So, I did my usual, "Hey dad, what's up," when I called.

He answered his usual, loving way, "What do you want? Why do you keep calling here?"

I almost answered in my usual way, calling him old and telling him to put my mom on the phone because I didn't want to talk to him, but I told him, "Bernie Mac died."

He said, "What?"

I said, again, "Bernie Mac died."

"That's not funny. Don't joke with me like that."

I spent the next few minutes explaining to my Dad that I was serious. He still thought I was pulling his leg, so he went to CNN and checked for himself.

"I can't believe it. Bernie Mac dies," my father said, after getting appropriate confirmation.

"Yes, Dad, he died," I said.

"I thought you were joking," he said.

Who calls him and plays like that? It is a question I asked my sister, Debbie, who called Dad Sunday to tell him one of his favorite musicians, Isaac Hayes, died.

Debbie tells me, "Dad said, 'Girl, don't be playing like that. That's not funny."

We were both like, "What kind of friends and family does my dad have who call him with this kind of funny joke?"

What are they like, "Hey Reggie, you know that Chris Rock died."

My dad, "Oh no, man. That's so sad. He was such a young buck. That's awful."

"Nah, Chris Rock didn't actually die. I was just playing the 'dead celebrity' joke on you. (manical laugh)"

My dad, "You really got me that time. That was a good one."

We hope that it's that he didn't want to believe his icons were dead, and not that he has some prankster that calls him/herself a friend.

The wonders never cease with the old man.