William Shatner is one of the select few people who can be referred to as an actual living legend. The 90-year-old Canadian native started out as a Shakespearean actor, and is most famous, of course, for his portrayal of Star Trek’s Captain James T. Kirk over the course of the original TV series and several movies—one of which he directed. After Star Trek wrapped, he starred in several other TV series, from T.J.Hooker in the ’80s to playing the Big Giant Head on 3rd Rock From The Sun to his Emmy-winning turns on The Practice and Boston Legal in the 2000s.
One of Shatner’s many creative pursuits is the spoken-word album, starting with 1968’s The Transformed Man, which included spoken covers of hits like “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Despite less than stellar initial reviews, Shatner has gone on to release several albums in the same format over the years. On September 24, he drops a new one, entitled Bill, released on Joe Jonas’ Let’s Get It! Records/Republic Records. Bill contains a string of autobiographical spoken-word songs featuring vignettes from Shatner’s life, with collaborators like Jonas, Brad Paisley, John Lurie, and Joe Walsh. He reports that the new release is getting “extraordinary reviews, to put it mildly.”
Ahead of the album’s release, we got to speak with William Shatner briefly (hence the short responses) to discuss the new record and run our 11 Questions by him. His classic Shatner reply: “I don’t know whether I have 11 answers… but okay.”
WS: I’m not sure, but I know [producer Dan Miller] had a hand in getting it to Joe Jonas, who heard some of the cuts and said, “I want to represent it,” and took it to Republic.
A friend of mine [writer Robert Sharenow] and I would, over the years, have dinner in New York, and talk about each other and our work. And one day, Rob invited Dan to that dinner, and it turns out that Dan was a Grammy Award-winning musician, who’d worked with They Might Be Giants. And at some point during the meal, Dan said, “We should make an album.” And Rob said, “Why don’t we make an album?” And that was that.
And we agreed that it would be autobiographical. So Rob and I began to talk about what events we wanted to write about. Incidents. Crossing a bridge on the way to leaving my parents’ home to go make my future at the age of 21, an 18-wheeler almost kills me. And the song is about how we all cross bridges and all have 18-wheelers coming at us and and how we can survive. That’s the song called “The Bridge.” There are a variety of songs like that. A song called “Masks,” how we all hold a mask up—actors hold a mask up, but everybody holds a mask up. We’re different people to different people.
So it became an album written during COVID, separated by thousands of miles. Rob was in New York City and Dan was in upstate New York, and I was in Los Angeles. So by phone and by Zoom and by God [Laughs.], we fashioned songs that were very, very close to me. Part of my history done poetically in collaboration with Rob and I, and then sending them on to Dan. And Dan putting a bit of music and my performing on a microphone on the iPhone and then sending it back and forth, back and forth as we rewrote and rerecorded.
WS: I was born in Montreal, and for two weeks, every summer, we rented a ramshackle home on a deserted lake in the Laurentian Mountains, which are about 60 miles north of Montreal. So for those two weeks, it was city boy in the country swimming in the lake. And my dad would come up those two weekends and he and I would go fishing. Fishing was a big deal for us. There was a moment when my father caught a huge fish and he was standing with a foot on each rock and yelling with joy, and his feet slipped, and the fish got away. It was just a great disappointment, but I shared it with my father, and for some reason I remember it.
WS: What I’m doing now is… I’m ad-libbing. I’m doing performance art. I’ll do this—like what you just asked—and do something there that will inform or amuse, entertain the audience. And I’ll do that for an hour—or two, sometimes—and entertain without any prepared material. So that’s an interesting performance part that wasn’t part of the years before, that has become so.
WS: I’m involved in horses. I have a specific skill called reining. Reining is maybe the most athletic equine sport. I have more than one horse at the stable about a half an hour from home. And I was able to drive out to the stable, without coming into contact with anyone; they’d have the horse ready. And I would rehearse these athletic moves. I would have this horse doing the moves like a jumper would go over the jump again and again and again, perfecting the techniques. That’s what I would do almost every morning, and then come home and write this album.
WS: Well, if I’m in New York and I have somebody else to pay for it [Laughs.], I’ll go to one of those five-star restaurants and have the studio or the executive producer pay for it. Give me a name.
AVC: Sorry, I’m in Chicago, I wouldn’t know…
WS: Oh, if I’m in Chicago, it’s Gene & Georgetti.
WS: A cloak of invisibility. I would use the cloak of invisibility when I stood in front of the mirror.
WS: I don’t know how to answer that. I don’t go to parties. I’m more involved with dogs and horses. I could tell you a horse I like. [Laughs.]
I tell you who I admired and that I wish I’d spent time with: Marlon Brando lived not far from where I live and I wish I’d met him, sat down and talked about a variety of subjects. And Laurence Olivier, also. I was on the periphery of people who knew him. I would love to have met both of those gentlemen.
WS: When I was a kid, I mucked a stable, shoving horseshit around, and although I still do that, it’s more verbal than material.
WS: I am a member of a fictional family: the family of man. And the unity between all of us is severely threatened these days. And I’d like to get that back, and I think we all should.
WS: Again, I’m flashing on a moment. In the theater. I saw Laurence Olivier on the stage, and he was looking at his watch. And then I realized that the character he was portraying is such a superficial person that he was showing off this cheap watch—there’s nothing written—he’s just showing off this cheap watch to somebody he’s talking to. And it has nothing to do with the dialogue. It reminded me of what you can do when you’re acting.
WS: Probably Tom Bergeron.
AVC: Oh, he is funny. He was so great on Dancing With The Stars. How did you know him?
WS: I don’t quite remember. I remember being an admirer of the show, so I would watch the show all the time for a variety of people. He wanted me to be on the show, learning to dance, and the beautiful girls… And they would ask me every year to be on the show. So when I met him, we just started talking.
AVC: So you didn’t want to do Dancing With The Stars?
WS: I was busy. They needed like three months; it was too much.
AVC: This has probably already happened somewhere.
WS: [Laughs.] Well, the easiest thing would probably be a chopped liver sandwich. And I would say, “What am I, chopped liver?”
42 Comments
William Shatner is an ableist jackass who supports Autism Speaks and ABA Therapy. Sisko is Best Captain!
Shatner’s a jack ass.Also the sun is hot and water is wet. Film at 11.
I’m no fan of Autism Speaks, but why is Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy a problem? ABA was quite useful for my autistic son.
Here’s a good video explaining it from an autistic person’s perspective.
It’s basically the equivalent of gay conversion therapy for autistic people. It teaches us that who we are is wrong (but correctable), and that the “right” way to act is to be more like neurotypical people. Yes, there are some behaviors that should be corrected (namely, those that cause physical harm to themselves or others), but there are other ways to do that. Even putting aside its roots (which involved basically torturing autistic people until they acted “normal”), even more modern and moderated versions of ABA therapy still posit that the right way to be is to act like a neurotypical person, which is deeply fucked up.
Oh, and roughly 46% of people who had ABA therapy as children have PTSD from it. (For the record, the prevalence of PTSD is lower for people in fought in wars.) https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/AIA-08-2017-0016/full/html
All I can say is that my son’s ABA therapy went well. He has fewer meltdowns and can relate to other kids far better. He also seemed to enjoy and look forward to his sessions, which were basically play groups focused towards results in things like the aforementioned reduction in meltdowns (which for him included furniture throwing and running away), not trying to constantly turn conversations to his interests (letting other kids have a turn to talk, basically), and other things to help him cope with his condition — NOT teach him to “behave” so neurotypical people can cope with him.I suspect with the increase in diagnoses over the last decade, there may have been an increase in ABA services that maybe weren’t doing enough to ensure quality. I also suspect the therapy methods should probably vary based on how deep into the spectrum a recipient of the therapy is. This article is pretty good — it talks about the benefits of properly-applied ABA, but also mentions how one ABA therapist was basically licensed after watching training videos over a weekend:https://www.spectrumnews.org/features/deep-dive/low-standards-corrode-quality-popular-autism-therapy/It points to problems that need to be dealt with, but I wouldn’t label someone an “ableist jackass” simply for recommending ABA — even Shatner.
For a guy who’s got a reputation as being a real ass, this was a delightful read.
It seems to me the stories of Shatner being an ass are almost urban legends now. I think Tim Allen’s character in Galaxy Quest is based on that legend. I just remember there being some Star Trek anniversary special that was ho-hum, but when Shatner spoke at the end he actually really raised the tone of the show. He’s either the greatest actor in the world or he genuinely loves, appreciates and is enthused about Star Trek, which is what I’ll always remember about him.
And what makes that performance especially great is that Tim Allen himself has a similar reputation so you have an actor with a reputation of being an egotistical ass portraying an character based on another actor with a reputation of being an egotistical ass!
Starting in the early 2000s, Shatner began confronting his past, and his work (like his album with Ben Folds, “Has Been”) became about reflecting on his life, regrets, relationships, and his fear of mortality. He absolutely *was* an “real ass,” especially to his (non-Leonard Nimoy) Star Trek co-stars, and even he knows it’s far too late to repair those professional relationships, but in the last 20 years he has become a really interesting, self-aware figure.
Sometimes I think he’s been trolling us before trolling was a thing. That early spoken word stuff is OG WTF. However, I’m fairly sure he’s just in his own strange new world.
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Gotta love the Shat. I mean, no you don’t, but he’s entertaining. That’s kind his whole thing. He’s not that talented and he’s certainly not a great guy, but he’s oddly fascinating. He’s effective. He doesn’t know or care if he’s making an ass of himself, so it all sort of works, one way or another. I honestly prefer his Common People to the original.
That’s almost verbatim what people said about Trump ten years ago.
Well, Shatner can never be president, so there’s that.
Surprised he never tried to run in Canada.“Our president is Captain Kirk! Also, hockey hockey hockey hockey, eh?” –Canadians
Do they have presidents in Canada? I thought they had a High Priest, or a Grand Poobah or something like that.
Looks to be a monarchy. They also drive around on square wheeled cars and all have floppy heads and beady eyes.
Now everybody stand for Chuck Mangione.
Trump’s “Common People” was surprisingly moving.
Ah, the upward failers. I’m fine with them until they do something that matters.
Straight up “Trumpian” was what came to mind when I was reading this interview.
FLASH TO 2031 HEADLINE:
WILLIAM SHATNER SWORN IN AS AMERICA’S OLDEST PRESIDENT AT 101!!!
I’m right there with you up until that last sentence. He’s an asshole, but I think the fact that he’s a million years old and will die soon makes it easier to ignore this fact. It’s amazing to see him lean into his campy acting over the years without letting on whether he’s in on the joke. He’s inscrutable.
This article just reminded me how mad I was that Boston Legal got cancelled.DENNY CRANE FTW
Fuck Shatner. Been an asshole for years.
If he was that bad I’m sure every single cast member on the original Star Trek would have had a public beef with him at some point, including the ones who were his friend.Oh wait…
Didn’t he get away with murdering his wife?
He still looks pretty good for a smoker.
He’s not exactly svelte either.Some people just are born with really good genes when it comes to longevity.
Why couldn’t Nimoy have gotten those genes instead?
I think ol’ Keith is more chemical than man anymore.
AVC: So you didn’t want to do Dancing With The Stars?WS: I was busy. They needed like three months; it was too much.I’ve never watched any “Dancing with the Stars” other than the clip of Alfonso trotting out the “Carlton” in an epic moment, but I’d tune in to see what outrageous thing Shatner came up with.
He’d want to ‘dance’ to his own spoken word recordings.
I have seen this man in person. He would need a baseball tarp of invisibility.
The Shat is so fat, tribbles are worried about him infesting their Station K-7!Am I right?
Fuck this asshole. He’s tarnished everything he’s ever done by being an uncompromising piece of shit basically all the time.
RE: The Clouds of Guilt video here – not 100% just a criticism of Will here but are we all doing performative Johnny Cash or what? Examples: Colter Wall. Orville Peck.
William Shatner prepares to record his next album:
The fact that a 90 year old multi-generational global cultural icon needs to go to one of the Jonas brothers to get his album released says A LOT about both his talent and his personality. If the 1st actually existed in the smallest amount and the 2nd was remotely redeemable that wouldn’t have to happen. Shatner is an irredeemable, inexcusable, unrepentant, and unfiltered piece of shit. Another example of how the good die young and the awful seemingly live forever.