My humor had changed from foolishness to making sense.

When Bernie Mac uttered the words, “My humor had changed from foolishness to making sense,” he was not merely speaking of his craft, but of transformation—the sacred evolution that every soul must one day undergo. These words rise from the depths of struggle and experience, from a man who wrestled with life and learned that laughter, when purified by wisdom, becomes a vessel of truth. His humor, once untamed and wild like a young flame, matured into a torch that could illuminate the human condition. In this way, Bernie’s journey mirrors the journey of all who seek meaning: we begin with noise and end with understanding.

In his early days, Bernie Mac’s comedy was the humor of survival—a defiant shout against hardship, a spark in the darkness. It was born of the streets of Chicago, where laughter was armor and every joke was a shield against despair. Yet as he grew, as life taught him through pain, loss, and responsibility, his humor began to “make sense.” It was no longer mere jest—it became revelation. He spoke not only to entertain but to awaken. The laughter he inspired was no longer hollow; it was rich with recognition. Those who heard him laughed, not because they escaped truth, but because they saw themselves within it.

The ancients would have understood this shift well. The philosopher Socrates once said that the unexamined life is not worth living—and in this light, Bernie’s words shine. For when humor evolves from foolishness to sense, it has been examined, tested in the fires of experience, and reborn as wisdom. Like the early jesters of royal courts who could speak truth under the veil of laughter, Bernie Mac became a truth-teller disguised as a comedian. His art, though clothed in laughter, carried the weight of life’s lessons—the lessons of endurance, humility, and love.

In history, we can find echoes of this same transformation in the life of Charlie Chaplin. Once known for his clumsy charm and foolish antics, Chaplin grew into a master of silent storytelling that stirred the conscience of the world. In The Great Dictator, he set aside pure comedy and used his humor to speak sense to power, declaring the dignity of humankind in a world descending into tyranny. Like Bernie, Chaplin’s laughter matured—it became a light in a time of shadows. The world did not only laugh with him; it understood through him.

Bernie Mac’s transformation teaches us that foolishness is not failure; it is the soil from which sense grows. The young are meant to stumble, to jest without meaning, to play in the freedom of unawareness. But life, relentless and sacred, refines the spirit. The wise learn to laugh not at life, but through it. They discover that humor is not the opposite of pain—it is the other face of endurance. True humor arises not from ignorance, but from understanding what hurts and choosing to smile anyway.

And so, dear listener, the quote calls us to grow our laughter as we grow our souls. Ask yourself: Does your humor lift or wound? Does it blind or reveal? For every word we speak carries power, and when laughter serves truth, it heals. Let your humor be the kind that builds bridges, not walls; that brings light to the weary, not scorn to the weak. To laugh with wisdom is to embrace the full measure of humanity—to see both the folly and the glory of being alive, and to honor both with grace.

The lesson is clear: foolishness is the first fire, but wisdom is the enduring flame. Do not despise your beginnings; instead, refine them. Let every experience, every hardship, teach you to make sense—to find meaning even in the absurd. When your words, your art, your laughter begin to carry truth, you will have reached the place Bernie Mac spoke of—a place where humor is no longer just sound, but song; no longer distraction, but revelation.

And thus, may your laughter too be transformed. May it grow from foolishness into meaning, from noise into light. For laughter that makes sense is not the laughter of escape—it is the laughter of victory, the laughter of one who has faced life’s storms and still dares to smile.