“You ever see a chicken with its neck wrung, laying to the side all lazy and weak?
That’s what I’m gonna do to them kids.
“Bernie as a comedian on stage is very dynamic.
Fox
I thought it was fascinating.
I wanted to do something different than the normal three-camera sitcom.
Then I sawKings of Comedy, and I was really struck by Bernie’s attitude and his jokes.
Fox
I thought, “This would be an interesting story to put in this framework.”
It’s about this guy whose sister is on drugs and he has to take care of her kids.
I developed it a little bit and pitched it to Bernie.
Fox
WILMORE:The confessionals, that’s straight from1900 House.
I’m starving, for Christ’s sake.”
So that’s the feel that I wantedBernie had to confess something.
“I’m gonna kill one of them kids!”
When I read Larry’s pilot, I was so surprised how sad the premise of the story is.
But Bernie said, “No, it really shouldn’t be my name.
I don’t feel comfortable with that.”
I’m thinking, “Are you kidding?
You have the best f—ing name in showbiz!
Why would we not use that?”
But I can’t just tell him that, because then he’ll just resist it.
I have to figure out a way to trick him.
So I wrote another draft where I made his name “Bernie Mann” instead of Bernie Mac.
He read that andhatedit.
It was so hilarious.
I said, “Yeah, you’re right.
Let’s change it back to Bernie Mac.”
But I chose the worst thing possible on purpose.
My mom was real into it.
It was the scene [from episode 2] where Bernie needed toilet paper.
And I keep telling him, “I can’t reach it!
I can’t reach it!”
Bernie was dressed up too.
We did our lines and they clapped for me.
JEREMY SUAREZ [Jordan Thomkins]:I didn’t know who Bernie Mac was.
“I think I watched himonDef Comedy Jam.
He had a crazy sweater on, like Bernie always does.
I think that may have been what made me stand out from everybody else.
I was like, “Oh s—, let’s get it set up!”
But it wasn’t as simple as that.
Now looking back, I kind of appreciate the journey.
I auditioned two times and was told no.
I was like, “Okay, I just need to meditate, pray or levitate.
This role is mine!”
I felt it throughout my whole being.
WILMORE:That was one of the hardest roles [to cast].
She just had to audition a couple of times.
And Kellita turned out to be perfect.
I had a hole in my shoe.
I’ve never told this story.
I had these tortoise-shell pumps, they were my favorite.
And I as walking across the lot to get to the [audition], I felt a pebble.
I said to myself, “Is this a hole in my shoe?
Okay, great.”
In my audition, I got to flirt a little more, I got to connect with Bernie.
How about you slip your foot out your shoe and play with your toes?”
And I was like, “Oh God, I hope my feet are clean.”
WILMORE:A lot of the [pilot’s] style came from conversations with Ken Kwapis.
We actually watched some French New Wave films in preparation.
We watchedBreathlessand400 Blows, and we talked about different styles of cutting.
More than anything, Larry wanted it to feel totally real.
SMITH:The set was a replica of a real home and it felt like a real home.
Like, the appliances worked!
I was like, “Has anybody taken this room over here?”
I’ll give you an example.
Now my philosophy is, we didn’t know that was going to happen.
Bernie didn’t know was going to happen.
DAVIS:Even as a kid, I gravitated to Bernie.
So it wasn’t like I was scared to be around him or do the scenes that we did.
He was like a giant compared to me.
You know the Jolly Green Giant?
As a kid, that was the closest thing that I could think of.
I was so little.
SUAREZ:I was playing 7 years old because I was always small.
Bernie was like 6-foot-2.
So [our size difference] played really well.
But I’m actually just holding on with my hands.
Even thinking about it now kind of gets me choked up.
I just find it really poignant, the way he’s like this gentle giant.
That’s what the show isthat and realizing that oftentimes you end up negotiating with terrorists.
That’s Bernie’s journey through the show.
WINBUSH:I was very impressed with Jeremy’s ability to break out into a tantrum.
He could go from zero to 100 in, like, less than a second on screen.
He might get in trouble for this.”
SUAREZ:When Ken [directed], he would never say action.
He’d say, “And… go ahead.”
He was so mellow.
And then it would just be chaos.Ahhhhh!Bernie’s running with those big old eyes!
It was just like a whirlwind of energy.
WILMORE:[The web link] didn’t like it when Bernie spanked Jordan in the store.
I just ignored it.
I’m like, “Sorry white people, but Black people spank their kids.”
“I may not be your daddy, but I’ll whup your ass just like your daddy!”
WINBUSH:It was extremely hard not to just burst out laughing, but it was so memorable.
Like, who would think to say something like that?
WILMORE:When Bernie said it, we were laughing so hard.
“You have to keep that, and you have to do it again!”
We were like, “This is such a violent response!”
It feels so twisted that we had so much joy in that response.
KWAPIS:I remember just going,What the Hell?
I was really startled.
I remember turning to find Larry just laughing uproariously.
For Larry, the wheels were already turning.
He was figuring out how to milk that [joke].
WINBUSH:The crew and the cast started saying it as an inside joke.
I’m pretty sure at one point it was on a T-shirt that everybody had.
To me, the s— was just funny, and it was real.
WILMORE:The web connection didn’t think [the show] was funny when they were seeing dailies.
They just didn’t know what the heck I was doing.
They tried to get me to shoot the confessionals in front of an audience.
I was like, “No, that would be horrible.”
I had to find ways to tell them no, they kept making me do that.
Like Norm inCheers."
They wanted Wanda just to be more reliable like that, comedy-wise.
SMITH:Bernie and I had an outing just to bond before we started shooting.
We talked about being able to exemplify what it means to have Black love on TV.
One of my favorite shows wasThe Jeffersons, but [George and Weezy] never embraced, really.
They never really kissed or told secrets or whispered in each other’s ear.
[This show] was the opportunity to do that.
WILMORE:One thing about Bernie, he made people feel like family immediately.
I accompanied him to Las Vegas when I was first developing the show.
I wanted to see how fans reacted to him.
When people came up to him, they felt like Bernie was in their family.
He would stop and talk to them like they were a cousin.
“How you doing, man?
That’s good.”
KWAPIS:I’ve worked with lots of people who need to be alone to do their best work.
They need to just be off by themselves.
SUAREZ:Everybody would do lunch together, which was really unique for a set.
DAVIS:He would order this chocolate cake, and he knew I loved the cake.
SMITH:Baby Girl, she thought I was her real aunt.
She thought I was Bernie’s real wife.
So when Bernie’srealwife came, she didn’t want to meet her!
She was like, no.
DAVIS:Oh my God.
I feel so bad.
Kellita introduced me, “This is Bernie’s wife.”
And I was like, “No she’s not.
You’re his wife.”
I wasn’t trying to hear it.
I don’t know this woman."
WINBUSH:The writers incorporated gymnastics in the show for Vanessa, because I was actually a gymnast.
There was an episode where they actually brought in my real gymnastics team to be on the show.
DAVIS:Camille taught me how to do a cartwheel.
We used to go to her gymnastic meets and everything.
SUAREZ:I loved magic.
We were working at CBS Radford and Hollywood Magic was only 25 minutes away.
It helped us as child actors to play [our roles] fully.
If we can play ourselves, then we can have better instincts.
DAVIS:Me and Jeremy, we had really a love-hate relationship.
We used to really bicker and argue all the time between scenes and just pick on each other.
We really had a brother-sister relationship.
I’ll tell you where it started.
He was like, “No, she moved back home and left you.”
I started crying, looking for my mom.
SUAREZ:Ohhhh, yes.
Not one of my proudest moments, but yes.
She was little, we were just giving her a hard time, messing with her.
“You have to live on set,” I think that’s what I told her.
It was back and forth.
It wasn’t really until years later that me and Dee Dee finally got close.
She would call me “Germy"ooh, I would hate it!
SMITH:Dee Dee couldn’t tie her shoes.
She couldn’t ride a bike.
Bernie really taught her how to ride a bike.
DAVIS:There was one scene where Jeremy, Bernie and I had to walk into a room.
Before each take, we’d have to go back outside.
I couldn’t snap.
I couldn’t snap for anything.
So Bernie was like, “Put your fingers like this.”
Cast or crew, no one was safethough Mac’s young costars occasionally evened the score.
SUAREZ:We had like a pride thing about making each other laugh.
It was always like this competition of who can make each other laugh, like genuinely laugh.
He’s pulling out his ears and sticking out his tongue while we’re trying to be serious.
That’s, like, Olympic-level training for an actor.
Everybody was just shocked.
It went from tears to laughing, with cake.
SMITH:He got me good one time.
If you added a roach in there, I would’ve quit.
I’d rather do lions, tigers, and bears.
When it was time to take a break, I darted to my dressing room.
Watch what happens.”
So I come back and they say we’ve got to shoot the scene one more time.
Bernie says, “Let me show you what we’re going to do different.”
He grabbed my hand, and he had something furry in his hand.
I didn’t even think to look.
I just said, “What the f—?
“I was goingoff!
By the time I finished, Bernie said, “Uh-huh, I told you.”
DAVIS:The thing is, Bernie started the pranking, and thenwegot into the pranking.
There was this one thing we got called fart spray, it was the worst thing ever.
We sprayed it in the elevator.
Everyone was walking around like, “Ooh, what is that smell?”
We were cracking up about it all day.
Well, that was us.”
He could not stop laughing.
SUAREZ:I had a pet rat on set.
You put that thing on me, I’m gonna throw it!”
LONG LIVE THE KING
Twelve years afterhis death, Bernie Mac remains a beloved cultural touchstone.
HisBernie Mac Showcolleagues feel that love to this day.
SMITH:I had someone just leave a note on my door.
I’m like, “Hell no!”
And this guy goes, “Jordan?”
And I just instinctively looked over, and he’s like, “I recognize those beads anywhere!”
He recognized my hair!
They’re like, “You look so familiar!
I could have sworn I grew up with you.”
SUAREZ:Bernie had so many silly little sayings.
I thought, what if I did that with America?
We didn’t know if he was going to be president, Bush or Gore.
It was very unifying in a way I had never anticipated.
KWAPIS:Bernie addressed both you as an individual watching the show, but he also addressed everyoneAmerica.
He’s not playing to one contingent in the audience or another.
He says, “America, let’s talk.”
He’s bringing everyone into the tent.
All five seasons ofThe Bernie Mac Showare available to streamon Hulu.
