Goodbye, Bernie Mac

By now you’ve probably all heard about Bernie Mac dying on Saturday morning, August 9, 2008. He was only 50 years old. I was reading lots of articles about it that day, and I just couldn’t help thinking, wow, I’m almost 45. Someone dying at 50 seems very wrong. From what I read, Bernie died from complications with pneumonia. Most people do not die from pneumonia, but apparently Bernie had a pre-existing condition called sarcoidosis, a term which anyone who watches House will have heard before.

Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory lung disease and in the same family with connective tissue disorders. I read that his publicist said Bernie’s death was unrelated to the sarcoidosis, which had been in remission since 2006, but I’m not sure I believe that. It just seems that too big a coincidence to me that someone who has sarcoidosis, would then get pneumonia and die at 50, without the sarcoidosis being a factor. One of the reasons that it stuck out in my mind at all, is because connective tissue disorders is one of the many random not-quite-diagnoses that the many doctors I’ve been seeing has thrown out at me. Nothing is proven yet, and probably never will be, but it just made me think.

Bernie Mac, born as Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, started out as a stand up comedian, who won the Miller Lite Comedy Search when he was 32 years old. He went on from there, through the 1990’s to perform in comedy shows and movies. In 2001, he starred in The Bernie Mac Show on FOX, which was based, somewhat loosely, on his real life. It was a pretty funny show, wherein he and his wife take in his sister’s three children when she enters rehab. Along with the standard sitcom story lines, Bernie was also able to address the audience directly, breaking the “fourth wall.” The show itself won awards, which is probably why FOX failed to renew the show after the 2006 season. In case you can’t tell, that’s me being sarcastic. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you’ve probably heard me rant about how FOX kills off shows before their time. So I won’t do that here.

I just wanted to say goodbye to Bernie Mac, a great comedian and actor, who died way too young.