Jon Stewart's W&M graduation speech

In light of the seriousness of the Presidential debates, protests and inauguration, I chose a different sort of speaker to critique for this assignment. On May 21, 2004 Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, spoke to the graduating class of 2004 at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg Virginia. He was also receiving an honorary doctorate at this time. The mood of the speech was expectedly light beginning with a comment on how “crushingly dull” the ceremony was thus far along with addressing the lack of comfort of the robe he was wearing saying underneath he was experiencing “the same conditions that primordial life began on this earth.” The catalyst from sarcasm to actual speech was when he responded to the fact that he was getting an honorary degree for doing nothing. He said “as a person, I am honored to get it; as an alumnus, I have to say I believe we can do better.” This was the tone of the rest of his speech as he spoke on various issues such as the world being broken by his generation and the fact that it was up to the generation of the class of 2004 to fix it. He spoke of how he felt when he graduated; scared, shell-shocked, mediocre but all the while gave hope that the choices of these students would help them in real life which started after college. He said “College is something you complete. Life is something you experience… Success is defined in myriad ways, and you will find it…” All in all, Mr. Stewart’s speech was successful, but in more of a poetic sense. He evaluated his audience and what the wanted and needed to hear along with what would keep them awake going along with what Leff spoke of in The Habitation of Rhetoric. He praised the students for their accomplishments and gave them some direction for the decisions of their future. He wasn’t necessarily persuading any sort of argument except in the issue of life in the real world. He encouraged the students to make their own decisions and become enlightened. His speech was pleasing to the ear and conveyed the elements of a great poetic mimesis (plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle, and melody) but didn’t fit the profile of a rhetorical speech unless you argued that he was proposing enlightenment. Jon Stewart closed with some additional words of encouragement when there is confusion and instability, using the illustration of 9-11 and the words that Mayor Giuliani said to New York City “‘you’ve got to get back to normal. We’ve got to show that things can change and get back to what they were.’” Stewart said that he was exiting his building and saw a man playing with himself on the stoop and it was in that moment when he thought “you know what, we’re gonna be okay.” This speech provided the students and William and Mary with an inspirational way to get their diplomas and some entertaining reading for myself.