Comedian Stephen Colbert, the host of the satirical Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report," will deliver the Class Day address on June 2, senior class president Tom Haine '08 announced yesterday morning.
"For his success as an actor, author and public speaker, we are honored that Mr. Colbert will be joining the senior class to help us celebrate the end of our college careers," Haine said in an email to seniors.
In choosing a speaker, the Class Day chairs looked for a celebrity — someone whom students would know and be able to identify with, said Jonathan Galeano '08, one of three Class Day co-chairs charged with selecting a speaker.
Describing Colbert as "our gift to the class," Galeano said he thought Colbert's satirical wit would appeal to the student body.
"Princetonians would tend to love that kind of satire," he said.
Many seniors reacted positively to yesterday morning's announcement. "I think that Stephen Colbert is hilarious, and I love what he's done with his show and that he uses an outlandish character to get at real issues," Mary Cait Walthall '08 said.
Colbert, who rose to fame as a correspondent on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show," drew national attention in 2006 for a controversial comedy routine at that year's White House Correspondents' Dinner, during which he fired off a series of jokes at President Bush's expense.
The Class Day speaker has traditionally been announced toward the middle of the spring semester, but Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Tom Dunne — whose office helps the Class Day committee approach potential speakers — said Colbert's Class Day role was announced yesterday because his selection was confirmed.
"This process can be a very time-consuming process," Dunne said, adding that once Colbert was booked, there was no reason to delay making the news public. "[The announcement] was timed to celebrate the first day of school."
Alex van Hoek '08, another Class Day co-chair, said he hoped the news would get seniors excited about the upcoming year and the class's imminent graduation.
"We decided to announce the Class Day speaker this early to get everyone fired up to be back at Princeton and excited for what's in store for the year ahead."
Stewart, Colbert's Comedy Central colleague and 2004 Class Day speaker, grew up in Lawrence Township, and his brother is a Princeton alumnus. Colbert's selection fits the recent tradition of inviting comedians to speak at Class Day, with Chevy Chase speaking in 2005, Jerry Seinfeld in 2003 and Bill Cosby in 2001. The 2006 Class Day speaker, former president Bill Clinton, was an exception to this trend.
Though the selection of actor Bradley Whitford for last year's address spurred objections from some students and resulted in groups on facebook.com protesting the move, the Class of 2007's Class Day chairs said Whitford fit the trend of inviting humorous speakers.
Galeano declined to list other speakers the Class Day committee had considered, but he did say that previous classes had also considered Colbert.
Though they were invited in different years, Colbert and Whitford have crossed paths before. On a 2005 episode of "The Colbert Report," the host interviewed Whitford, who appeared via satellite from Los Angeles decked out in sunglasses, equipped with a Starbucks coffee and surrounded by Golden Globe awards. Throughout the interview, Colbert disparaged Whitford and the Los Angeles lifestyle, asking him at one point, "You live in Hollywood — do you miss America?"
Dunne praised Colbert's and other Class Day speakers' generosity. "It's not a small commitment, and they get very little tangible in return," he said, noting that Colbert — like all other Class Day speakers — has not asked to be paid for his speech, and the University has not offered to do so.
"All of these speakers that we've invited all have very busy schedules and have a lot of opportunities to go to events and give speeches," Dunne said.
"For them to take time away from their families and other commitments to speak to the Princeton student body and be part of the Commencement weekend is something we're very grateful for."
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