Conan O'Brien's Pretty Darn Good Commencement Speech

The first half is the jokes, and they're pretty good. But in the last half, starting around 15:15, he gets to a more serious, heartfelt message.

He's just talking about his own worst failure -- losing the Tonight show -- and while that may be pretty trivial as far as losses go, it was a big deal to him. So he uses that opportunity to talk generally about risk, and recovery from failure, and dreams, and losing your dream, and finding a new dream as you muddle on through.

Takeaway: Quoting himself from 17 months ago, his NBC signoff was "Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen." He sums up: "I have never been more convinced that is true."

Now here's where I spoil the good feeling that speech created:

Thanks to CharlieBrownsDildo.

Bonus: Samuel L. Jackson reads the audiobook of "Go the F**k to Sleep."

Thanks to Aplusplusplus.

Another Bonus: If you haven't seen it, Michael Bolton joins the Lonely Island crew (Andy Samberg & Co.) for a rap video that gets derailed by Michael Bolton's odd agenda.

posted by Ace at 06:43 PM

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