Fast takes on the five most viewed Tribune stories last week on the paper’s Web site. Find them quickly at chicagotribune.com/most.
1. Chicago comedian Bernie Mac dead at age 50 (Aug. 10). The comic, raised Bernard McCullough on the South Side and famous via television and movies, passed away Aug. 9 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital of complications from pneumonia. In explaining his appeal across racial lines, one friend said, “He didn’t so much cross over as people crossed over to him.”
2. Bernie Mac’s death puts sarcoidosis in spotlight (Aug. 12). Mac had the condition, often related to pneumonia, described as a “mysterious and sometimes devastating immune system disorder that causes cells to cluster and can damage organs throughout the body.” Best treatment is still unknown.
3. Memorial for Bernie Mac to be Saturday (Aug. 11). To accommodate fans, a memorial was scheduled for noon Saturday in the 10,000-seat House of Hope, 752 E. 114th St., Chicago. Expected was a celebration of the spirit that saw Mac tell club owners who wanted to book him on “black comic” nights: “I’m a comedian. Don’t put a title on me.”
4. “R-word” sets off protests (Aug. 14). Variations on the word “retard” appear often in the new comedy “Tropic Thunder,” drawing vigorous opposition to its casual, consequence-free use. Apparently nobody noticed that the longest run of “R-words” was set off by Robert Downey Jr., a white actor appearing in blackface.
5. Decade has had fewest 90-degree days since 1930s (Aug. 13). “There have been only 162 days 90 degrees or warmer at Midway Airport over the period from 2000 to 2008,” writes weather whiz Tom Skilling. “That’s by far the fewest … since 1930.” Non-scientists, start the debate about global warming now, and be sure to include how it was totally freezing that day you went skiing last winter.
