Harvard Economists Visibly Dead Inside

by Chris Beam | December 18, 2006 at 10:44 pm

Whenever we traffic in Ivy stereotypes, it’s mostly in jest. The Brown blazers, the Princeton tweedies, the Yale omnisexuals. We’re just having fun — it’s not like these horrific caricatures actually exist.

If only. Thanks to the combined power of YouTube and the public servants at Inside Higher Ed, we will never have to apologize for another object-in-Harvardian-rectal-cavity remark again. Because somewhere in the bowels of Harvard’s economics department, someone thought it would be a good idea to make a welcome video for incoming students. And who do they choose as the department’s public face? The respected Harvey Mansfield Amartya Sen? The beloved Greg Mankiw? Nope. They choose John Y. Campbell and Edward L. Glaeser, two professors who undoubtedly mean well, but whose screen presence rates somewhere between that of Al Gore and a modest pile of cucumber salad.

The results, below, are tremendous. Just don’t forget to pinch yourself every ten seconds as a reminder that these people are real — and utterly oblivious to their own absurdity. (Not for long: a repentant Ed Glaeser called the video “an act of folly” in an e-mail to Inside Higher Ed.) Also, is it just us or is Glaeser doing a spot-on Steve Carrell?: 

Then came the inevitable spoofs. Neither is as funny as the original, but they both have their moments:

Comments 10 Comments | Digg! Digg This | Facebook Share on Facebook | Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post
Tags Read more: ,

10 Responses to “Harvard Economists Visibly Dead Inside”

  1. Comments yaaaaylie Says:
    December 19th, 2006 at 10:37 am

    That was hilarious! What a find…I found the second spoof especially good

  2. Comments Harvard Economist Says:
    December 19th, 2006 at 11:11 am

    Harvey is in the government department.

  3. Comments D07 Says:
    December 19th, 2006 at 2:04 pm

    That’s hilarious, and I want your jobs because this stuff seems to just write itself

  4. Comments Self Says:
    December 19th, 2006 at 6:49 pm

    This is the funniest thing since Alexey Vayner. Really brilliant stuff. I am waiting for the outtakes of the outtakes of the outtakes of the outtakes of the …

  5. Comments Daniel Waterhouse Says:
    December 20th, 2006 at 12:33 am

    Glaeser really does that F.O.C. stuff in his class. He’ll rattle off some ridiculous equation faster than anyone can write it, let alone understand it.

  6. Comments Peter Bilt Says:
    December 20th, 2006 at 12:51 am

    Oh. My. Gawd.

    You don’t even need a spoof. How could any spoof possibly top the original?

  7. Comments me Says:
    December 20th, 2006 at 11:28 am

    You neglect to mention that these spoofs are products of the Economics Department Holiday Party–they were made by graduate students to poke fun at the faculty and presented live to about 200-250 people.

  8. Comments Sex and the Ivy Says:
    December 20th, 2006 at 5:28 pm

    Ed Glaeser’s smirk at the end of the video is the icing on the cake.

  9. Comments h'alum Says:
    December 21st, 2006 at 1:39 pm

    That was hilarious! And Ed Glaeser is rather pleasant on the eyes…What? Just me? Well then. Carry on.

  10. Comments naughty naughty Says:
    December 29th, 2006 at 2:34 pm

    Yes h’alum, Ed Glaeser can get it.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.