Nick Cannon was full of wisdom on love, marriage, and babies at Mark Ecko's golf charity in NYC last night. He takes an interesting position on engagement and rock 'n' roll dads.

Cannon – who is gearing up to host the Teen Choice Awards with Hilary Duff on August 26 – is a fan of the long engagement because, "you get to know people."

"It's that preparation time to see if this is what you really want," the comedian/actor said at the Tuesday night event, held at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan.

A friend of Nicole Richie and Joel Madden, Cannon also weighed in on the couple's pregnancy: "She had good parenting, so she'll know how to get it going."

What kind of dad will Joel be? "He'll be a cool dad. The coolest dad. Any rock 'n' roll dad is a cool dad."

I've got to disagree on a number of things, here. Nicole's parents? Not widely considered to have done a very good job. Along the same lines, rock 'n' roll dads are not known the world over for being the best out there.

And while I don't oppose long engagements, it's supposed to be kind of assumed that you know the person pretty well and are aware that "this is what you really want" before you put the ring on the finger. It's called dating.

More pics from the last night after the jump.