--- title: Stephen Colbert Gives Wake Forest University Graduation Speech: Video description: The comedian addressed the Wake Forest Class of 2015. canonical: https://time.com/3883128/stephen-colbert-wake-forest-graduation-speech/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-18T21:54:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:28.200Z og:title: Enjoy Stephen Colbert's Hilarious, Insightful Graduation Speech og:description: The comedian addressed the Wake Forest Class of 2015 og:url: https://time.com/3883128/stephen-colbert-wake-forest-graduation-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Enjoy Stephen Colbert's Hilarious, Insightful Graduation Speech twitter:description: The comedian addressed the Wake Forest Class of 2015 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Enjoy Stephen Colbert's Hilarious and Insightful Graduation Speech > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: The Best Celeb Graduation Speeches [Watch (HLS stream): The Best Celeb Graduation Speeches](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ANHI2RmH.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2013-05-16. The best moments of celebrity commencement speeches from the past decade including Stephen Colbert and Steve Jobs_ by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman May 18, 2015 9:54 PM UTC by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman May 18, 2015 9:54 PM UTC Each year, a few lucky college graduates are blessed with a commencement speaker who’s actually fun to listen to, even when it’s 100 degrees and everyone is all sweaty in heavy robes. This year’s graduates at Wake Forest University in North Carolina had Stephen Colbert as their speaker, and naturally, he was a total delight. (Tulane also [lucked out](http://time.com/3883004/maya-rudolph-tulane-graduation-beyonce/) with Maya Rudolph.) Colbert offered plenty of wisdom about setting your own standards and making sure not to become complacent with yourself—but, of course, he also had plenty of topical jokes. “Congratulations to you, the class of 2015,” Colbert said. “You did it and you look amazing. Although it’s a little embarrassing you all showed up in the same outfit. Really, even all of the accessories are the same. Everyone has a black and gold tassel—or is it blue and white? Grandparents, just know this was the issue that divided a generation. You had the Vietnam War, your grandchildren had an ambiguously colored Tumblr post.” Watch Colbert’s full speech—about 59 minutes into the video above. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] I have to say that song never grows old for me. [ LAUGH ] Whenever I hear, that song. [ LAUGH ] it reminds me of nothing. [ LAUGH ] Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honor, but the weeks of fear and nausea I have endured [ LAUGH ] At the thought of giving this commencement address, have made me lose weight. [ LAUGH ] If you are willing, as past generations were willing, to contribute part of your life to the life of this country, then I, like President Kennedy, believe we can. Because I believe in you. Your work is gonna fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking and don't settle. And like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't settle. Everyone knows, I didn't go to college at all, any college. And I'm not saying you wasted your time or money, but look at me, I'm a huge celebrity. [ LAUGH ] As most of you are probably aware, I, I didn't graduate from Harvard. [ LAUGH ] In fact, I never even got a call back from admissions. [ LAUGH ] Damn you Harvard. Damn you. But the class of 2011 did not invite me here to tell jokes. They invited me here to talk about the recent tensions between oil traders and regulators of the commodity futures trading commission. [ LAUGH ] I'm sure we all read the New York Times this morning, which posited that there may be a complex scheme that relied on the close relationships between physical oil prices and the prices of financial futures, which, of course, as we all know, moves in parallel. [ LAUGH ] I am all, also a little bit surprised to be your graduation speaker, considering that 25 years ago, today, I did not actually graduate. But when I went up to get my diploma, and the Dean, Kathy Martin, handed me the folder, she leaned in and said, I'm sorry. [ LAUGH ] You know later on today, you can compare your tweets and your Facebook comments, with those of others to figure out if anything memorable went down. [ LAUGH ] Hey, you know what? Tweet that last sentence I just said. [ LAUGH ] [ LAUGH ] At the end of my final program with NBC, just before signing off, I said, work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen. Today, receiving this honor and speaking to the Dartmouth class of 2011 from behind a tree trunk. I have never believed that more. Thank you very much and congratulations. 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