-Sterling K. Brown. -What's going on, bro?
-It is so good to see you.
-Ooh! -Yes! Hot!
-Ooh! -Hot crowd.
-Ooh! Yes!
-No, they are hot, but not as hot as you are, my friend.
-I try.
I'm trying to keep up with them, baby.
I'm trying to keep up with them. -Let's just talk about it.
I mean, "This Is Us"... -Yes.
-..."Black Panther"... -I was in that.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-..."Saturday Night Live." You were fantastic.
-Oh, man! Thank you.
-Did you have fun doing that? -That was the best time ever.
I have realized what the secret ingredient is.
You exhaust the host.
You make them run on pure fumes,
and then you don't have time to overthink it.
-No.
-You just go out there and have the time of your life.
And the cast is so talented. The writers are so dope.
I just had a wonderful time.
-You really -- -Thank you.
-And then, also, you're in the "TIME 100,"
the 100 most influential people.
That's you.
I mean, this is a -- [ Cheers and applause ]
Hot! Hot!
I'm telling you -- you are hot, man.
-I appreciate that, man. -How was the "TIME 100" thing?
I never get invited to those things.
-You should.
-I usually hang around like 150, 155.
-You move the culture. You move the culture, bro.
-I'm not on the list. Yeah. -It was amazing.
You know, there's celebrities there
and people who are known for
what they do in front of the camera.
And then there is a doctor who made
the first successful uterine transplant.
-Yeah.
-So a woman not born with a uterus was able to have a uterus
put in her body so that she could have a child.
So I'm saying like, "These people --"
I was in the room with huge, amazing folks.
So to be included in that group
is still sort of a surreal thing.
That's a real "pinch me."
-It's fun to also see everyone
interacting with each other, too.
Like, when do you get to hang out with those --
-Never. I mean, hardly ever. You know what I'm saying?
-Hardly ever? Yeah, I mean, I...
Yeah.
I hang out with uterine-transplant doctors
all the time.
Yeah.
-Yeah, that was a silly question.
Yeah, exactly. -Shame on you, James.
-I know. Sorry about that. -Shame on you.
-No, no. Yeah. -Yeah.
-You're gonna give
the commencement speech at Stanford this year.
That's an honor right there, huh?
-Huge. [ Cheers and applause ]
Thank you. So, I went to Stanford.
I had four of the best years of my life there.
So it's probably the thing that I am most nervous about.
You've got, like, a group of 22-year-old kids
who are about to go out into the world,
and you just want to make sure you leave them
with something of import
that they can value and sort of treasure.
And all the other people who are giving commencement speeches,
like Oprah, Hillary Clinton, and then it's like,
"Sterling K. Brown."
Like, so I just hope to be able
to give them something to talk about.
-Oh, I think you will. I mean, come on.
-I hope. -Yeah.
I mean, do you remember who your commencement speech --
-It's so funny. I was thinking about it.
I was talking to the president of the university.
I said, "I think it was, like,
Tom Brokaw or Peter Jennings.
Maybe it was Dan Rather."
And he's like, "Good try. It was actually Ted Koppel."
So, I was like, "I knew it was one of those guys.
So, clearly, he didn't leave much of an impression.
So I'm hoping that I can give them
a little bit something more than what "T.K." --
-They're 22-year-old kids. Yeah, I mean -- Yeah.
-T.K. is a beast. Don't get me...
-"T.K." Yeah. -Much respect. Much respect.
-Yeah, T.K. -[ Laughs ]
-Please. Ted Koppel has never been called T.K. in his life.
-[ Laughs ]
-But Stanford -- that's so cool
that you got to go to school there.
I mean, I would freak out.
I was so happy to go for
a good eight years to the college I went to.
[ Laughter ]
But, I mean, you go to Stanford.
Were you excited when you got in?
-I was -- You know what, bro?
I found out on my birthday. It was April 5, 1994.
And I went home, and one of my best friends came home with me.
And I saw the envelope.
And it was a big envelope, and he goes, "You got in."
I said, "How do you know?"
He said, "They don't send small envelopes
for people who got into school."
And you open it up, and all over this folder, it just says,
"Congratulations, congratulations,
congratulations."
And I think, like, the Denzel tear came out of the eye,
because I only applied to five schools.
I'm from St. Louis, Missouri, born and raised.
Represent for "The Lou." Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
But I went to a small college school,
you know, college preparatory school.
-Yeah.
-And it was very -- I felt like a raisin in the sun.
So, I felt like I wanted to go to
California or Washington, D.C.,
because I wanted sunshine or black people.
So, I wound up visiting Stanford University.
I was like, "Oh, they have both here."
-They have both. Yeah. Wow! Fantastic.
-"This works for me."