Just as I was sitting down at my computer to write my weekly column Greg Jr. walked into the room and informed me that “Bernie Mack had died.” I said what? “You don’t mean the Bernie Mac that appeared in: The Bernie Mac show; Mo’ Money; Get on the Bus; The Original Kings of Comedy; Oceans Eleven; and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner with Ashton Kutcher. Yes, Gregory Jr. replied. 

Bernie Mac, the actor/comedian, died today, Saturday August 9, 2008 from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago hospital, Danica Smith, his publicist said in a statement from Los Angeles. She declined to give any further details and requested that the public respect the family’s privacy. 

Bernie Mac suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease. However, the pneumonia was not related to the disease. In fact the sarcoidosis had been in remission since 2005. 

In his memoir, Maybe You Never Cry Again, Bernie Mac wrote about growing up poor—eating bologna for dinner—and a very strict upbringing. His mother died of cancer when he was just 16. She told him before she died that when he grew up “he would surprise everyone.” 

There is no better way to honor Bernie Mac than to end an article about his death with a “joke.” So here it is: 

There was a drunken Hobo lying on the side of the road stone out of his mind. A very wealthy man from San Francisco passed by and decided that he would like to have his way with the drunken Hobo. So the wealthy man from San Francisco had his way with the drunken Hobo and when he finished he left a $100 dollar bill in the Hobo’s pocket. When the Hobo awakened the next morning the Hobo discovered the $100 dollar bill inside his pocket and immediately ran to the liquor store. He told the clerk that he would like the most expensive liquor that the $100 dollar bill could buy. For the next 30 days the wealthy man from San Francisco would see the Hobo lying beside the road drunk and stone out of his mind. The wealthy man from San Francisco continued to have his way with the Hobo and then leave him with a $100 dollar bill. The Hobo would wake up the following morning and rush to the liquor store and ask the clerk to sell him the most expensive liquor in the store. The Hobo did this for the thirty one days that the wealthy man had his way with him, until on the thirty second day when he woke up he ran to the liquor store and asked the clerk to sell him the cheapest liquor in the store. The clerk was surprised and asked him why he wanted to change from buying the most expensive liquor to buying the cheapest liquor. The Hobo leaned over to the clerk and said: “Man that expensive liquor is tearing my behind up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” 

God rest Bernie Mac’s soul!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the words of my dad, “If these gas prices get any higher I am going to buy me a horse!”