THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 16, 1996 TAG: 9603150094
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARSHA GILBERT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
IT WAS 30 degrees below in Chicago on Thanksgiving Eve 1989, and Bernie Mac could ignore the call of comedy no longer.
He had received a standing ovation the night before for his routine at the Comedy Womb. On this freezing night, as he worked his full-time job delivering Wonder Bread, he burned with excitement.
He was in a hurry to empty his truck and make comedy his career, but he still had $2,300 worth of bread to drop off. So he dumped loaves of bread in every open shelf of just a couple of grocery stores on his route. Then he called Wonder Bread and told them to come pick up their truck.
Mac went home to a house where the heat had been cut off for non-payment and told his understanding wife, Rhonda, ``If I don't do comedy, I'm gonna die.''
Today, Mac, 38, is just as determined to make people laugh. He's bringing his act to Norfolk on Sunday at Chrysler Hall, direct from the cable and network television and movies, where he can currently be seen in ``Don't Be a Menace in South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood.''
Mac's seemingly overnight success has been 34 years in the making. At age 4, he was already impersonating relatives and finding humor in serious situations, much to his family's dismay. ``I was always a comedian,'' Mac said.
Mac learned from the best entertainers of his time. While he was a kid, he worked backstage at the Regal Theater for his brother Darryl, who sang with the Chi-Lites, and his sister Jackie, who sang with Leroy Hudson. From that vantage point, Mac watched Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor, Moms Mabley, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Little Anthony and the Imperials and the Temptations.
From 1977 to 1983 Mac struggled to get a break professionally.
``It was hard,'' said Mac. ``I would get off work with no money or car and take the bus to the club. Sometimes I would get to perform and sometimes I wouldn't, even though I always signed up first.''
While he paid his dues he worked many jobs as a school bus driver, cook, waiter, gym teacher and janitor. He even told jokes in the park for change.
It's a long way from the park to HBO. In October, he produced and hosted four HBO episodes called ``Midnight Mac Starring Bernie Mac.'' He also performed on HBO's Def Comedy Jam, before hosting the national summer tour, and appeared on Fox's ``Uptown Comedy Club.''
His films include ``Friday,'' ``Above the Rim,'' ``House Party 3,'' ``Walking Dead'' and ``Mo' Money.''
Mac's big career boost came in 1990 when he won first place in the Miller Lite Comedy Search.
``My style is mine.'' said Mac. ``It's unique. I practice it. I'm not in competition with anybody else. I practice being different and I watch other comedians. When I see my style repeated, I change again. I took the best from all comedians black and white. I've been a student of comedy all my life.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by CROWN ENTERTAINMENT
Comedian Bernie Mac has done television and movies.[photo appears on
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KEYWORDS: PROFILE
by CNB