Wednesday, March 14, 2012

William Shatner!

William Shatner is currently touring the nation with his one-man show, It's Shatner's World: We Just Live In It and last Saturday night, I saw it at the historic* Pantages theater in Hollywood.

*Historic, in this instance, means "beautiful building with shitty seats."  By the end of the show, the entire left side of my back was in pain.  Also, the Pantages needs to learn something about climate control.  Some air conditioning is appreciated, but I was huddled under my overcoat throughout the show, shivering. 

The show was awesome.  You do not need to be a Trekkie to enjoy it.  (Although the gentlemen to my right were obvious Trekkies who were having an INTENSE Harry Potter conversation before the show).


Shatner is hilarious.  I have seen several stand-up comedians in action, including George Carlin and Sandra Bernhard, but Shatner is the funniest comic I've ever seen perform. (and he's not even a comedian, really, he's an actor).  

During the show, Shatner talked about his life and career as an actor.  Some of the stories were funny, like how he used to go joy riding at 3 a.m. on a neighbor's motorcycle.  Some of the stories were interesting, like how he got his big acting break playing Henry V at a Canadian Shakespeare festival when Christopher Plummer got sick.  And some of the stories were sad, like the story about putting one of his horses to sleep (Shatner loves horses more than my baby sister, and that's saying a lot).

Shatner is an inspiration.  He has done so freaking much, from Star Trek to Boston Legal, and so much in between.  Now, he is nearly 81 years old, but he is touring the country doing a one-man show.  He could be lounging on the beach living off Star Trek royalties, but he is still acting and entertaining (and thank God, because he is good at it). 

I hope Shatner's show is turned into a movie or at least a DVD.  Partly because Nathan missed the show so he could watch a soccer game (and to add insult to injury, his team lost), and I know he'd love the show.  But if I'm going to be completely honest, I mostly want to own the DVD of It's Shatner's World for my own selfish purposes, just so I can watch it again and again.