--- 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 ## 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. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3883128/stephen-colbert-wake-forest-graduation-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3883128/stephen-colbert-wake-forest-graduation-speech/"},"headline":"Enjoy Stephen Colbert's Hilarious and Insightful Graduation Speech","datePublished":"2015-05-18T21:54:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:28.200Z","description":"He even mentioned \"The Dress\"","url":"https://time.com/3883128/stephen-colbert-wake-forest-graduation-speech/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Education","celebrity"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3883128/stephen-colbert-wake-forest-graduation-speech/","name":"Enjoy Stephen Colbert's Hilarious and Insightful Graduation Speech"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Best Celeb Graduation Speeches","description":"The best moments of celebrity commencement speeches from the past decade including Stephen Colbert and Steve Jobs","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ANHI2RmH/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-05-16T19:42:54.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ANHI2RmH.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3883128/stephen-colbert-wake-forest-graduation-speech/","duration":"PT3M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3883128/stephen-colbert-wake-forest-graduation-speech/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```