William Shatner shows no signs of slowing down.
This Sunday, the 78-year-old “Star Trek” icon and two-time “Boston Legal” Emmy winner kicks off the second season of his BIO interview show, “Shatner’s Raw Nerve.”
Of late, his wildly unpredictable late-night antics, most notably on NBC’s “Tonight Show,” have won Shatner a new legion of fans. And he continues to appear on commercials for Priceline.com, which he helped put on the map as an Internet pioneer.
In a wide-ranging interview, Shatner discusses “Raw Nerve,” his public persona and “bitter” co-stars.
Q: Why are you doing this interview show? Have you always felt you had a knack as a good listener?
Shatner: That’s a good question. I’ve spent my life enjoying myself talking to friends . . . and rather than dally with the incidental stuff, I find myself going to the heart of somebody’s issue — whether it’s a momentary issue or a deep-seated issue. I sort of acted by intuition to begin with [on ‘Raw Nerve’] . . . it was a voyage of discovery in the first few shows and then I began to realize that . . . the character of this show would assume the character of my personal life.
Q: You and your interview subjects on “Raw Nerve” sit just inches away from each other, face-to-face on a couch you designed. Why?
Shatner: I wanted to be on the edge of personal space that is shy of violating a person’s privacy but close enough to suggest intimacy. I was trusting my intuition from my past [talk show] experience when I’d ask myself, why is this desk in between me and the person I’m talking to?
Q: Tell me about your interview with Regis Philbin [in Sunday’s season opener]. Was it hard to get him to open up?
Shatner: We were talking away, and after he finished he said, ‘I don’t think I want you to tell that story,’ so I had to withdraw a story that was so beautiful and insightful. It would have been so good for Regis to allow me to use the story . . . to reveal another part of his heart. If I felt the same way I would want a host to honor my request — but I didn’t agree with Regis in this case.
Q: Has anyone refused to appear on “Raw Nerve”?
Shatner: What they do is what I do. I’m well-acquainted with all the guises: ‘I’d love to come on when my schedule allows,’ that kind of thing. They put you off and never quite say no.
Q: You’ve become known later in your career as a comedic actor. Did you every picture yourself as that kind of performer, reciting Sarah Palin’s Twitters on the “Tonight Show” or getting laughs on “Boston Legal”?
Shatner: Well, in fact, when I was in Canada as an actor, I did a lot of light comedy. I was known as ‘the light comedian,’ as young as I was. When I came to the States, the jobs offered to me were more dramatic in nature, and suddenly I became a dramatic actor. Inherent in everything is the sense of the absurd.
Q: Have you mellowed now? I know you rubbed some people the wrong way earlier in your Hollywood career.
Shatner: I really haven’t rubbed anyone the wrong way. I think you’re referring to some cast members from ‘Star Trek.’ I’ve asked them numerous times to see if I can assuage their bitterness. I don’t know what their problem is, quite frankly, so I’ve given up on trying to make it better. I don’t like any ill-feeling, and if there was something I could do to correct it I would. But nothing seems to work.
Q: What do you think the public’s perception is of you? A dramatic actor? A comic actor?
Shatner: I don’t know. I pretty much operate from intuition and I don’t know where that’s taking me. I have no master plan. I wish I did, but I don’t have the intelligence for a master plan. My master plan is survival. I don’t know how the public sees me, other than ascertaining their reaction to me when I walk around [is that] they seem to like me. They haven’t thrown a stone [at me] yet.