One night, I come in and find my mama in front of the TV, cryin'. And you know how it is when you're a little kid: your mama cryin', you gonna be cryin' in a minute. "What's wrong, Mama?" I ask her. "It's nothin', Bean. Sometimes I think sad thoughts." "What thoughts?" She didn't answer. She was lookin' at the TV. Black guy's talkin' to Ed Sullivan. I look at him, but I don't hear but a few words. And I can't make them out anyway, see, because suddenly my mama's laughin' to bust a gut. Her whole lap's shakin'. I got to hold on tight or get thrown clear across the room. I turn to look at her -- this is the same woman that was cryin' a second ago? -- then turn back to the TV. "Who that man, Mama?" She's still laughin'. Takes her a while to catch her breath. "Bill Cosby, son. He's a comedian." A comedian? "What's that?" I look over at this Bill Cosby. I don't know what he's talkin' about -- but I know that, whatever it is, it's got power. "That's what I want to be, Mama. A comedian. Make you laugh like that, maybe you never cry again." By the tender age of five, Bernie Mac had found his calling: making others laugh. Now this amazing comedian delves deep inside to tell the poignant story of his childhood and the people who helped shape him into the comedian -- and the strong and self-reliant man -- he is today. When Bernie was just sixteen, he lost his beloved mother to breast cancer. As he was growing up, she was a tough but loving teacher of life lessons and "Mac-isms," which would carry him through many hardships: You have to meet all of the challenges, big and small. Because how you start is how you finish. The loudest, clearest voice needs to be the one inside your own self. These lessons gave him the strength to choose hope over despair and to follow his dream of becoming a comedian. Bernie recounts his slow rise to stardom, from doing stand-up at a church dinner at age eight to performing in amateur open-mike nights to earning a regular gig at Chicago's Cotton Club, and eventually to entertaining huge audiences onstage and in film and on television. An inspiring memoir filled with hope-restoring humor, Maybe You Never Cry Again is a powerful testament to how a mother's love makes everything possible.

"Bernie recounts his slow rise to stardom, from doing stand-up at a church dinner at age eight to performing in amateur open-mike nights to earning a regular gig at Chicago's Cotton Club, and eventually to entertaining huge audiences on stage and in film and on television" (dust jacket).

"My granddaddy would get mad at all of us. He couldn't just get mad at one of us. 'Ain't nobody got... You know what? Go to bed! All y'all, go to bed!' It'd be like two o'clock in the afternoon. 'Go to bed!'" Bernie Mac, the royal king of the Original Kings of Comedy, is salty and pissed off. The Chicago-bred performer has issues to get off his chest, and he doesn't mince words when he lets loose. No surprise, his live appearances have earned him a reputation as perhaps the truest voice of modern humor. Now, Mac has captured his comedic genius in print with his hilarious debut book. Tearing through a wide range of topics with equal parts insight and irreverence, Bernie Mac shares views that may not sit well with everyone -- especially if you're caught in the crosshairs of his rants ("Kids today don't get the kind of injuries we used to get as children -- cut, bruised. Now, these lil' muh'fuckas just continuously get shot"). Still, his way of looking at the world will probably make you think and it's all but guaranteed to make you laugh. Taking on superstar athletes, the movie business, his fellow comedians, his marriage, and his friends and family ("You always knew when your grandmother was at home because her wig was on that little Styrofoam stand"), Mac unleashes 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 self-deprecating salvos about his golf game, his own personal hypocrisies, even his sexual prowess -- "Women got toys...You can't compete with no dildo." Mac's insights have earned him critical acclaim and international popularity. Now, I Ain't Scared Of You captures Bernie Mac's humor whole -- unadorned, unpretentious, and unafraid.

Replete with moving stories about colorful characters and told with a healthy dose of Mac's trademark razor-sharp wit, "Go Ask Your Mother" is a heartbreaking, heartwarming autobiography that will have readers laughing out loud through their tears. 8-page color insert.

Never Cry Again A Story of the 1930s American South A young man who beats all the odds! Drew is conceived in abuse, born into neglect, and raised in hatred. The story tells how the rural boy survives a life of extreme poverty, living in the poorest part of a southern Arkansas town and whose prostitute mother entertains numerous 'uncles'. When one of those uncles becomes abusive toward Drew, and then later attempts male rape, which was encouraged by his mother. Drew has no other choice. He must leave home. The ten-year old boy climbs into a rail boxcar, and the train takes him away not only from the abuse but also from his friends, carrying him to an unknown future. Just as things seem their worst, Drew, realizing that his childhood is now over, vows that he will never cry again, but instead face life on his own terms. Praised by one critic as Huckleberry Finn meets Forrest Gump, Drew's adventures on the way to responsible and compassionate manhood, set against the backdrop of America's Great Depression and the following turbulent years of World War II, are a story that is relevant to the upheavals and turbulence in society today.

Listen up y’all. Bernie Mac is back, and this here is his page-a-day prescription for a better life and career. You wanna be successful, don’t ya? All you gotta do is read one page a day. So come on, let’s start your edumacation right now. Are y’all ready to get yourself together? It’s time for you to start livin’ your best life, and all you gotta do is read one got-d*mn page a day. You think you can handle that? Sure you can. You can do anything you wanna do, but you never gonna hit a home run if you ain’t steppin’ up to the plate. You got yourself a dream? You got a vision? There ain’t no sugarcoatin’ it. The only one who’s gonna make it happen is you, but this book is gonna help. It’s alright—we all need a little help once in a while. I Don’t Care if You Like Me, I Like Me is 365 days of Bernie Mac tellin’ it like it T-I-Iz. You gonna be gettin’ some of his best advice, his personal stories showin’ y’all that what he’s tellin’ you works, and some commentary from Rhonda ’cuz that woman knows what's up. We’re talkin’ about bein’ your best self, gettin’ better in your relationships, findin’ your place in the world, and openin’ up that door to plentitude. So, the choice is yours. Are you ready to be the best sumb*tch you can be? You wanna be happy and successful? You got somethin’ more important goings on right now? Quit procrasternatin’ and do it. “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 Don’t 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 “I’ve never seen anything like I Don’t Care if You Like Me, I Like Me. This book is self-help, Chicago-style. It’s the perfect combination of comedy and truth, just like you’d expect from Bernie Mac.” —Sherri Shepherd, Award-Winning Actress, Comedian, and Talk Show Host “I Don’t 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 that—help yourself! His raw honesty will make you laugh, cry and possibly rethink your entire life.” —Kym Whitley, American comedian and actress

Solène Marchand begins an impassioned affair with a member of her daughter’s favorite boy band.