Springfield comedian sneaked into Missouri State graduation Friday

Local comedian Jaron Myers heard all you had to do to walk across the stage at graduation was hand a piece of paper with your name on it to the person announcing the graduates to the crowd. 

So he decided he was going to give it the ol' college try. 

The Mount Vernon native, who flunked out of Evangel and has never been enrolled at Missouri State, bought a cap and gown before Friday's graduation ceremonies and walked across the JQH Arena stage.

A Twitter post on Friday by the comedian read "I dropped out of college 4 years ago but today I bought a cap and gown for $38 and snuck into the line of a college I have never been enrolled in Hope my mom is proud." The tweet since has over 37,000 retweets and over 126,000 likes.

Suzanne Shaw, vice president of marketing and communications for the university, said while MSU wants to celebrate its graduates, they can appreciate Myers' joke.

"He had to sit there for two hours for graduation, so I don't know who the real winner was here," Shaw said. "We were happy we were his college of choice to 'graduate' from."

In a phone interview with the News-Leader, Myers revealed that his mom was proud of him for his prank and he told the story about how he pulled it off.

Before the 1:30 p.m. ceremony, Myers went to the campus bookstore where he bought a cap and gown for $38. 

He then made his way over to JQH Arena and got in line with the actual people who were walking in to graduate.

"I thought for sure that this was when I was going to get caught," Myers said. "All of the sudden, I was in line. I just kept walking and suddenly on the floor."

If he did get caught, he was going to admit it. "Yeah, I'm lying," he said he would've told security. At the worst, he thought he would receive a transpassing ticket or be told he couldn't set foot on the campus again. 

But when he was on the JQH Arena floor, he knew he couldn't back out. 

The comedian sat among the graduates and worried he might be recognized — his Chick-Fil-A Rap has over 250,000 views on YouTube.

Myers chatted with the people around him. He told a girl he was going to Kansas City to work at an insurance place. She was going to Ireland after graduation. 

He listened to the commencement speakers as he texted his friend filming above. 

"I was so bored," Myers said. "Holy cow. I didn't care about any of those people. I didn't know anyone around me."

When it was Myers' turn to walk across the stage, he realized he was in a predicament. All of the other students had cardstock papers with their names on it while his name was written in printer paper. 

"The lady was so focused on reading the names that she didn't even notice," Myers said. "It didn't make sense to argue with a student standing there."

"Jaron Kyler Myers," the announcer read to the crowd.

He walked across the stage and shook the hands of people who congratulated him on his graduation including MSU President Clif Smart.

He didn't receive an actual diploma. Myers was given a diploma holder, which he said he would pay the university back for if asked.

Myers then tweeted a picture of him graduating with the caption "I dropped out of college 4 years ago but today I bought a cap and gown for $38 and snuck into the line of a college I have never been enrolled in. Hope my mom is proud."

The 24-year-old received a text from his mom, who said she was proud of her comedian son. She wished she could have been there for the gag.

Myers doesn't have any plans for going back to college to receive his actual degree. During the interview with the News-Leader, he was preparing for a show in Philadelphia, where he said he would use his "graduation" as a part of his routine. Over the last four years, the comic has toured with  Bob Smiley, John Crist and The Office's Creed Bratton.

He wanted to make clear that he wasn't making a point to Missouri State and he was just doing it for fun. He said he has nothing but respect for those who actually graduated. 

Myers will film a comedy special at The Gillioz in Springfield on Nov. 2. He said if anyone is able to fool the people at the front gate with a fake ticket, then they deserve to see his show.