Shatner Rules

Larry Flynt talked about the assassin’s bullet that put him in his wheelchair, Jenna Jameson showed us the ups and downs of porn, and Kelsey Grammer explored the painful family tragedies that have marked his life.
    Both Rush Limbaugh and Jon Voight cried!
RULE: A Lot of Conservatives Are Pretty Liberal with the Tears
    The hardest nuts to crack? The comedians. Carl Reiner was especially tough. I’ve known Carl for a long time, and we even acted together on
Boston Legal
, but I could
not
get him to open up about the death of his wife. I’ve been a widower—I wanted to know if we had shared emotions, feelings. He told some wonderful jokes, made some delightfully witty observations, but not once could I get to the emotion of it.
Raw Nerve
has taught me that comedians are hyper-attuned to “the laugh.” They have made their living at it; it is what they are programmed to provide. Anything else is forbidden. He was a pro, and that finely tuned guard was not going to come down.
    The show has been a hit for the Biography Channel, and the ratings have continued to grow with each season.
    What did the critics say?
     
    “[William Shatner] is surprisingly effective at getting his celebrity subjects to reveal aspects of their lives that are fresh and surprising.”
—The Hollywood Reporter
(A fine publication; I get it delivered.)
    “Surprisingly sharp and intimate.”
—Newsday
(Hooray for
Newsday
! I always read it when I’m in New York.)
    “
Nerve
eschews the prototypical talk show format—Shatner’s interview style is part Charlie Rose, part James Lipton, part Dr. Phil.”
—USA Today
(A terrific paper—I love it when they drop it off outside my hotel room.)
    “This could be the freshest take on talk we’ve seen in a long time.”
—DISH Entertainment Magazine
(Haven’t read it, but I would love
to.)
    “Shatner’s intense weirdness makes things compelling.”
—The New Yorker
(I dunno—some magazine that runs a lot of comics about talking dogs and psychiatrists.)
    From the Star Trek universe, I’ve interviewed Leonard Nimoy, LeVar Burton, Scott Bakula, and Walter Koenig. As I mentioned earlier, the interview with Walter was good for both of us and made for some great television.
    I suppose no discussion of
Raw Nerve
is complete without talking about . . . the chair.
    My talk show was going to be a different kind of talk show. I didn’t want blue cards, I didn’t want to prepare, I didn’t want a sidekick (although I reconsidered that after meeting Jenna Jameson), and I sure as hell didn’t want some boring old desk and a couch.
    So I designed the S chair.
    The S chair for me represents the whole show. We could not get any closer, any more personal, any more intimate. My guests are not even eighteen inches from my face. They must engage me, and
answer the questions.

    FUN FACTNER: William Shatner starred in a 1975 made-for-TV movie called
The Tenth Level
, which dramatized Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiments. Shatner knows what he’s doing when it comes to getting people to do what he wants them to do.
    The S chair is almost a love seat. A love seat/hot seat! It’s shaped like an S, with each participant facing the other in their respective S loops. Normally, such intimacy involving a chair will leave its occupants with a cleaning, several new fillings, and a new toothbrush. The only way
Raw Nerve
could be more intimate would be if I ditched the chair entirely and just replaced it with a bed.
    Don’t think I haven’t thought about it. (See Jenna Jameson.)
    But I decided to go with the chair. (See Meat Loaf.)

CHAPTER 21
RULE: Birds of a Feather Flock Together. But They Make for Dull Football Parties.
    I mentioned earlier in
Shatner Rules
that I often hold salons at my house—evenings where creative thinkers from many fields get together and share ideas and philosophies. These are very enriching experiences for me.
    But when I get tired of all that enrichment, I whip up some nachos, crack open a few beers, and throw football parties on Monday nights.
    It’s a tradition with me. There are about twenty guys who are regulars at my house for this, and the occasional special guest. I love to put different people together in the same room, and my football nights are a perfect vehicle for that. I mean, you will already be shouting at the screen—why not invite some guests who might encourage a little shouting at one another?
    And after meeting him on the set of
Raw Nerve
, I decided that