Tim Russert Bingo

NBC’s Tim Russert may pride himself on asking original tough questions every Sunday, but it appears he’s stuck in reruns on the speaking circuit.

Yesterday Russert was Harvard’s conservative choice for one of its commencement week speakers this year–a reaction to last year’s over-the-top sex-laced speech by Ali G.

Russert was such a conservative choice, in fact, that administrators knew almost word-for-word what speech he’d deliver. You see, Tim Russert really only has one commencement speech he delivers at colleges–it was nearly the same one he gave at Holy Cross last month, when the Worcester Telegram & Gazette pointed out that Russert had used almost the exact same speech at various commencements over the last five years.

Anticipating (and getting) a rerun themselves, Harvard students put together bingo cards with key phrases from his past remarks, and as Russert spoke yesterday students in the audience from time-to-time would yell out “Bingo” as he hit them.

As one Harvard wit responded, “Russert came through with a great speech that did speak to the moment–just as it probably has for moments since 1986.”

Key phrase bingo cards sounds like something the White House press corps should start doing with Scott McClellan.

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.