The Somewhat Ambitious

For those of you not obsessed with Bill Shatner (I call him Bill, in the hopes that he’ll mistake me for an old friend and invite me skiing sometime, followed by a vigorous and confusing bout of lovemaking), you may have heard about his new talk show, ‘Shatner’s Raw Nerve’. I’ve not had the time nor, ironically, the nerve to watch any of it, but whilst trawling the New Yorker (see my review of Anthony Lane’s review of The Watchmen) I read this lovely summation of the whole glorious endeavour:

William Shatner is, forty years after the end of the original “Star Trek,” a ham that has got only more delicious with time. As much of him as there is out there—Priceline ads, the ABC series “Boston Legal” (which just finished its run last week), the public squawking about whether or not he was invited to George Takei’s wedding or how he felt about being left out of the new “Star Trek” movie—is there ever enough? I think not.

His half-hour interview show, “Shatner’s Raw Nerve,” on the BIO channel (an offshoot of A&E), could bring on Shatner fatigue, though, thanks to a guest list that is rigorously uncompelling, daring you not to yawn. Some of his guests this season are Tim Allen, Valerie Bertinelli, Kelsey Grammer, Judge Judy, Jenna Jameson, and Jimmy Kimmel. But, as it happens, Shatner’s intense weirdness makes things compelling. In the first two episodes, he elicits some thoughtful comments from Tim Allen on death and on screwing up his life, and he attempts to have a worthwhile exchange with Bertinelli on the subject of sin. Unsurprisingly, beneath Shatner’s persona of an egotist glorying in and making fun of his own egotism—and please, Bill, don’t ever change—is a very engaging oddball

Sadly (or not, depending on your tastes), my first though when I saw the above picture was “KISS HIM. KISS HIM AND I’LL DANCE FOR YOU”. I can’t really qualify that thought, but that’s the beauty of being home to a plethora of weird shit. People don’t expect you to explain yourself, they just sit back and shake their heads, all the while wondering when you’ll step over the line from trenchantly obscure to mentally ill. Also, Anthony Lane, take note: one can be warm and witty without being a total dong-holster.

/Paul