I don't remember one word uttered during either my high school or college graduation speech. Frankly, I couldn't even tell you who delivered either of the two. In high school I was really too nervous to pay attention, and in college I was way too tired from living like Keith Richards for the preceding 3 weeks. I know that some people liked their speeches. Some folks had famous people, which is fun as long as they have interesting stories and are smart enough to make their wisdom relevant to the graduate. A perfect example of this is when a school invites a clever comedian to address the departing students. You wouldn't want someone like Carrot Top at the podium, but here's a few great examples of comedians using their craft to make the speech memorable (thanks to Randall for the idea to do this post):
- Conan O'Brian: Harvard, Stuyvesant High School
- Will Ferrell: Harvard - audio or video [the video's hours long, and Will's defitinely not in the first 12 minutes, which is as much as I made it through]
- Ali G: Harvard
- Bill Cosby: Franklin & Marshall
- Jon Stewart: William & Mary
- Dennis Miller: None that I can find. How is this possible? This guy's both hysterical and brilliant. If I ever graduate anything else, the rest of my life, I'm gonna see what I can do to get him to give the speech.
- Steve Jobs: Stanford, and here's the video of it
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