A couple weeks back, I clicked on a headline about a celebrity doing a college commencement speech and now that’s what the Internet has decided I need to see more of. As a former student and then later an instructor, I have heard plenty of these little talks. The students, parents and faculty get pretty tired of hearing series of ancient adults drone on about even older places and times, so college administrators complete to get famous faces in front of their students and in the headlines. This includes actors whom, thanks to the Google algorithm I have now seen plenty of.
The first problem with having an actor speak is that they are usually not the person from their most famous role. That is to say Ed Helms is not Andrew Bernard, the most infamous Cornell graduate on the popular television show the Office. So while it was someone’s hilarious idea to invite him to speak at the real Cornell, the tension was palpable. The actor did not go to a fancy Ivy League, but instead attended a less famous, more affordable school, and then worked unrecognized and unappreciated for decades before landing some big roles. His speech was interesting, but not the one that was expected.
Amy Poehler’s speech at Harvard was similar. While at least she was native to the state, she went to Boston College and took the long, hard path to success. While her talk was genuinely funny and inspiring, it too had the dissonance of someone achieving greatness rather than having it thrust upon them as perhaps some of her audience.
Harvard was lucky because the other problem with inviting an actor is that the favorite lines, opinions and jokes that come from actors mouths are usually written by writers. Some not-famous person thought them up digging into their own lives and experiences. It’s pretty awkward to have a funny face tell lame jokes or a sincere one speak without the depth and clarity we have come to expect from the characters they play. So, while the much memed character Ron Swanson from the show Parks and Recs shares the same voice and face as the actor Nick Offerman, their worldviews are quite different. If you’re looking for someone to share his politics, you’ll have to stick to watching the reruns.
