0:07 please join me in giving a big UCLA
0:09 extension Welcome to our inaugural icons
0:26 you first of all I hate Dean spots he
0:28 said he said my whole speech all the
0:32 things he said I was going to say so I
0:35 sit here before you
0:39 hopeless worried what can I possibly do
0:41 to make I didn't really mean that
0:46 Dean um I spent quite a lot of time
0:50 writing a 25 page speech that I could give
0:51 give
0:54 you and as I looked at I said would I
0:56 want to hear the
1:00 speech so I tore it up so I stand here now
1:02 now
1:05 defenseless with nothing except to tell
1:08 you I think you're all great the fact
1:10 that you're taking the courses you're
1:16 taking you're trying to help to to add
1:18 to what you already know to make
1:20 yourselves better workers better
1:23 contributors and I think that's great I
1:26 think also that I'm not going to make a
1:28 long speech but I'm going to tell you I
1:32 was told to say an an OTE anecdotes are
1:35 easy so I thought to myself what kind of
1:37 anecdote can I tell these people who
1:40 really have more important things to do
1:43 and I figured I'm going to tell you how
1:53 being it's it's a true story although
1:54 sometimes it's hard even for me to
1:58 believe it but um we had already done
2:01 the Fantastic for and I think maybe the
2:03 X-Men I can't remember the order but my
2:06 publisher came to me and he said Stan I
2:09 want you to come up with another
2:12 superhero so I said okay and I went home
2:14 and when my publisher said do something
2:16 I'd better do it because I wanted to
2:19 keep my job I thought what can I come up
2:21 with now and the most important thing in
2:25 a superhero at first is the superpower
2:27 once you get that everything else comes
2:29 along so I thought what power will I
2:33 give a new guy and I saw a fly crawling
2:36 on the wall and I said hey if I could
2:38 get a superhero that could stick to
2:41 walls and crawl on them man that would
2:45 be cool and that no I'm lying to
2:48 you I don't think the word cool was in
2:51 use then I probably I probably said
2:53 it'll be
2:56 groovy I'll never lie to
2:59 you so I thought that was good now I
3:02 need a name so I said well let's see fly
3:08 man mosquito man I got down to Spiderman
3:11 Spiderman it just sounded dramatic so
3:14 okay I had my hero I had his power his
3:18 name and then I figured just for fun I'm
3:21 going to give him personal problems cuz
3:23 except for you people who are per that
3:25 your lives are perfect but most other
3:27 people have personal
3:30 problems and I then I thought I'd make
3:31 him a
3:34 teenager cuz there were no teenage
3:36 superheroes that I knew of at the time
3:39 so armed with all that wonderful
3:43 material those great ideas I ran into my
3:46 Publisher's office and I told him this
3:49 was my reaction the reaction he gave
3:53 me Stan that is the worst idea I have ever
3:54 ever
3:57 heard first of all and he started to
3:59 give me his because he a very logical
4:01 old man very
4:04 intellectual first of all people hate
4:08 spiders so you can't call a hero
4:12 Spiderman you want him to be a teenager
4:15 teenagers can only be
4:17 Sidekicks and you want him to have
4:20 personal problems stay and don't you
4:23 know what a superhero is they don't have personal
4:24 personal
4:27 problems well I left the office
4:31 disappointed but obviously a much wiser
4:35 man and I couldn't get Spider-Man out of
4:38 my system so we were about to kill a
4:40 magazine I think it was called Amazing
4:43 Fantasy it wasn't selling well and we
4:46 were sending the last issue to press
4:49 when you do the last issue of a magazine
4:51 nobody cares what you put in it because
4:54 the book is dying just to get it out of
4:58 my system I put Spider-Man in Amazing
5:02 Fantasy feature him on the cover forgot
5:05 about it a month later all the sales
5:09 figures came in my publisher came racing
5:13 into my office Stan Stan you remember
5:17 that character we both loved so much
5:20 Spiderman he said let's do them as a
5:24 series now why am I telling you this
5:26 besides the fact that I have to kill a little
5:30 time
5:34 if you have an idea that you genuinely
5:38 think is good don't let some idiot talk
5:52 it now that doesn't mean that every wild
5:54 notion you come up with is going to be
5:57 genius but if there is something that
6:00 you feel is good something you want to
6:04 do something that means something to you
6:07 try to do it because I think you can
6:11 only do your best work if you're doing
6:13 what you want to do and if you're doing
6:17 it the way you think it should be done
6:19 and if you can take pride in it after
6:22 you've done it no matter what it is you
6:23 can look at it and say I did that and I
6:26 think it's pretty damn good that's a
6:31 great feeling so don't let idiots talk
6:33 you out of something that you think is
6:36 good by the same token that does mean
6:38 every single thing you think is going to
6:41 is good is going to be win a prize got
6:43 to have a little judgment there I've had
6:45 other things that I thought were good
6:47 that didn't work but I'll save that for
6:49 the next award you give me I'll need
6:51 something to tell you about and I I want
6:55 to say I cannot tell you how much I
6:59 appreciate this award and this college
7:01 has has meant a lot to me I have spoken
7:04 here many times over the years it's one
7:06 of the great Institutes of learning and
7:09 to get this award the icon award I am
7:13 truly touched so I want to thank the
7:16 step and whoever it is that gave it to
7:19 me and I want to wish all of you the
7:22 best luck in the world just do your
7:25 thing do it as well as you that's the
7:28 important thing don't Sherk whatever you
7:30 do give it your Best Shot you'll be glad
7:32 you did
7:36 EXA thank you thank
7:38 you Youk
7:41 you we're going to present this right
7:42 now do you want to face the audience
7:45 sure May me put your hand on this yeah
7:59 Stan Stan those were inspiring words
8:02 awards for our graduates that was great
8:04 I am honored to present you with UCLA
8:08 extension's very first icons of La award
8:14 tell I can't tell you how honored I am
8:17 to receive it I'm glad my wife isn't
8:19 here right now she'd be poking me and
8:22 saying put it down you know how clumsy
8:24 you are you're going to drop it I
8:26 haven't dropped it yet and I promise I
8:28 won't drop it thank you so much I'll
8:29 take it back don't
8:35 more more
8:37 written thank
8:41 you so uh last evening we had a little
8:44 pre- celebration for Stan a small get
8:46 together and uh I had a few words to say
8:48 about education and entertainment and
8:51 how they relate like Stan referred to a
8:54 little earlier and then Stan talked he
8:57 had uh good stories as he did to today
8:59 to share and one of them was was the
9:01 fact that he shared that he wasn't a college
9:02 college
9:05 graduate he said I didn't go to college
9:09 and then he said wait I did start one
9:13 course at a City College in New York and
9:14 he said the reason I started that was
9:16 because I was really interested in this young
9:18 young
9:21 lady and she was taking that course and
9:22 she worked during the day that's the
9:24 only time I could see her he said so I
9:26 took the signed up for the course my
9:28 very first college course said then I
9:31 dropped out after three or four weeks he
9:32 said it turned out that she really
9:35 wasn't interested in me so that's how
9:39 his college career ended so Stan while
9:41 you may not have gone to college we at
9:44 UCLA extension want you to know that
9:47 your life's work is worthy of University
9:49 recognition let me do that now by
9:52 presenting you with his honorary UCLA
10:07 ahead the statement inside reads as
10:11 follows presented to Stan Lee in recogn
10:13 recognition of his inspiring Legacy a
10:15 life's work that illuminates the
10:17 transformative power of Storytelling for
10:20 Los Angeles and the world thank you Stan
10:24 thank you so I have a college
10:28 degree oh look at that well thank you we
10:31 colleg men we know about these things
10:33 let me just also I'll show you the if we
10:37 Fold It Out whoops don't lose that right
10:39 there it is a University of California
10:41 Los Angeles there you go this goes in
10:44 the most prominent place in my office
10:47 great thank you thank you so
