Via Mediaite, you’re going to watch it somewhere eventually so you might as well watch it now. I went over to MSNBC.com to embed their version of the clip only to find that, inexplicably, they’ve posted the version they re-shot afterwards — sans alarm. And even this brief vid doesn’t capture the full absurdity. According to Poynter, the alarm went on … for nearly the whole show:

The alarm tone kept sounding, through the Herman Cain story, through the lead-in to a story about the siege at the British Embassy in Iran.

Williams took a commercial break. When he came back, so did the alarm. Each time, Williams did exactly what he should do, he kept his cool, reminded viewers everything was OK and kept going. Three quarters of the way through the program the alarm fell silent.

Someone at Fox News has to pull this on Shep. Exit question: Which late-night show will be the one to land Williams for the inevitable “try to rattle BriWi while he reads the news” skit? My money’s on Letterman.