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CNN Live At Daybreak
'Bernie Mac Show' Kicks Off Second Season Tonight
Aired September 18, 2002 - 05:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, "The Bernie Mac Show" kicks off its second season tonight on Fox.
Our Janine Sharell reports that "Mac" does so with a Peabody award and a pair of Emmy nominations.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bernie? Hey, Bernie Mac.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JANINE SHARELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Matt Damon and Lucy Lawless tee off to help "The Bernie Mac Show" swing into its sophomore season. The sitcom based on the standup comedian Bernie Mac's life was Fox's highest rated new show last year. Now its star stands to make Emmy history, winning a nomination for outstanding actor in a comedy series.
(on camera): If you win this award, you're going to be only the second African-American actor to take this home, after Robert Guillome back in 1985. BERNIE MAC, "THE BERNIE MAC SHOW": Yes, I heard that. I heard that.
SHARELL: What do you think about that?
MAC: Once again, it doesn't matter to me. I'm happy for Robert. I think that it's, any time you can do something first year, whether you're whatever, you're black or whatever, Hispanic, it's a luxury to be in that kind of company. It's not a black thing to me.
SHARELL (voice-over): Nor is race the crux of his show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAC: Any questions?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Can we touch?
MAC: No, you can't touch nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY WILMORE, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: It was a conscious decision. Bernie and I didn't want to do a show that seemed to be a niche show or that was only made for a certain audience.
MAC: Audiences are now more broad than they were 20 years ago. Could I have been on TV 15 years ago? I don't think so.
SHARELL: Anyone who's seen Bernie Mac's colorfully crass standup routine, featured in the original Kings of Comedy, would likely concur.
MAC: My standup is more aggressive. Bernie Mac is, he's more energized than I am. And it's here, but it takes a lot personally for Bernie Mac to come out.
SHARELL: He talks about his professional self in the third person and credits his real wife Rhonda with his success.
MAC: My girlfriend Rhonda, who's now my wife, I graduated from high school, she got pregnant. My grandfather said you've got to do the right thing. And by me reminiscing and thinking about my father, who was nothing to me, I always said I never wanted to do my child like that. So I asked her to marry me.
SHARELL: Mac grew up poor in Chicago and lost his mother at 15 to cancer. He once worked as a painter, gardener, fast food manager and fork lift driver to make ends meet.
(on camera): This show is Bernie Mac's main gig but it's certainly not his only one. He's currently working on three feature films. He continues to do standup comedy and he's working on a book, his second, due out next spring.
MAC: I am appreciative. If I don't win, it means I am really appreciative for being nominated my first year. That is a beautiful, beautiful thing.
SHARELL: Janine Sharell, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 18, 2002 - 05:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, "The Bernie Mac Show" kicks off its second season tonight on Fox.
Our Janine Sharell reports that "Mac" does so with a Peabody award and a pair of Emmy nominations.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bernie? Hey, Bernie Mac.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JANINE SHARELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Matt Damon and Lucy Lawless tee off to help "The Bernie Mac Show" swing into its sophomore season. The sitcom based on the standup comedian Bernie Mac's life was Fox's highest rated new show last year. Now its star stands to make Emmy history, winning a nomination for outstanding actor in a comedy series.
(on camera): If you win this award, you're going to be only the second African-American actor to take this home, after Robert Guillome back in 1985. BERNIE MAC, "THE BERNIE MAC SHOW": Yes, I heard that. I heard that.
SHARELL: What do you think about that?
MAC: Once again, it doesn't matter to me. I'm happy for Robert. I think that it's, any time you can do something first year, whether you're whatever, you're black or whatever, Hispanic, it's a luxury to be in that kind of company. It's not a black thing to me.
SHARELL (voice-over): Nor is race the crux of his show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAC: Any questions?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Can we touch?
MAC: No, you can't touch nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY WILMORE, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: It was a conscious decision. Bernie and I didn't want to do a show that seemed to be a niche show or that was only made for a certain audience.
MAC: Audiences are now more broad than they were 20 years ago. Could I have been on TV 15 years ago? I don't think so.
SHARELL: Anyone who's seen Bernie Mac's colorfully crass standup routine, featured in the original Kings of Comedy, would likely concur.
MAC: My standup is more aggressive. Bernie Mac is, he's more energized than I am. And it's here, but it takes a lot personally for Bernie Mac to come out.
SHARELL: He talks about his professional self in the third person and credits his real wife Rhonda with his success.
MAC: My girlfriend Rhonda, who's now my wife, I graduated from high school, she got pregnant. My grandfather said you've got to do the right thing. And by me reminiscing and thinking about my father, who was nothing to me, I always said I never wanted to do my child like that. So I asked her to marry me.
SHARELL: Mac grew up poor in Chicago and lost his mother at 15 to cancer. He once worked as a painter, gardener, fast food manager and fork lift driver to make ends meet.
(on camera): This show is Bernie Mac's main gig but it's certainly not his only one. He's currently working on three feature films. He continues to do standup comedy and he's working on a book, his second, due out next spring.
MAC: I am appreciative. If I don't win, it means I am really appreciative for being nominated my first year. That is a beautiful, beautiful thing.
SHARELL: Janine Sharell, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
