Hank Azaria Brings Out Simpsons Characters For Superb Student Graduation Speech

Who better to offer their sage words of wisdom on graduation day that Comic Book Guy, Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum and the Sea Captain?

The lucky outgoing students at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, were lucky enough to get just that.

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Former alumnus Hank Azaria, who voices many of the best-known characters on ‘The Simpsons’, brought in some of them to see out the class of 2016 with his commencement address.

As Comic Book Guy, he offered: “Life is like the 'Star Wars’ movies. Some of it is great, some of it sucks, but you have no choice but to sit through all of it.

“Very similar to the commencement speech you are listening to right now.”

He even found time to rib rival college Boston University as Moe, saying: “Yeah, all right, I didn’t have the benefit of a fancy, highfalutin education,” he said.

“I went to BU. Yeah, at least Tufts has a campus. I majored in not getting hit by cars on Commonwealth Avenue.”

It was perhaps as himself, however, that the 'Ray Donovan’ and 'Night At The Museum’ star gave the most valuable advice.

“At the end of the day, what is right for somebody else, even if that somebody else is most of society, may not be right for you,” he said.

“I’m not suggesting you ignore the rules of society, or laws of common sense, or the actual law, or your teachers, or your advisers, or the Internet, or all the other sources that are happy to tell you the right and wrong way to go about doing almost everything. Just please be honest with yourself about what you think and how you feel about all of that. Those feelings are called your instincts, and you ignore them at your own peril.”

Interestingly, Azaria did not graduate in 1985 when he should have done.

He was two credits shy of the mark, and though the 'kind and ever-compassionate administration’ allowed him to pick up his diploma box along with his classmates, it was empty.

He completed his degree in 1987 once he was living and looking for work in Los Angeles.

Azaria was also awarded an honorary degree at the ceremony on Sunday afternoon.

You can check out the full speech below…

Image credits: PA/Fox