The stand-up comedian Bernie Mac died August 9 due to complications from pneumonia. He was 50 years old. The service for his funeral was held at the House of Hope church in Chicago, very close to where Bernie Mac grew up.

Thousands of mourners gathered to pay their last tribute to the comedian, including actor Samuel L. Jackson, Chicago’s mayor, Richard Daley, Don Cheadle, Chris Rock, basketball player Juwan Howard, producer and writer Ali LeRoi, comedians Mike Collier, Bruce Bruce and George Wallace.

Oprah Winfrey, democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, Maxine Waters and actor Andy Garcia were among the ones who sent notes that were read at the ceremony.

Mac's career included a self-titled TV series that ran for several years, his performing for years on the stand-up comedy circuit and movie roles in "Ocean's Eleven," "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" and "Transformers." Samuel L. Jackson recently made a movie with him, “Soul Men,” set for release in November. He referred to him as "that kid from Chicago who wanted to make everybody laugh." "He never turned down that kid for an autograph," added the actor. Isaac Hayes, who died Sunday, also stars in the movie, and Hayes' music was played during the service.

D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Steve Harvey, his fellow comedians, broke down as they were giving their farewell speeches. At seeing the 6,000 people crowd, Cedric the Entertainer said that Mac was “still the hottest ticket in town.”

A lot of people who hadn’t met the artist also came to pay their respects and traffic in the area was suspended for several hours. Also some of Mac's comedy routines were played on large video screens at the church.