Bernie Mac Plans to Retire From Standup

Bernie Mac is shown in this, March 6, 2004, file photo in Universal City, Calif. Mac, 49, says he plans to bring the curtain down on his standup comedy career after 30 years. He told David Letterman on CBS' "Late Show" that he'll retire after he finishes shooting the comedy film "The Whole Truth, Nothing But the Truth, So Help Me Mac" this fall, he said on the show Monday, March 19, 2007. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, file) (Mark J. Terrill - AP)

NEW YORK -- Bernie Mac says he plans to bring down the curtain on his standup comedy act after 30 years.

Mac told David Letterman on CBS' "Late Show" that he'll retire after he finishes shooting the comedy film "The Whole Truth, Nothing but the Truth, So Help Me Mac" this fall.

"And I'm going to put it in theaters and it's going to be 30 years for me, and I'm going to call it," the 49-year-old comedian said on Monday night's show.

"I'm going to still do my producing, my films, but I want to enjoy my life a little bit," Mac told Letterman. "I missed a lot of things, you know. I was a street performer for two years. I went into clubs in 1977."

"It's a great way to make a living but it also, it takes a toll, doesn't it? It's tough," Letterman said.

"Oh, man, you miss out on so much, you know, and you live in all these hotels _ I was on the road 47 weeks out of the year," said Mac, who starred with D.L Hughley and Cedric the Entertainer in 2000's "The Original Kings of Comedy."

Said Letterman: "So, one last film record of your work."

Mac replied: "That's right. ... Comedy has been so good to me. And that's all I ever wanted, watching you guys. I had great mentors _ Jackie Gleason, Flip (Wilson), Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Buddy Hackett. I had so many people to watch, that today you don't have that anymore."

His new film, "Pride," will be in theaters Friday.

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