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Bernie Mac Remembered As 'Hottest Ticket In Town'

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 17, 2008

As Cedric the Entertainer scanned the crowd of more than 6,000 gathered on Chicago's South Side to remember Bernie Mac on Saturday, he cracked that the comedy king was "still the hottest ticket in town."

Fans, friends and fellow celebrities descended on the House of Hope megachurch to bid farewell to a man who never forgot his Chicago roots.
Mayor Richard Daley recalled that Mac was in his office recently, asking how he could help fight violent crime in the city.

"He wanted to help get children away from a life of crime and violence," Daley said during the service. "That's why he's the king of comedy. He never lost his soul in Chicago."

Mac died Aug. 9 at age 50 of what his publicist said were complications from pneumonia. He had been at Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital since the middle of July.

Samuel L. Jackson, who co-stars with Mac in the upcoming movie "Soul Men," said he knew Mac "was having some health issues, but he always said to me every morning that he was always good."

Isaac Hayes, who died last Sunday, also stars in the movie, and Hayes' music was played during the service.

The service included the reading of condolence letters from children; from Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, an Illinois senator; and from Mac's beloved White Sox baseball team. Mac's comedy routines were played on large video screens with off-color words bleeped out.

His co-stars from the documentary "The Original Kings of Comedy" - Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric The Entertainer - took the stage together at the church.

Hughley recalled that he and the others eagerly awaited Mac's stage attire each night. He said: "Bernie would wear colors that crayons hadn't even thought of yet."

Today's Birthdays

Actor Robert DeNiro is 65. Singer Belinda Carlisle is 50. Actor Sean Penn is 48. Singer Donnie Wahlberg is 39.

Source: The Associated Press

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