I ain't running for office. I ain't running for nothing.

I was good at keeping my mother from crying.

Bernie Mac is relentless. That's one thing I like about him. He's not PC. He doesn't care what you think. He's going out there to please that audience.

Bernie Mac is happy.

Bernie Mac is talented!

I've been in training for stardom.

I want to speak directly to the audience, to say, 'I'm like you - I'm frustrated, I'm not an expert, I don't have a manual on parenting, I make mistakes, I'm selfish too.'

I can't build myself by beating somebody down.

When I go onstage, I want to relieve your mind, your pressures.

We're so politically correct; we take things so seriously.

The one thing about comedy, making it become a part of you, the audience loves it, because you become part of them.

That's the whole key to anything: Don't be afraid to fail. And Bernie Mac is not afraid to fail.

I came from a place where there wasn't a lot of joy.

Comedy has been so good to me.

I was a street performer for two years.

I think a lot of TV insults the audience.

You're never going to see me playing a buffoon.

I'm not ashamed to tell the truth about what happened in my family. I think that's what makes my comedy different.

I'm a big fan of TV.

People like rumors. They're going to say things like, 'You was at the club with Lil' Kim, and you and Kanye West got into a fist fight.' You can't get upset. You've got to keep hope alive.

I was born October 5, 1957, on the South Side of Chicago, in the Woodlawn area, a neighborhood that hasn't changed much in forty-five years. Our house was on 66th and Blackstone, but the city tore it down when the rats took over.

My name is Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, but people know me as Bernie Mac. My mama, God rest her soul - she used to call me Beanie. Used to say, 'Don't you worry about Beanie. Beanie gonna be just fine. Beanie gonna surprise everyone.'

As I got older, I got into all kinds of things in the streets - but for some reason, I never got caught up with the gangs growing up. Everybody dug me, man. I never had problems.

You know you poor when you eatin' breakfast food late. You fryin' toast? At nine o'clock at night? With bacon? You're broke.