When you have William Shatner, aka Captain James T. Kirk, on your show, you get to ask the Star Trek questions you’ve always wanted answered.
That’s what Bill Maher managed to do on Friday’s Real Time, as he probed one of pop culture’s most interesting moments — the interracial kiss between Captain Kirk and Lt. Uhura.
The moment caused some consternation in the upper reaches of the network before it happened. It was the 1960s, and many Southern TV stations would likely not approve.
But Shatner insisted on the kiss staying in the show. “If you had not insisted,” Maher said…, “It would not have gotten done,” Shatner admitted.
Maher also marveled how far Shatner fell from grace after the first run of Star Trek was canceled after three seasons. Shatner talked about watching the actual moon landing from a pasture while in his truck, his base of operations after a divorce and a lull in work.
How did you fall so fast? Maher asked. “With great precision,” Shatner joked, adding that it was just “circumstances of life.”
Of course, those days are gone for Shatner. He is the subject of the new documentary, You Can Call Me Bill, and the artist behind the upcoming digital album, So Fragile, So Blue, which he recorded live with the National Symphony Orchestra.
He’s also planning a trip to Antarctica, another of his efforts to explore and spotlight his efforts in climate change.
Of the latter, “There’s no way out except through technology,” Shatner said. “There’s a wave coming.” It’s one reason he may consider once again going into space, he said, as a way to “promulgate the idea that there’s so much going on by science and scientists to correct global warming.” He added, “There’s an element of hope I will cling to.”
Maher wrapped up the segment with a mention of Shatner’s age (93) and compliments on how well he looks.
“I don’t mind when you say my age,” Shatner said. “But when they clap…”
After Shatner, Maher had a panel discussion with Piers Morgan, New York Post columnist and host of the YouTube channel’s Piers Morgan Uncensored, and Gillian Tett, provost of King’s College, Cambridge, and columnist at the Financial Times.
The panelists beat the war drums for continuing the conflict in Ukraine and stepping up U.S. support.
They also talked about a protest in Dearborn Michigan that featured chants of “Death to America.” Maher pushed back on those at the protest who said, “The entire system has to go.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Maher countered. “I like our system. I’ve always liked America and thought death to it was bad.”
In Maher’s “New Rules” editorial, he pointed out the falsehoods about Canada and some progressive European countries where the idyllic myth doesn’t jibe with reality, resulting in what Maher termed “zombie lies.”
Maher pointed out several ways that these countries are faring worse in housing, health care, and on immigration issues
“I need to cite you as a cautionary tale: yes, you can move too far left, and you push others to the extreme right,” he said. “Calling something racist doesn’t solve the problem,” Maher said. That opens the door to someone conservative who will act, and “Who I promise, you’re not going to like.”