№ 2003.013 — University of Wisconsin — Commencement address

Jerry Zucker

Field: arts

Transcript

Filmmaker Jerry Zucker, a UW alumnus, delivers a humorous commencement address structured around five rules for life drawn from his own career in Hollywood. He urges graduates to live in the present, pursue their dreams before acquiring responsibilities, question authority, embrace failure boldly, and prioritize love over accomplishments. He closes by finally playing a flawed version of 'On Wisconsin' on a keyboard, fulfilling a childhood recital he missed.

Key moments

01 Distinguishing 'getting there' from finding a real 'there there'
02 Advice to pursue dreams now, 'before you buy furniture'
03 Mrs. Zubatsky's law about not being intimidated by professionals
04 Travolta's law: failures matter more to you than to anyone else
05 Closing with love over accomplishments and playing his one piano song

Transcript

The full transcript is hosted by the original publisher. Commencement Archive links to the source rather than republishing copyrighted text.

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Provenance

Imported from NPR commencement archive; cross-referenced with Open Commencement DB

NPR archive last updated in 2015; destination availability has not been exhaustively rechecked | Open Commencement DB transcript; not independently verified against the original recording