The first comic actor to give a Senior Convocation address on the Hill—“The Office” star Ed Helms, in 2014—only played a Cornell alum. The 2026 speaker actually is one.
Jane Lynch, MFA ’84, is an Emmy winner with a slew of credits, from Best in Show to “Glee” to “Only Murders in the Building” (on which her recurring role, as the Steve Martin character’s stunt double, culminated in being offed as the fourth season’s homicide victim).
During her trip to campus to speak at the invitation of the senior class, the theater arts grad didn’t just give a talk in Barton Hall.
She also climbed to the top of McGraw Tower and tried her hand at playing the Chimes; got a tour of Kroch Library, where she viewed vintage yearbook photos of her Cornell performances; visited the A.D. White Reading Room; got serenaded by the Hangovers; and interacted with some very thrilled seniors.
Read Lynch’s Convocation address, with images from her day on the Hill, on the Cornellians website. A video of her talk can be viewed here.
