Mirman's tips for life section was a brilliant parody of commencement speech advice, taking every cliche and twisting it just enough to make it both funny and oddly wise. The standard 'follow your dreams' is perhaps the most ubiquitous piece of graduation advice ever given, and Mirman's addition of the qualifier 'unless your dreams are stupid' was both a joke and a genuine insight. The specific example — eating all the cake in Arlington — was absurdist comedy at its best, conjuring the image of someone earnestly pursuing their life's calling of mass cake consumption. But the underlying point was real: not all dreams are created equal, and blindly following any impulse without applying judgment is not courage but foolishness. This was followed by 'Be kind to people' (no joke, just the advice) and 'Don't get too excited when you read the Fountainhead' — a perfect three-punch combination of absurdist humor, genuine warmth, and intellectual comedy that captured Mirman's unique voice.