When I quoted from Conan O’Brien’s commencement speech at Dartmouth this past Sunday, I hadn’t yet watched it through to the end. It is 24 minutes long. The first 18 minutes are funny and beautifully performed. The tribute to President Bush, sitting on the stage with Mrs. Bush, is funny and unironic, respectful in a way that reflects well on O’Brien himself. The rest of the 18 minutes are funny and ironic.
The final six minutes of the speech “impart” O’Brien’s “wisdom,” as he refers to it in his tribute to President Bush, with a deft touch on a personal note. Elizabeth Scalia finds it “brilliant.” It is surprisingly good.
UPDATE: Emily Esfahani Smith provides an eyewitness report.
-
“Arise and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.” Winston Churchill
“Proclaim Liberty throughout All the land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof.” Inscription on the Liberty Bell
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.