"You guys know I'm not Andy Bernard, right?"
Life imitated art on Saturday when Ed Helms spoke at Cornell University's convocation ceremony.
The actor and comedian, best known for his portrayal of enthusiastic Cornell alumnus Andy on The Office inspired students with a funny and thought-provoking speech that had a simple message: Remember to be a fool.
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While Helms is actually a graduate of Oberlin College, his speech at Cornell feels more like a homecoming. "I felt the love from Cornell early on," he said in a Google Hangout roundtable discussion earlier in the day.
After his successful speech at Knox College last year, Helms is no stranger to giving advice. "I think the best commencement speeches provide a moment of inspiration and a moment of excitement for the future. Ultimately the advice itself kind of dissipates into the ether." he said.
Helms left some choice words for Cornell's class of 2014 to live by. In his speech, he encouraged graduates to allow themselves to be "glorious and wonderful fools" -- to scare themselves, work hard and take risks.
While thinking about the good advice he's been given over the years, Helms jokingly said in his Google Hangout discussion, "One person did say you should start a website where people go and post pictures of themselves and write updates about themselves and you should call it FacePlace. And I was like, 'That's the dumbest idea ever. I'll never do that.' And so that's probably advice I should have taken."
Helms begins his speech at the 46:00 mark. Check it out, above.
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