In a highly-produced bit, John Oliver, who tackled issues of immigration on Last Week Tonight, proposed a new song to replace Lee Greenwood‘s “God Bless the USA” being played at U.S. naturalization ceremonies — and it included a co-sign from Will Ferrell, who unexpectedly guest-starred as a crooning country artist in a sprawling music video.
The political-comic host, himself a recently naturalized citizen, got down to business this week, as talk about the election has increasingly dominated media cycles leading up to Voting Day Nov. 5. Eschewing a typical opening segment filled with irreverent jokes and a rundown of the headlines the week prior, Oliver switched up the program’s rhythm by quickly transitioning to the show’s — not one, but two — topics at hand: mass deportation and a strange feature of the naturalization process.
While Oliver manage to get off a smattering of insults directed at Donald Trump (“an E. coli outbreak was tied to McDonald’s, yet was still somehow the second most revolting thing inside of one this week”) and running mate JD Vance (“your next memoir, Dingus Sonata, where I’m guessing you’ll solve poverty by comparing it to a turkey f—ing reuben”), the host’s tone took on a more serious color as he skewered what mass deportation would look like in effect.
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Afterward, Oliver transitioned to a segment largely about Greenwood, poking fun at the conservative country singer’s missteps — such as when he said his signature song was better than Prince’s “Purple Rain” and “Margaritaville” (which spawned a massive empire to become the most lucrative song ever); faced a rejected trademark application for attempting to brand “God Bless the USA” for merchandise; engaged in a dispute over licensing issues for the song’s usage by the government; and released “God Bless Canada.”
Toward the show’s conclusion, Oliver used his case against Greenwood’s song being played at ceremonies to introduce an alternative by a “real American treasure. Not only will we not charge the government $700 a year for it — we’re not assholes. We’ll actually pay them $700 a year.”
The program then aired a previously shot high-definition music video, the locales of which stretched from a modern neon-tinged dive bar to the waters overlooking the Statue of Liberty. Cheers erupted as the audience made sense of who the American treasure was: In the clip, Ferrell serenades in an impassioned half-earnest, half-satirical ballad about America’s highs (“As corn dogs and apple pie / Fireworks lighting up the sky / Nascar, rodeo, barbecue / That stuff’s American / Now so are you”) and lows (“Televangelists and fossil fuels / Metal detectors in all our schools / Private prisons and Mountain Dew / That stuff’s American / Now that’s your problem too”).
As the multi-Emmy winner strides out of the dive bar, the music video takes on exponentially more grandeur, featuring committed background players — a string ensemble, marching band, gospel choir and harmonizing singers, to name a few — and ridiculous props — a falling Boeing airplane door and bizarrely patriotic Tesla Cybertruck — among many other easter eggs. Ferrel touches on everything from “thousands of medical bankruptcies” to Chuck E. Cheese, tornadoes to Spirit Halloween. “Holy sh–, I just remembered the coup,” he quips toward the song’s conclusion.
The video, just shy of three minutes, ends in sparkler and festivities galore, as the music crescendoes and everyone joins in to welcome new citizens home. Swelling trumpets accompany a cheerleader’s final splint stunt as a larger-than-life American flag unfurls and the choir sails off on a cruise line, capping off the gargantuan effort to bring the unexpected Saturday Night Live-like treat to a close.