Aug. 26, 2025

Contact Rick Kyte at 608-796-3704 or rlkyte@viterbo.edu

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING: A SURPRISINGLY FUNNY STORY ABOUT RACE, CANCER, FAITH, AND OTHER THINGS WE DON’T TALK ABOUT AUTHOR TYLER MERRITT TO SPEAK AT VITERBO UNIVERSITY SEPT. 9

LA CROSSE, Wis. – A cancer diagnosis caused Tyler Merritt to realize there was no time for anger, unforgiveness, foolishness, or lost friendships. None of us have any time to waste. Merritt will discuss this and other important life lessons from his best-selling book This Changes Everything: A Surprisingly Funny Story about Race, Cancer, Faith, and Other Things We Don’t Talk About at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9 in the Viterbo University Fine Arts Center Main Theatre.

The event will also be streamed on the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPwf0iF9WdHIZzYvSjOGbFA.

When Merritt was diagnosed with cancer, everything he thought he knew about what mattered in life changed. Laced with his trademark humor, love of pop culture, and arguably too many musical theatre references, This Changes Everything is a story about how wrestling with the idea of death can birth a whole new outlook on life, how we live it, and the urgency that comes when you grasp that time is a precious commodity.

Merritt is also an actor, musician, comedian, activist, and the creator of the The Tyler Merritt Project. His viral videos, Before You Call the Cops and Walking While Black have been viewed by over 100 million people worldwide. His memoir, I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America is also a national best-selling book.

In his talks and lectures, Merritt infuses his core beliefs of unity, empathy, compassion, and inclusion with humor, making his message relatable and accessible to wide-ranging audiences from corporations, nonprofits, community groups, colleges and universities, and youth audiences worldwide. He spoke at Viterbo in 2022 to great acclaim.

This presentation is part of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership fall lecture series. It is free and open to the public. No tickets are necessary, but seating is limited. The lecture is a partnership with the Viterbo Common Read series, which introduces new students to intellectual life at the university.

For a full schedule of D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership events, visit www.viterbo.edu/ethics.

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