I Ain't Scared of You
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4.9 • 7 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A laugh-out-loud humor book from one of the most celebrated comedians, Bernie Mac, the star of Fox's The Bernie Mac Show, winner of the prestigious Peabody Award.
The Chicago-bred performer and royal king of the Original Kings of Comedy, Bernie Mac, has won over countless fans of cutting comedy and family humor with an edgy show that tells it like it is but never loses heart. No surprise, Mac has earned a reputation as perhaps the truest voice of modern humor. Here, in his debut book, Mac brilliantly captures the R-rated side of his comedic genius in print.
Touring through a wide range of topics with equal parts insight and irreverence, Bernie presents a way of looking at the world guaranteed to make you laugh. Tackling superstar athletes, the movie business, his fellow comedians, his marriage, and, of course, his friends and family, Mac offers side-splitting riffs on sex, religion, hygiene, money, and more. Nobody is safe; nothing is sacred. Not even Bernie himself. Throughout I Ain't Scared of You, Mac turns his humor inward, firing off hilarious self-deprecating salvos about his golf game and his own hypocrisies.
Bernie Mac's hit show and his vital live performances have earned him critical acclaim and international popularity. Now, I Ain't Scared of You reveals his humor whole—unpretentious, unafraid, and unbelievably funny and raw.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Whether he is heir to Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx as his publicists claim may be debatable, but Mac is unquestionably a funny man. He has strong opinions and fires in every direction, revealing nuggets of humanity that make this debut volume, for the most part, a worthwhile read. While Mac has starred in a handful of television shows and movies (most notably Spike Lee's The Original Kings of Comedy), his name remains obscured particularly among white audiences by figures like Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Chris Tucker and the Wayans brothers. Here Mac tackles such well-worn topics as professional athletes, sex, religion, marriage, child-rearing and (of course) flatulence, but his most poignant material stems from his inner-city childhood. He writes of sharing not only bathwater with his siblings but cereal milk, poured from bowl to bowl. He laments the erosion of communal structures, the disappearance of the strong maternal figure, for example ("Your grandmama, now what 34?"). Co-written by journalist Dawsey (Living to Tell About It: Black Men in America Speak Their Piece), this book skillfully captures the rhythm and color of street vernacular. But the structure is loose and jumpy, fattened up with verbal chest puffing and relentless swearing. There are some perhaps overly confessional moments (e.g., physical fights with his wife), but Mac shows on more than one occasion that he can reach deep into the pockets of human distress and bring forth a smile. "That's what inspires my humor," he writes. "I don't want nobody to cry." B & w photos.
