Ellen Gray in Hollywood

Posted: Monday, July 14, 2008, 12:38 PM | 0 comments |

Comedian: Don't expect Mac to be PC

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Long before he was "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart's" "senior black correspondent," Larry Wilmore was the Emmy-winning creator -- and, for a while, executive producer -- of Fox's "Bernie Mac Show."

So he knows Bernie, who Friday night received a gentle rebuke from Barack Obama -- and a not-so-gentle one afterward from Obama's campaign -- for some of the language he'd used in his act during a fund-raiser in Chicago.

"I don't know what they were expecting," Wilmore said, laughing. "Bernie does jokes about 'ho's' and 'bitches,' and I think that was what was said in the act. Maybe they need to vet the comedians a little bit more."

Still, "I'm surprised Bernie did it, to be honest," added Wilmore, who was here with PBS, of all networks, to talk about six-part series on comedy, "Make 'Em Laugh," which, I'm guessing, won't include that particular bit.

Posted by Vance Lehmkuhl @ 12:38 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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About Ellen Gray

As the TV critic for the Philadelphia Daily News, I've always believed my job is less about thumbs -- up or down -- and more about the conversation. Because the more choices we have, the fewer people in our lives know what we're talking about when we say, "Did you see that?" And that's when television really starts to get interesting. So let's talk. From Jan. 5-16, I'm in Pasadena, Calif., for the Television Critics Association's winter meetings. Check here for updates or you can follow me on Twitter: @elgray Want to meet the readers who won this fall's Everybody's a Critic contest? They'll be weighing in from time to time all season.