Have you heard the one about the college graduates who left their ceremony because they could not take having a Jewish comedian give them good advice?
That was the scene at Duke University on Sunday, as a few dozen students walked out of the school’s commencement as thousands more remained to hear comedian Jerry Seinfeld speak, according to The New York Times.
Seinfeld, whose Jewish roots have been a thread of his decades-spanning comedy, has become more vocal on the serious subject of Israel after the Hamas slaughter of innocent civilians on Oct. 7.
For that reason, some students walked out of Duke’s ceremony Sunday in a protest.
Seinfeld did not address the protests directly in his comments, although some remarks appeared to obliquely address student objections.
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Jerry Seinfeld was chosen as the commencement speaker at Duke University.
Seinfeld is an American Jew – who as far as I know doesn’t sit on Israel’s war cabinet, serve in the IDF, or have absolutely anything to do with the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
That didn’t… pic.twitter.com/4tvxuwomCp
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) May 12, 2024
“I grew up a Jewish boy from New York. That is a privilege if you want to be a comedian,” he said at one point, later adding, “it is worth the sacrifice of occasional discomfort to have some laughs.”
“You’re never going to believe this: Harvard used to be a great place to go to school. Now it’s Duke,” he said.
Do you think institutes of higher education are failing their students?
Seinfeld tried to pierce the political correctness bubble in his comments.
“I totally admire the ambitions of your generation to create a more just and inclusive society. I think it is also wonderful that you care so much about not hurting other people’s feelings in the million and one ways we all do that every second of every day,” Seinfeld said, according to Variety.
“It’s lovely to want to fix those things, but — all caps, but — what I need to tell you as a comedian, do not lose your sense of humor. You can have no idea at this point in your life how much you’re going to need it to get through,” he said.
Much of his address came down to sharing what Seinfeld called his “three real keys to life,” which WRAL-TV summarized as work hard, pay attention, and fall in love.
This is the problem with the media. The focus on a small handful of students walking out on Jerry Seinfeld’s speech has completely obscured any coverage of the actual speech, which is excellent, completely apolitical, and full of gems all young people need to hear.
Here it is in… pic.twitter.com/sgag2aQEHJ
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) May 12, 2024
“Whatever you’re doing, I don’t care if it’s your job, your hobby, a relationship, getting a reservation at M Sushi,” Seinfeld said.
“Make an effort. Just pure, stupid, no-real-idea-what-I’m-doing-here effort. Effort always yields a positive value, even if the outcome of the effort is absolute failure of the desired result. This is a rule of life. Just swing the bat and pray is not a bad approach to a lot of things,” he said.
Graduates were also given a Seinfeldian definition of falling in love.
“Fall in love with your coffee. Your sneakers. Your Blue Zone parking space. I’ve had a lot of fun in life falling in love with stupid, meaningless physical objects…I have truly spent my life focusing on the smallest things imaginable, completely oblivious to all the big issues of living,” he said.
Seinfeld noted that life has downs as well as ups.
“Find something where you love the good parts and don’t mind the bad parts too much — the torture you’re comfortable with. This is the golden path to victory in life. Work. Exercise. Relationships. They all have a solid component of pure torture, and they are all 1000 percent worth it,” he said.
