Q&A with WILLIAM SHATNER: "I've made a latter-day career out of comedy"

A.D. spoke to Shatner about his recording process and various television gigs for a now-defunct men's magazine.

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Q&A with WILLIAM SHATNER: "I’ve made a latter-day career out of comedy"

POSTED: Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 11:00 AM

Filed Under: Interview

One of the saddest things about finding out that William Shatner was under the weather on the day we were to speak was that the dazzling array of questions I prepared to ask the boldly-going-nowhere, one-man-show actor would go to waste. The Shatner’s World namesake, appearing tonight at Merriam Theater, would have been hard-pressed to answer questions about albums like his Seeking Major Tom as well as those about his past on Philadelphia stages such as his 1951 run at A Shot in the Dark at the Walnut Street Theater with Julie Harris and Walter Matthau. I couldn’t despair too much, though. A few years ago I spoke to Shatner about his recording process and various television gigs for a now-defunct men’s magazine. Shatner was as utterly charming as expected and I'm guessing tonight will be a weird treat.

City Paper: You seem to be comfortable, to an extent, playing into what could be a persona of self-deprecation in terms of making music. What made you decide to go that route?

William Shatner: Delving into my emotional memory … probably “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” Someone asked me if I was joking. I have a vague recollection of that first time being shocking that someone would ask me that, because I had a very definite, very serious intent. This conversation took place many times: I’d ask them if they had heard anything else from the album (The Transformed Man, 1968). They always said “no.” They didn’t know what preceded “Lucy.” They didn’t know what followed. All they knew was “wow, what a weird interpretation. Were you joking?” I realized then that people weren’t listening to the album but rather that one cut put out by Rhino. And for that reason, they more or less laughed at it. I … went along with it because there was nothing else I could do.

CP: Do you wonder if the same thing has been true of your acting — the persona existing around it — whether or not people have taken you seriously?

WS: I’ve made a latter-day career out of comedy. But I was doing that when I was younger and in the theater. That’s what I was known for when I came down from Canada: light comedy. It was only when I started doing film that I became … serious. You’re only known for the last thing you do — months, even minutes prior. I’ve accepted that.

CP: You work a great deal. Commercials. Television. This new CD. What won’t you do? What sort of project turns you off?

WS: I won’t sell my sister. She’s a nice girl. Seriously, though, I’ll give you an example. An architect is asked by a client to build a house that stands on one tiny pole in the middle of earthquake territory. He knows it’s difficult and not at all practical, but he builds it because that’s his job. Actors, other than Toms Hanks and Cruise, are subject to vagueries of the business. We don’t get $20 million a picture. So we work. Now, I would never have done porn or soft core. But there are certainly projects I wouldn’t have done if I had other choices.

CP: I hope that question didn’t come out as an insult.

WS: I’ll tell you, it came out in a way I recognize — and feel badly about; that most actors in that tier below the very top have their choices examined and dissected. In a positive sense, the new record has made you look twice. You might not have asked that question had you not taken the record so seriously. I take all the work I do extraordinarily seriously. Whatever I’m asked to do — although it may seem buffoonery — has an edge to it that’s as good as I can do. If I make you laugh while leaving you to question what it is I’m doing, then I’ve accomplished my goal.

CP: Can such self-deprecation be a problem?

WS: I know that that line was tread very carefully in those Priceline commercials. There was just an edge of comedy in the singing of those songs. But it had to be real. Laugh. Be in on the joke. But not too much. I knew what I could do with poetry, that part of my training as a classical actor was reading iambic pentameter and the glorious syncopation of words.

CP: You mentioned telling the truth when it came to recording Has Been (2007). I wouldn’t assume that it’s all autobiographical — but if it is, dag, William, you talk about falling and death with the weight of the greatest nihilists. Very pained. Very pragmatic. Are you OK?

WS: What’s to tell? They reflect my fear of failure. You can’t succeed if you don’t fail.

CP: You really relish the notion behind the coulda-beens, the has-beens. Why?

WS: You must understand, the term “has-been” has been applied to me in the tabloids for years. If you haven’t had some form of a hit in the most recent past — six months or less — you’re a has-been. It’s a hateful pejorative term. With rare exceptions, no one can succeed time after time. Even they falter. Some great artist falters in accordance with some critic’s whim and opinion, and he’s doomed. That’s heinous, defiling. Like an athlete getting old, creative life goes on for an actor even when you go from leading man to … coach roles. I’m no nihilist. But I’m aware of how this year’s good times and successes — which I’m fortunate to have — can change.

CP: Certainly you know you’ve been iconic to several generations of several different audiences for reasons as far flung as Star Trek to T.J. Hooker to Boston Legal– do you know why?

WS: I wish I could tell you what led to this and what big career ideas I had, but in reality — I just blundered on.

Tue., March 13, 7:30 p.m., $57-$300, Merriam Theater, 300 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org.

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