Success Quote by Robert Orben

Orben’s joke lands because it exposes a ritual that can’t stop congratulating itself even as it contradicts its own message. Graduation is staged as a grand pivot into adult freedom, yet it begins with a dress code so strict it turns personality into a uniform: the cap, the gown, the synchronized tassel moment. Against that backdrop, the commencement speaker’s exhortation to “be yourself” doesn’t just sound corny; it sounds structurally impossible.

The intent is satirical but not cruel. Orben isn’t mocking students for buying the message of individuality; he’s skewering the institution for packaging rebellion as a slogan, the way schools (and, by extension, employers and brands) celebrate uniqueness so long as it arrives on schedule and looks good in photos. The line “thousands of students” does extra work: it isn’t merely a big audience, it’s a mass. Individuality becomes a keynote address delivered to a crowd designed to feel interchangeable.

The subtext is about how modern success narratives get manufactured. “Individuality” is offered as a key, as if it’s a personal choice detached from power and conformity. But the ceremony itself is a lesson in how to perform difference within approved boundaries: stand out later, after you’ve proven you can blend in now.

Context matters, too. Orben, an entertainer and gag writer, comes from a tradition that treats public platitudes as ripe targets. Commencements are famously earnest; that earnestness is exactly what makes the punchline sting. The joke doesn’t reject individuality - it questions who gets to define it, and when you’re allowed to show it.