At the start of an interview, I often ask people what they had for breakfast. That way I can check the audio level of my recording.
Here’s how William Shatner answered that question by phone from Los Angeles: "I had a paleo diet breakfast. Eggs, a cooked celery root and a couple pieces of chicken. It’s very tasty and the results are almost immediate you start losing water retention."
That Paleo pitch doesn’t have quite the flair of Shatner’s famous Priceline commercials, but still the guy can sell it. He’s done a remarkable job of selling himself. At 84, he’s stayed fairly relevant as a cultural figure. "Star Trek," after all, was on in 1966 and only for 3 seasons.
"I understand that the celebrity I have was given to me by 'Star Trek' and here we are 50 years later, you and I are talking about it," Shatner said. "It’s a phenomena."
Shatner is on tour with his one-man show "Shatner’s World: We Just Live in It," which had a successful Broadway run in 2012. He brings the show to San Diego's Balboa Theatre on Jan. 28.
Shatner is almost a San Diego regular, having been to Comic-Con International many times. Though a classically trained actor, pop and fan culture is his bread and butter. He has more than 2 million followers on Twitter, where he’s not afraid to stoke emotions with 140 characters.
"It’s all in fun really, except for those psychopaths who say these terrible things," Shatner said. "They’re anonymous so they feel like they can get away with it."
When the "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" was in everyone’s news feeds, Shatner made sure he was, too. He kept tweeting that "Star Trek is better."
The headlines followed. The Huffington Post wrote: "William Shatner Disses Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
"All this is tongue and cheek, except that the truth is 'Star Trek' is better than 'Star Wars,'" Shatner said. "Who knows, it’s all entertaining. You might enjoy 'Star Wars' more than me, but I enjoy 'Star Trek' more."
Of course, Shatner has had other TV roles. There was "T.J. Hooker" and "The Practice." He’s written books, made albums, designed a motorcycle and a watch. He’s working on screenplays, making a documentary and he’ll do a Christmas album next year.
But for the next couple of months, his creative energy is focused on touring "Shatner’s World."
"This show is the culmination of a totality of skills that I’ve garnered over the years," Shatner said. "Boy, that was pompous, wasn’t it?"
Shatner’s sense of humor is a big part of the show. He also sings in his signature, halting style. He can sell you on the rest.
"It involves my storytelling, it involves my life, it involves my theatricality, it involves my imaginative process by which I can hold your attention," Shatner said. "So many things are going on in this show."
For example, Shatner tells the story of his first big break, at the prestigious Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada. He was understudy for Christopher Plummer as "Henry the V." The way the schedule worked, there weren’t any understudy rehearsals. Three nights in, Plummer got sick.
"I went on and I'd never rehearsed, never been on stage, didn't know the actors names," said Shatner. "I'd never said the words out loud, except in the toilet."
He really did practice his lines in the bathroom.
"'Henry the V' has all these declamatory speeches. Well, you got to say it out loud at some point so I'd go to the toilet, flush the toilet, and say the lines," Shatner said.
That night, he got a standing ovation and good reviews.
There are a lot of memories recounted in his show, as well as some musings about life and how one should live it.
"It’s about the affirmation of life, it’s about yes to life, it’s about passion, and experiences that I’ve had that are passionate," Shatner said. "And it's about cherishing the moment, and I’m doing a little cherishing on stage."
William Shatner is not slowing down any time soon — an admirable trait. And as long as he’s still selling it, we as a culture seem to keep buying into some version of "Shatner’s World."
