There are many generic advice online on how to write a speech, starting with, Know your audience, Find a theme, and Don’t try to be funny.
Just like the old men who usually give them, graduation speeches are typically dry, boring, and clichéd. We expect to hear nebulous platitudes like “Be kind” or inspiring words like “You will succeed if you’re me.”
Last June 15, Despicable Me actor Steve Carell gave a viral commencement speech to the 2025 graduating class of Northwestern University.
But Steve didn’t follow the usual rules. He wrote in his own deadpan humor because he’s a great improviser and a veteran performer. When I analyzed his speech, I realized Steve used many comedic techniques that take decades for standup comedians and comedy writers to perfect.
While we can’t be as great as Gru, we can learn how to write a funny speech. Or at least, a less boring one.
Connect with the audience immediately
Steve began by thanking the University for inviting him as a speaker. “It is an honor, a privilege, and an enormous pain in the ass.”
This joke uses the Rule of Three in comedy where you list two similar things to establish a pattern to lead the audience to anticipate what you’ll say next. But the third thing you say surprises the audience because it’s unexpected. That’s the punchline, and that’s why it’s funny. Steve employs the Rule of Three throughout his speech because he knows it works.
Opening with a joke is a quick way to relax the audience, warm them up, and make them instantly like you. You tell the audience, This will be fun! Now you have their attention—a scarce commodity with any audience.
Jokes and Irony
“My topic this morning is kindness. So please. Just shut up and listen.”
The Office comedian opened with a joke just 15 seconds into his intro. Then continued with a joke every 10 seconds, and he wasn’t even a minute into his speech. He also used irony as a punchline.
Laughter is a bonding experience. If you make the audience laugh, you’ve won them over. It hardly matters what you say next because they already think you’re funny and that your speech is great.
That’s why Steve began with, “Does it really matter what I talk about this morning?” He quotes Abraham Lincoln and said, “Lincoln was right, no one remembers the Gettysburg Address.”
Tell a story
Steve told the audience how he tried to think of a topic for his speech on his way to the event. We can all relate to trying to come up with a topic for a speech.
To illustrate his topic on Kindness, he told a story about two men Ezekiel and Jedediah. We think it’s a biblical anecdote but he quickly said he just invented the story for dramatic effect because “I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
Self-deprecation
Then Steve tells the audience his speech is mostly “conjecture, falsehoods, or simply made up.” He said he wasn’t smart enough to attend Northwestern University because “I don’t talk good.”
Be specific
Steve tackled many themes like kindness, respect, envy, and anxiety but gave specific examples and advice.
For kindness he said, “Many famous powerful people are also extremely kind. There’s…. And then there’s….”
Finally Steve said Stephen Colbert is a Northwestern alum who is a kind and very talented friend. “Better than I am. He is so wonderful that he makes me feel terrible about myself that I hate him very very much.”
Surprise!
The best part about Steve’s speech is the dance break at the half mark. He pulled the dean and they danced together onstage. But then he suddenly went downstage to the graduates and high-fived the front row. It was so unexpected that the photographer and cameraman almost failed to catch up to him.
Share something personal
Later Steve shares his ties to Northwestern: his daughter is a graduate and his son will graduate next year.
Steve also said he attended the Northwestern summer institute for Theater where he was first introduced to an Improv masterclass and learned the importance of listening. His teacher “taught us about listening…and a bunch of other stuff…”
Keep it short
To end, Steve returns to Lincoln. “Finally, as Lincoln said R-E-S-P-E-C-T.”
Steve’s speech ran for 16 minutes but he had the audience laughing every minute and even got them to dance for one minute.
End before they get bored. Leave them wanting more.
— Ivy Lopez (@IvyDigest)
Ivy is a lawyer turned columnist who writes comedy on YouTube @HumorMeIvy.
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