Bernie Mac - I Dont Care If You Like Me, I Like Me: Bernie Macs Daily Motivational

Advance Praise for I Dont Care if You Like Me, I Like Me

Bernie Mac had a way of telling it straight that made you listen and made you think. He was genuine, always positive, and truly cared if you were okay. I Dont Care if You Like Me, I Like Me is an undeniably funny and poignant strategy for reaching your fullest potential one day at a time.

Courtney B. Vance, Multi-Award-Winning Actor of Stage and Screen

Ive never seen anything like I Dont Care if You Like Me, I Like Me . This book is self-help, Chicago-style. Its the perfect combination of comedy and truth, just like youd expect from Bernie Mac.

Sherri Shepherd, Award-Winning Actress, Comedian, and Talk Show Host

I Dont Care if You Like Me, I Like Me is some straight-talking truth from the no-holds-barred Bernie Mac. His self-help approach makes you want to do exactly thathelp yourself! His raw honesty will make you laugh, cry and possibly rethink your entire life.

Kym Whitley, American Comedian and Actress

A PERMUTED PRESS BOOK

ISBN: 978-1-63758-404-0

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-63758-405-7

I Dont Care if You Like Me, I Like Me:

Bernie Macs Daily Motivational

2022 by Bernie Mac and Rhonda R. McCullough

All Rights Reserved

Cover Art by Tiffani Shea

Interior Design by Yoni Limor

Although every effort has been made to ensure that the personal advice present within this book is useful and appropriate, the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any person choosing to employ the guidance offered in this book.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.

Permuted Press, LLC

New York Nashville

permutedpress.com

Published in the United States of America

Bernard, even though youre gone, you still give us inspiration.

Table of Contents

I first met the Mac Man back in the early 90s. I was in Chicago to watch a taping of a new Comedy Central show being produced by my brother Mark Adkins called Comic Justice . This tall brother walked up to me and said, Whats up, Sinbad. There was something immediately magnetic about Bernie. He had that big smile and a presence you couldnt help but notice. We started talking about basketball and how he used to play for a semi-pro team owned by a potato chip company. It didnt take long to feel like we were old friends.

We immediately connected over our Midwestern upbringings. I grew up in a small town in Michigan called Benton Harbor, which is about ninety miles from Bernies hometown of Chicago. I remember him saying to me, Theyre not gonna get me in Hollywood, Sinbad. Im gonna be too much for them. Im bringing that Chicago swag. And thats what he did.

Whatever stage he was on, he brought that Chicago swag with him. Thats part of what made Bernie so special. Even his name had styleBernie Mac. It was made for show business. We would trade war stories about working the Chitlin Circuit, performing in just about every club there was. When the 90s comedy scene became so hot, they were turning just about everything into a comedy cluba skating rink, a beauty salonno matter what it was, it became a comedy club.

We were road dogs. Bernie, Steve Harvey, John Witherspoon, myself, and so many others, all of us putting in the time and paying our dues on the road. These circuits required us to spend a lot of time away from family. Family was as important to Bernie as it was for me. We would share stories about our families and how we had to keep pushing for them. He wasnt just a great comic, but also a good man.

Bernies one of those comics you didnt want to follow because he worked the crowd into such a frenzy. He had a way of building up the crowd that was an art form. His style was unique and refreshingly honest. He was able to talk about the streets of Chicago and the truth of the Black experience and deliver it on stage in a way where anybody could understand, no matter their color or background. You could always count on Bernie to be unapologetically raw and real, a quality I always have and still admire to this day.

So much about him reminded me of Richard Pryor. It was the way he would offer advice and tell stories on just about everything in his own unorthodox way. He didnt concern himself with whether or not you understood him or if you got his style of comedy; he wasnt trying to conform to the idea of what a comic should be. I would tell him, Dont change nothing. Just be you. We needed his voice.

I remember watching the Kings of Comedy . Bernie was up last, after D. L. Hughley, Steve Harvey, and Cedric the Entertainer. As a comedian, its a hard job to follow even one funny comic, let alone three. But Bernie did it with no problem. He didnt just follow, he killed. He destroyed that stage. Who can forget the routine he did about his sisters kids coming into the kitchen saying, I want some milk and cookies?

Bernie was fearless. He would look you straight in the eyes, letting the audience know, Im not the one to mess with. When he was on Def Comedy Jam , I saw him do something Ive never seen another comic do: he came straight at the audience. He came right out the gate and said, I aint scared of you, motherfuckers! This was a powerful moment because he was letting them know, You might be a rough crowd, but I dont care. Im here to put in work and you all are gonna listen to me. Im Bernie Mac. And he meant every word. I know every comic in the world probably wishes to this day that they wouldve said that first.

When he was on that stage, he wasnt scared, he wasnt worried. Bernie set the groundwork for a lot of comics that came after him. His boldness and bravery showed people you could just be yourself. Dont be scared about being Black or where you come from. Talk about it all. He showed us that it doesnt matter what color people are. If youre honest, theyll accept it.

I dont think Bernie ever had a dishonest moment on stage. This carried over into his show. Man, I loved that show. It was tough and funny and real. I loved how he invited us all in. By breaking the fourth wall, he was saying, Pay attention. Im here.

Bernies in the same locker room with Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Robin Williams, George Carlin, and all the greats. He is truly one of the greatest in the game. I miss him. I miss that distinguishable voice and what he had to say.

No matter how hard they may try, there will never be another Bernie Mac.

Sinbad

L et me tell you somethin. Helping yourself is the best thing you can do, because if youre not helpin yourself, nobody else gonna be able to do a damn thing for you. Now, speakin of doin it yourself, I got a confession to make. Yall know I passed away, so this aint really me talkin to ya. Its more like me talkin through some folks that know me like I know the back of my own got-damn hand . If Im gonna trust somebody to be me, its gonna be them. So, just go on and keep imagining its me, cuz this here is the closest thing you gonna get to Bernie Mac. Now, here we go

I started out a poor Black child. Yep, everybodys got a ghetto story, this is mine. I was poor growing up in Chicago in a little apartment above my granddaddys Baptist church, holes in my britches and never a nickel for the ice cream man. But I didnt know any different. As a kid, we always had bologna in the fridge and a roast with chocolate cake on Sundays. My mama would say, Dont nobody owe you nothin. She was right. I got my first job when I was a teenager baggin groceries at the local grocery store. I was the best got-damn bagger they ever had. Everybody wanted me. I made sure their bread didnt get squished and their eggs didnt crackand I made em smile. I worked hard my whole life at every job I had, and I ended up doing exactly what I wanted and making money at it too. I always knew that everything you want in life, you got to work for it. You got to earn it.