Stephen Colbert, the deadpan news macher on Comedy Central, delivered the commencement address at Knox College last Saturday, and the college has posted the full text of his speech online. As usual with Mr. Colbert, it is often hard to tell in the address whether he is being truthful or “truthy,” as he would say. As with his popular television show, The Colbert Report, some of the speech works, and some of it flops (The Chronicle, March 24).
Take his peroration. “The best career advice I can give you is to get your own TV show,” he said. “It pays well, the hours are good, and you are famous. And eventually some very nice people will give you a doctorate in fine arts for doing jack squat.”
