Conan O'Brien used his Harvard University commencement speech to argue that humility and the human connection matter far more than any diploma. "I always recognize the enormous role of luck in my life. Refusing to see how luck has played a role in anyone's success is simply ignorant. Many people are happy to mistake a lucky poker hand for their own brilliance, and fighting that human instinct has kept me sane. "I honestly believe that community, spontaneity, and a real commitment to humility has helped me build a rich life that means much more to me than any diploma. And believe me, I'm not saying the goal is to renounce accomplishments, but rather to metabolize them. If you carry your victories lightly, other qualities –- kindness, originality, courage, humor, and humanity –- have room to emerge. "Maybe the greatest lessons I've learned along these lines have been through my 24 travel shows. I have degraded myself in Cuba, Ghana, Korea, Armenia, half of Europe, Argentina, Thailand, Mexico, and Greenland, where I visited a real estate office and tried to buy the country. When I travel to another land, every quality I have discussed -- community, adaptation, and a sincerely humble approach -- are all necessary. When you don't speak the language, no one truly cares where you went to college, and you have no choice but to make friends. "It's on these travels that I learned a great lesson: let yourself be bad at things. I have been a bad dancer in every country I have visited. But the people laugh because it turns out everyone everywhere is related to at least one terrible dancer. For me, humility on these trips can easily lead to humiliation, which is also a useful tool. "Three weeks ago, I visited Amsterdam, dressed up as Van Gogh, and forced my way into the Van Gogh Museum, where I started loudly demanding a cut of the merchandising because I made no money during my lifetime. Guards forcibly ejected me. I was roundly mocked by patrons for my pathetic display. But I did see a lot of smiles. And not one person said, now that's a Harvard grad. "In Tokyo, I met with a teacher of Japanese etiquette who volunteered I wasn't her type. And when I asked her why, she just said, 'face.' In Ghana, after accepting a royal invitation, I was kicked out of the Ashanti Palace by the Queen Mother, because her favorite soap opera was starting. "I understand that I am preaching modesty and connection at a time when this is not in style. We are living through a period of extreme narcissism. Our current leadership in Washington believes that empathy is a weakness and that our nation stands supreme and alone. Add to that, everyone here today has a phone in their pocket that is algorithmically programmed to celebrate you and you alone by making you the protein-maxing hero of your own special journey. "Much has been written about how isolated and siloed we've become, but for me, the antidote is quite simple. By de-emphasizing what makes us special — in your case, a prized degree — we can really find one another, not as an exercise in virtue, but as a path towards greater laughter, love, and real growth."

Conan O'Brien says he has "incredible empathy for people who have immigrated to another country" after traveling to Ireland and seeing his great-grandfather lived. "I went back to Ireland and I [saw] a great genealogist who said, 'I found where your great-grandfather’s home was.' The home is gone, but he found the little spot where he lived, near the Galbally Mountains. He said, 'I’ll go there and show it to you,' and I said, 'We’ll do it on camera.' "I was expecting to have these jokes loaded up; we had props and funny things we were going to do... But I got there, and I did not expect this because I'm not someone who wears my emotions on my sleeve, but I got emotional. It was very powerful. "This was a very small plot of land. He was a tenant farmer, so it wasn't his. He didn't have money, and he needed to move on because it wasn't working; probably not enough to eat, couldn't sustain. So, he left and went to America, and here I am a couple of generations later. "What's amazing to me is when you have that experience and you stand there, I have incredible empathy for people who have immigrated to another country. It takes an entire lifetime to go to a country where, often, people don't speak the language. They have to spend their entire lives just getting things started for the next generation; it's a whole lifetime that you're feeding into this process. "I was just thinking about this guy, whom I'll never meet, who had to do that. I think I was overcome by the fact that there's a lot of sadness in that story, and in a lot of these stories. People leave not because they think, 'Hey, I just want to go have fun in America.' They leave because they have to." (via Jimmy Kimmel Live)