[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN_K-UIREYA&w=560&h=315]
At Harvard’s annual Senior Class Day, Saturday Night Live actor and comedian Andy Samberg cut the private university’s graduating class down a notch, pretending at times to forget the institution’s name and blatantly making fun of a host of academic fields there.
“I too, turned to Webster’s Dictionary…Harvard: the season for gathering crops…” Samberg said, leading into an analogy about how Harvest actually was a lot like attending Harvard and sarcastically asking why anyone would ever go there to study “women’s agriculture,” (a knock on women’s studies).
Just after 5:10 in the 23 minute video, Samberg states that he has an “announcement,” and goes on to say:
“The following majors are useless as of tomorrow: history, literature, all things related to art, social studies, East Asian studies, pretty much anything that ends with studies, romance languages, and finally, folklore and mythology?”
He finished with “math and science majors, you guys are cool… finally!”
Traditionally the day has been more light-hearted for Harvard graduates, however Samberg doled out some “advice” while subtly making a political reference.
“2012 is a good time to be graduating college. Sure our economy is pretty slow, and out health care and social security systems are going to evaporate in five years, sure you will have to work until you are 80 to support your 110-year-old parents… but none of that matters because tomorrow you graduate [from Harvard],” Samburg said.
Around 10:15, Samberg points out how many successful Harvard attendees actually dropped out of Harvard before finishing their undergraduate work, such as Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates.
“Speaking of fame, Harvard has many famous alumni… just a few ex-students that started successful businesses after dropping out, which means if you are in this crowd today and graduating, you are destined to be a massive failure,” he said.
For a senior day speech at Harvard, Samburg’s advice was surprisingly conservative in nature. For context, Samburg was followed up by retiring Democratic Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.). If you have time, watch the entire 23 minute video. Samburg does some pretty hilarious impressions of Mark Zuckerburg, Mark Wahlberg and Nicholas Cage toward the end.
