This is honestly the best forensic piece I have seen to this day. His speech is not only an excellent forensic piece but actually has a true message that will continues to be echoed 14 years after it was preformed. He is truly a legend!
I've seen this OO like 20 times and it only gets better each time I watch it. It really makes me want to work harder to improve and inspire others as an orator.
He really matured from '98 to '99. His oratory became a lot better, his overall performance, his structure was a lot better, and his overall topic was more relevant. HOO-HAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As the returning National Champion in Oratory, Gad already had predisposed credibility as a public speaker; it was this that enabled him to use certain types of humor and other strategies in his speech. Many of the strategies he used would cause him to be unbelievable as a speaker in any other situation. Gad plays with this balance of credibility in a very unique way. It goes without saying that beginning a speech with a song to the tune of “Ode to Joy” is a bit unorthodox. Gad admits that singing to begin his oratory is a “mockery” and a “no-no by most standards in debate.” While this method does not give him any credibility as a speaker in the audience’s eye, the sheer preposterousness of his actions immediately grabs the attention of the audience
It is so good to see this finally on RU-vid. And it just so happened to be uploaded 3 days ago! How lucky am I? Anyways, Josh served as an inspiration during my somewhat uneventful Debate career. He does so many things right in this OO, and although I never amounted to anything in debate, Josh Gad certainly did have an influence on how enjoyable my time as a debater, which I wouldn't trade for the world.
