(introductory music) - Wow. Class of 2020 Dr. Ken has come back home! Au au au! (applause) Sorry for the delay it took me 16 months to write this speech. I had a, you know a
perfectionist can lead. Okay. Worth the wait, I'm
uh, to the class of 2020. Thank you. We are all here for you. I am here for you, and this is actually what I
told president Price last night. It's just whatever you need. He reached out to me last year. "Would you like to speak commencement?" Whatever you need. "We can't do the commencement
because of pandemic." "Can you just do a short video?" Whatever you need. "Can you come back?" Whatever you need And so from the bottom of my heart, I'm I'm sorry I'm looking at each one of you right now. And just saying from me
to you, the class of 2020, whatever you need, I'm
always here for you. So Just to let you know that. (applause) 'Cause we are going through this together. We have survived this
together and my love, thoughts and prayers to go to all of us who have lost during this. And we're going to get
through this together. That's why I'm here. That's why we're all here,
to get through this together because we collectively are Duke. So, and bringing (sight) bringing back so many memories. I just, just personally for me a shout out to my sister who is here also a BN Duke scholar
and smarter than me, but whatever. And my father, who is a
retired professor of economics, whose dream was to have
his kids go to Duke, personally, for me just
to be a student here I had already, I'd already won. That was my whole goal as a kid. I grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina. I grew up just an hour from here. I did all my formative
years in Greensboro and that was a dream to come here. And then once I got here, I was just a snot-nosed
kid from Trent, too. That was like back in 86 on north campus. I was a snot-nosed kid and
never in my wildest dreams. Did I think I would be
looking here at you today. There's so many memories. I was first and foremost, we were cable before cable was a thing. Back in 86, we had tents. It wasn't legal. We skipped school. We did shift work. My grades suffered. It was an amazing time. It was, Tommy Amaker was a senior, Danny ferry was the star,
and we lost and we loved it. No uh, but now it is so incredible. Just walking through duke. And I was just going by Cameron yesterday. I forgot, I had started like
my own chant at Cameron, my sophomore year in 88. And there was, there was a, it was a Duke Carolina game and there was a player by the
name of King Wright for UNC. He was a scrub that was
coming off the bench. And I was just like, "oh no, not Wright" And then everyone.,"Oh no, not Wright" And we won and I earned
it and it's because of me. So I give myself credit. Absolutely. I mean, granted, he came back next year, scored 30 points and we lost, but that's beside the point guys. But this is, this is, it's hard to know what to say right now, except that I look at you because I was you. I am you. And this, (sigh) that this to me, it's hard to, it's hard to say what
I want to say because so many people before
me have said this, I, I, I was just an average kid. I was just an average duke student. I was just an everyday duke student. I don't have the legacy that
any of my fellow honorees have. All I have in life. All I have in life to offer is my heart. And I'm offering that to you
right now. All I have is love. And if that is the only
thing you come out of this is just to love one another,
to find your identity, to find your flow in life. That's all we need. That's all we need right
now is to find ourselves and it's (applause) And what I mean by finding myself, I didn't want to be an actor. I was here to be pre-med and I, and proudly wanting to be pre-med. And then my second year, second semester, I took an intro to acting class and it just changed my life. I never did theater in high school. I just was overcome with
this passion and emotion to perform that has not been extinguished. Since I did do drama, I did hook and horn That year, my sophomore year "Kiss me Kate" was the first musical first play I'd ever done in my life. And I got my first review
from the spectator. And the spectator said,
I know this from memory, like have I mentioned Ken Jeong, a puckish member of the course
who best watch his back. If he keeps upstaging the principles. That was my first and only
good review of my career. So I actually auditioned
to get into do drama at the end of my
sophomore year and got in, David Ball was the head
of Duke drama at that time And I still remember the audition. It was so heartbreaking because I had to come to Jesus to talk, not with my parents, but
with myself, I didn't, I didn't know who I was. I didn't have confidence
that I could perform, that I could act, that I could do comedy. I knew I had an aptitude, but I thought I would
just go on my way out. This is a pre-professional school. I'll be a doctor. I'll be the guy: "Oh, he could have been" And I would have been cool with it that I thought was in the cards for me and do drama was incredibly supportive. They were like, we believe in your talent, we also believe that you're
smart enough to handle both curriculums at the same time You can be drama, you
can be as zoology made a you're going to be a double major. And I'm like, no, I can't. I can't, I'm not that smart. I'm a hardworking guy. And I work hard for
everything I've been given, but it was the most
difficult period of my life during Duke, to try to
discover my identity. And eventually I did repair
my orgo grade second semester, it went from like an A to a C minus and I was fortunate enough
to get into med school. And by the way, shout out to coach Scott,
great game yesterday, shout out to coach Scott. He, (applause) I met him a few years ago
and he told the recruit, he said, I, he goes, "Ken went to UNC med school, which is why he became a comedian." So I love that. God blessed him. And it's kind of true so (laughs) but what I'm trying to say
is that I found my identity. I ultimately found my passion. I found out exactly who I was at Duke, and, it is safe to say that I never would have the fame, fortune, happiness, livelihood
family that I have right now. The value systems that
I cherish in my life. If I didn't go to Duke because I would not be myself, I would not be here today.
I would not be acting. I would not be doing
anything that I love to do. And it's because of Duke.
I owe you everything. And I'm just, I just thank you so much. Thank you freshman year. (applause) No, thank you. No. It, what I loved about duke, in addition to your path, to my passion and finding my identity was I got to hang out, and
occasionally get drunk with the most brilliant minds. And that was so inspiring. I, meeting a lot of people through Duke that have provided so
many gifts, the world. And that goes back to my Duke
experience where I've met the most brilliant minds. Who've moved on to do
the most amazing things. And you know, with regard to the pandemic,
we always say, generically: Don't deny the science. Don't deny the science,
let science dictate policy. Don't deny the science, and to the class of 2020. Don't deny your potential. I'm living proof of what
your potential can be. If you have an idea,
follow it, find your flow. That is been my whole
life's mission right now is to find my flow. Any idea is a good idea. Find your flow. Don't deny your potential. You, you get to explore your potential at Duke at the highest level, at the highest rate of work ethic in the most wonderfully
intense learning environments. Never sell your self short, like I initially did in my life. You never know what you can achieve. I, I went with the flow. I had an open mind and look what happened. That's what happened then this
is how I live my life now. And now I'm a father of two
beautiful daughters who are here with me today. And that's how I tell them
how to live their life. And even in the area of
medicine, public health, people are looking for outside
the box, creative minds, like our honorees to evolve our vaccines, our antivirals and our treatments. And as do graduates, we all can offer
something to that equation because no matter what profession
you choose in your life never deny your potential. Find your flow. That's important while you're at Duke. It's more important now,
now that we've left Duke. If you go with that feeling, which we were all able
to cultivate an early age and never let go of, everybody who graduates
Duke University can go far, and true success at the end
of the day is capitalizing on your own uniqueness. Find your integrative self. Even when I was a practicing physician, just kind of wanting to
do comedy, I integrate, I realized medicine.
Science can be also my art. I learned the vocabulary
and clinical algorithms as an internist. And I would what I learned
even from my comedy background, even if that was where
I was destined to be, I made my job. I've made my science, my art, listening to the patient, listening to the symptomatology, reading the results of
the tests and synthesizing this information with critical thinking and making decisions
off of that information. And that's what I learned at Duke. That's the most important thing I learned, is critical thinking, integration of our
knowledge base and passion and absorbing that into one blend. Find your flow, integrate your critical
thinking into your art because the best critical thinkers are the best leaders. You're all. Anyone who goes to
college is being put in a position to succeed. But as graduates, you're being put in a
position to succeed and lead, find your passion, find your
identity and use both to lead. And it's amazing in LA, in
Hollywood where everyone's lazy. They're just like "you have
an amazing work ethic." No, I don't. I have a Duke work ethic. I don't work any harder than anybody here before me right now. I, in order to survive, I had no choice, but to work hard. That
is my biggest talent. I cultivated my work ethic at Duke, and there's always a part of me, a Duke part of me, no
matter where I go, you know, I've cultivated that. Even more important than fame or fortune, I, I've never stopped learning. I've always evolved. I'm always trying to figure things out, knowing that I don't
have life all figured out because the moment you think you have life all figured out, you have a pandemic in front of you. And then what do you do? You know what? You keep searching. You keep moving forward because
eventually you can be part of the solution, and not the problem, because that is what a
true Duke graduate does. And I'm still learning things, right? Even my own small corner of
the world is still evolving. Still trying to move beyond
just comedy and overacting. Just still trying to
move beyond just evolve. I directed my first film, my
first short film a month ago, it was one of the best
experiences of my life. I never went to film
school. I'm just learning. I'm learning right now.
And because honestly, because what I've cultivated here with the Asian Student Association
to being involved in the stop Asian hate movement that has informed me
for the rest of my life, what I've learned here, finding my own identity with
ASA and on the COVID front, trying to like Vince
said, raise awareness, conducting like, Instagram lives with heads of state. Next week I'm even doing an Instagram live with the surgeon general Vivek Murthy @Ken Jeong, follow me. Now. And I'm always evolving. I'm at a new chapter in our life. We're all at a new chapter in our lives. We're all resetting ourselves right now because of the pandemic. And I'm in the middle of that reset to, I don't know exactly what
I'm going to do tomorrow, but I know what I'll
always do is keep learning. Never stop evolving
because you never know. And in my own world, I had an uncertain future and
I found a way to embrace it, not knowing where the end point is. And if I am 52 years old, I know, I look damn good and still excited as to where my end point will be. I challenge each and every one of you to the Duke class of 2020 to have that same passion and excitement. And that is a true value of
a duke degree. It truly is. Thank you so much congrats
to the class of 2020. You made it. And I love you Go Duke! (music)
