Stephen Colbert delivered the commencement address at Wake Forest University in May 2015, just weeks before he would take over as host of 'The Late Show with David Letterman.' The speech marked a transitional moment for Colbert himself — he was leaving behind the conservative blowhard persona he had played on 'The Colbert Report' for nine years and stepping into something new and uncertain. He used his own experience of shedding his famous character as a metaphor for what the graduates were facing. Just as he had to say goodbye to 'Stephen Colbert' the character, they had to say goodbye to the version of themselves they had perfected in college — the person who knew how to succeed in that environment — and embrace the unknown of who they would become next. The vulnerability was real: Colbert admitted he had no idea what his new show would be like, only that he couldn't keep being someone he wasn't.