show" poked fun at menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and dropped some rather salty language during his 10 minute routine at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Chicago.

"My little nephew came to me and he said, 'Uncle, what's the difference between a hypothetical question and a realistic question?'" Mac said. "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.'"

According to the Associated Press, the punch line drew an angry response from at least one person in the audience, who said it was offensive to women.

"It's not funny. Let's get Barack on," shouted a member of the crowd.

Obama took the stage 15 minutes later and tried to smooth things over.

OBAMA DOES DAMAGE CONTROL OVER BERNIE MAC....