Patton Oswalt's high school grad speech

[kevin]

Mr. Oswalt spoke to his former high school. <a href="http://www.pattonoswalt.com/index.cfm?page=spew&id=83&mode=comments">Here's the link to the text.</a> I didn't really expect it to be as poignant as it was, especially when it started off kinda joke-y.

Personally I think it's more touching and personal than other "funny" graduation speeches I've read/watched from Jon Stewart, Conan, Ali G, etc. Solid stuff.

[TimBuktu]

I love it. Love it, love it, love it. It contains the two lessons that I find hardest to implement and accept, but work on diligently.

via Bob Hope...

Let me put that another way. Bob Hope once said, “When I was twenty, I worried what everything thought of me. When I turned forty, I didn’t care what anyone thought of me. And then I made it to sixty, and I realized no one was ever thinking of me.”

Secondly: The path is made by walking. And when you’re walking that path, you choose how things affect you. You always have that freedom, no matter how much your liberty it curtailed. You…get to choose…how things affect you.



Those, to me, are the two keys to happiness.

[punkdc]

One of the best things I have ever read. I'm still in college and it all still applies. Beautiful.

[Marty_Malt]

The fact that he speaks to them like adults makes me very happy.

The fact that my graduation speaker was Moira Kelly, makes me hate the universe.

[Scammy Davis Boogah Jr.]

Really eloquent, but I also found that 'Sphincterpride' provided a brilliant counter-point in the comments;

"Meh. . . . Who the fuck is Patton Oswald?"

Who indeed...

[Meen Bellpeppers]

I love that one of the first comments is

"Patton, I don't want to bother you, but in case you didn't see my post on your last thread I thought I'd ask again: what are your views on libertarianism?
Posted by: Jim @ 4:57 PM on 7.13.2008 "

[mezmorized]

And how when I got my first ever acting gig, on Seinfeld, my brother sent me a postcard of Minnie Pearl, and he wrote on it, “Never forget, you and her are in the same profession.”

That quote made me laugh so hard.

Reading the speech was like watching "City Lights" for me. They both give you a feeling of vulnerability for what your are seeing and hearing, but interjects humor in a way that catches your tears off guard.

That is a tough thing to do and Patton does it marvelously in that speech. I could only have wished I heard it when I was at my most impressionable, but now is just as good.

[mattlister]

I laughed, obviously, when I read this speech, but I actually got a little choked when I read this:

"Oh this world. Ladies and gentlemen, this world rocks and it never lets up."

I know it's silly and probably not the most profound part of the speech but it hit me. I've done a small amount of traveling myself lately and I've realized that we all know so little of the human experience outside of our own small realities. It's a fucked up world, to be sure, but I love it all the same and I want to see as much of it as possible before it's too late.

[SailRacer]

Wow... I didn't hear anything near that good. Not at my high school graduation. Not at college. Not at any of the dozen commencements I've been to in the last 5 years. Great speech. Great message.

[PinkieOfDoom]

I don't even remember who gave my speech, although I remember the year before's speaker (U.S. Women's Ice Hockey team from the Olympics, that fucker lost to fuckin' Sweden, no offense Sweden) and my college speaker this year was Barack Obama.
That was so inspirational and it would've been great for me to have heard. Luckily I even got to read it, but yeah... And it was really funny.

[Teaflax]

From what I understand from what hockey fans shout on the streets and what the papers write, Sweden evidently rules at hockey, so don't feel bad.

Awesome Patton speech, of course. Enlightened without being condescending. A hard fuckin' combo to pull off.

[Finnegan TG]

this is really good stuff. up there with Bill Watterson's speech at Kenyon College http://home3.inet.tele.dk/stadil/spe_kc.htm

[CaptainBreakfast]

http://www.altruists.org/static/files/What%20Really%20Matters%20%28John%20Taylor%20Gatto %29.htm

An equally good speech.

[Teaflax]

http://www.altruists.org/static/files/What%20Really%20Matters%20%28John%20Taylor%20Gatto %29.htm

An equally good speech.

Not really a speech, is it? Also, not really good at all.

[SailRacer]

From what I understand from what hockey fans shout on the streets and what the papers write, Sweden evidently rules at hockey, so don't feel bad.

Sweden pumps out hockey superstars like China turns out toxic toys. This year's Stanley Cup Champions, my Detroit Red Wings, had 7 Swedes on their team.

[MrDys]

I wish Patton was A'ing Q's around these parts again, so that I could ask him about his experience with Ortolan.

I also FWD:'d this to everyone who feels the need to FWD: me inspirational quotes.

[skechada!]

Great speech. It would be nice to find a youtubes of it. But even on the page it was one of the better graduation speeches I've heard.

[CaptainBreakfast]

Not really a speech, is it? Also, not really good at all.

Matter of opinion, and yes, it is a speech which he delivered June 7, 1992 at Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington.

[slapstickeulogist]

It was the four paragraphs from "I’ve seen endless daylight and darkness in Alaska..." to "I've toured with bands..." that REALLY gave me chills. Absolutely beautifully written. I just keep reading it over and over.

Edit: Does anyone have a transcript of the AST Patton Oswalt interview? I should have saved that a long time ago... I figure this is a better place to ask than starting a new thread.

[Bucky_Sinister]

It was the four paragraphs from "I’ve seen endless daylight and darkness in Alaska..." to "I've toured with bands..." that REALLY gave me chills. Absolutely beautifully written. I just keep reading it over and over.


That was my favorite part, too.

It reminded me of this, from Blade Runner:

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.