William Shatner, who gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk on the television series Star Trek and as attorney Denny Crane on the television drama Boston Legal, left a bold statement Wednesday night on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. The 78-year-old actor graced the late night talk show to promote his book, Up Till Now: The Autobiography, as well as his latest comic effort, William Shatner Presents: The Tek War Chronicles, which arrives in stores on June 24. However, the interview was reduced to a farce when he stuck up his middle finger at O’Brien.
Evidently, the former Start Trek star couldn’t do the “live long and prosper” gesture so O’Brien teased Shatner, who reasoned that Leonard Nimoy’s Spock and not his character Captain James T. Kirk is famous for the signal. Still, O’Brien mocked Shatner’s inability to the Vulcan hand gesture, driving Shatner to flip the bird at O’Brien.
“What’s wrong with you?” O’Brien told Shatner after he used his hands to speak volumes.
As expected, TV bosses were forced to blur out Shatner’s gestures during the broadcast of The Tonight Show.
If you missed Wednesday night’s broadcast, you can check out Shatner’s clip in the video below.
Shatner’s appearance marks the first comic-centric guest appearance on The Tonight Show since O’Brien took over on June 1. Shatner and O’Brien share a history way back—with Shatner appearing on Late Night as a guest numerous times over the years.
Meanwhile, the Boston Legal star is also working on the film Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey as the voice of Core, and will be making a cameo in the movie Horrorween.
-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: NBC
(Image courtesy of NBC)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
