Perhaps perplexed by the prospect of five-and-change minutes to fill with zero chance for making Will Ferrell dress up like George Bush, or Alex Trebek, or , for a second time during its 90-minute running time, this weekend’s Saturday Night Live closed with a sketch in which Ferrell–accompanied by most of the show’s cast, as well as the members of Green Day, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hanks, Artie Lange, and other celebrities who just happened to be in the area–performed Billy Joel’s Vietnam-vet anthem “Goodnight Saigon” in full-orchestra drag. The punchline was that Ferrell’s mournful reverie was inspired not by time spent in the trenches during the Vietnam War, but by a vacation there some four years ago; the not-so-obvious punchline for me didn’t hit until yesterday morning, when the song proved incapable of being shaken from my brain. A slightly truncated version of the clip after the jump.



Surely I’m not the only Idolator reader who felt a sort of chill when this clip first started, the reminder of friends’ fathers in the early ’80s falling into a similarly glazed state when this song came on during what were the requisite plays of The Nylon Curtain. If only they’d had Artie Langes of their own to leaven the mood!

Artie SNL [YouTube]