Conan O’Brien just told this year’s
Harvard graduating class that this
is a focus the value of which is, to
him, greater than any diploma that
one might get from any esteemed,
elitist, or any other variant of an
academic institution. He acknow
ledges that “we are living through
a time of extreme narcisissm.”
“I understand that I am preaching
modesty and connection at a time
when this is not in style,” is how he
started that thought. Perhaps. But
there is this growing hunger for what
kids these days call authenticity (which,
granted, was until recently a foreign
concept to me, but I’m a guy who likes
to finger the pulse of the trends of
graduates of all kinds). And finally,
working my way backwards through
his stand-up routine at the ceremony,
Conan O’Brien said this: “As you are
aware, the current administration feels
Harvard admits too many foreign students,
and who knows, they may have a point.
After all, what has any foreigner added
to our American culture, with the possible
exception of music, literature, art, cuisine,
fashion, architecture, dance, scientific
breakthroughs, and the core of our
moral codes and ethical beliefs.” This
from a Doctor of Comedy, or a comedic
doctor. Humor wends itself individually
into the brain of its beholders, who are
hopefully all of us. Poetry, perhaps, does
not. But at least I have tried to make it
so here, by making one mostly out of
the words of a humanitarian who has had
the luxury of graduating from one of our
most elitist and esteemed institutions, a
modern day legacy who also happens to be,
started that thought. Perhaps. But
there is this growing hunger for what
kids these days call authenticity (which,
granted, was until recently a foreign
concept to me, but I’m a guy who likes
to finger the pulse of the trends of
graduates of all kinds). And finally,
working my way backwards through
his stand-up routine at the ceremony,
Conan O’Brien said this: “As you are
aware, the current administration feels
Harvard admits too many foreign students,
and who knows, they may have a point.
After all, what has any foreigner added
to our American culture, with the possible
exception of music, literature, art, cuisine,
fashion, architecture, dance, scientific
breakthroughs, and the core of our
moral codes and ethical beliefs.” This
from a Doctor of Comedy, or a comedic
doctor. Humor wends itself individually
into the brain of its beholders, who are
hopefully all of us. Poetry, perhaps, does
not. But at least I have tried to make it
so here, by making one mostly out of
the words of a humanitarian who has had
the luxury of graduating from one of our
most elitist and esteemed institutions, a
modern day legacy who also happens to be,
at least in my humble opinion, a supremely
funny human being, and ambassador to reality
by way of ingenuity in humor and show business.
