Pritzker gives ‘Office'-themed graduation speech at Northwestern, with Steve Carell present

Note: Watch the complete speech from Gov. J.B. Pritzker in the player above.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivered a rather unique commencement address to the Northwestern University Class of 2023 on Monday, sharing wisdom from the hit television show "The Office" to help send graduates "forward on the right path in life."

While graduates and others in attendance at Ryan Field may not have expected Pritzker's themed address, the governor, too, received a surprise of his own. Steve Carell, who played protagonist Michael Scott during the first seven seasons of the sitcom, happened to be at the ceremony.

Carell and his wife, Nancy, were in attendance to celebrate their daughter, who was among the graduates, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Pritzker, who graduated from the Northwestern University School of Law, which was renamed in his honor in 2015, shared a number of anecdotes about his life as a parent and a politician.

Pritzker gave advice on a wide variety of topics, often accompanying his guidance with quotes from "The Office" characters. After graduating college, the governor said, he assumed there would be a moment soon after where "maturity of adulthood would start to lend sense to the deep mysteries of life."

Thirty-five years later, that still hasn't happened.

Real wisdom, he explained, comes with age, saying it will give someone a greater appreciation for how much you don't know. Pritzker then touched on the greatest challenge he faced as governor - leading Illinois through the early days of the pandemic - with words from Michael Scott.

"I knew exactly what to do, but in a much more real sense, I had no idea what to do," he said, citing the character. While Pritzker was aware his job was to minimize the damage of COVID-19, no one could guide him on the best way to do so.

"I've been asked many times what it was like to be governor during those early days of the pandemic and all I can tell you is that it felt like waking up every day on a raft in the middle of the ocean, frantically searching the horizon for some land to anchor your feet," the governor said.

A father of two college students, Pritzker shared stories from his experience as a parent, including one involving his son, Donny. When Donny was in kindergarten, Pritzker and his wife, M.K., went to a parent-teacher conference where they were told their son was doing well in reading and was great at math - but couldn't tell time well.

"Like all parents whose love of their child has led them to overthink every single decision that they've made, M.K. and I were flabbergasted," he questioned. "Did we do something wrong?…"

The couple bought clocks and placed them around their house, made a "big show" of telling time at meals and reading clocks wherever they went.

"I walked around like the Mad Hatter, constantly proclaiming the time," Pritzker explained.

After around a year, Donny shared a startling confession: he never had an issue telling time. Rather, when his teacher asked him to identify something that he needed help with, he couldn't think of what to say.

So, he made something up and didn't want to admit that he lied. That story Pritzker related to a quote from character Jim Halpert.

"Having a baby is exhausting," he said. "Having two babies, that's just mean."

Toward the end of his address, Pritzker beseeched the graduates to remember the many lessons of "The Office."

"...Be more substance than show," he said. "Set aside cruelty for kindness. Put one foot in front of the other. Even when you don't know your way. And always, always try and appreciate the good old days when you're actually in them."

In conclusion, he encouraged graduates to remember one thing Dwight Schrute said.

"You only live once," Pritzker stated, quoting the character. "False. You live every day. You only die once."