I learned hard lessons in life; I had to because I had so much happen: My mother died my sophomore year in high school. The next year, same day, my brother dropped dead. Two years after that, I got married because my girlfriend got pregnant. The year after my wedding, my father - who I had only recently met - died.

Like a lot of black people, I grew up straight po'. Wasn't no question about whether we was po', either. If you really wanted to know, all you had to do was look in our refrigerator.

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

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.

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.'

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.

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'm a big fan of TV.

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

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

I think a lot of TV insults the audience.

I was a street performer for two years.

Comedy has been so good to me.

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

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

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

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

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

I can't build myself by beating somebody down.

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've been in training for stardom.

Bernie Mac is talented!

Bernie Mac is happy.

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.

I was good at keeping my mother from crying.

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

My humor had changed from foolishness to making sense.

The two sides of Bernie - that's a quiet weapon that I have.

When you're offstage, that's the footprint. That's the man God's gonna judge.

I love who I am. I love what I've become.

I'm so black, I leave fingerprints on coal.

I don't think the people wanna see me play Clyde Johnson the architect.

Black audiences are hard. They always think they're better than you. So you got to come with a little extra to satisfy them.

Why do people love Richard Pryor so much? 'Cause he had problems.

I love my daughter, but there's a certain feeling, a certain emotion when you got a granddaughter, you know?

My daughter was a beautiful child.

I've never been no superficial cat.

I don't ever watch myself. By watching, you try to perfect yourself, become a robot.

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.'

I know doing movies is where I need to be. That's where my audience wants to see me.

I can act. I've been acting for a long time, but like anything else, don't nobody owe you nothing. You've go to pay your dues. You go from A to Z; you don't go from M to Z.

I want to play a villain - I can't wait to play a villain.

It's a pleasure to work with someone who is just as strong as you are.

Only way you can you get upset is when you expecting something.

I came up in the community center. I used to be physical director of the South Central Community Center in Chicago on 83rd. It's still there. It used to be around there when I was a kid.

I always wanted to scuba dive. I used to scuba dive undercover like black Aquaman.

My grandmother always told me how you start is how you finish.

Stand-up is what I am; stand-up is what made me.

Fear is not one of my attributes.

My family are police officers, detectives. My brother Mitch is FBI. Mitch is like that - a stern enforcer.