William Shatner Tells Bill Maher It's Ok to Say How Old He Is, 'but ...
A feisty William Shatner was the top of the show guest on Friday’s episode of “Real Time With Bill Maher,” and the “Star Trek” legend seemed to be having a lot of (good natured) fun at Maher’s expense sort of leaning into being 93 years old.
But at the end of their chat, when Maher remarked on how good Shatner looks (he isn’t wrong, the Captain’s cosmetic surgeon WE ASSUME is clearly a genius) at 93, the audience cheered. And at that, Shatner quipped, “I don’t mind if you say my age, you know. But when they clap….” Which naturally drew huge laughs from the audience.
Before that was of course Maher’s monologue, which covered a range of topics from the week — we know you’re familiar with them. One of the funnier bits from the monologue came when the comedian brought up the draconian abortion ban in Arizona.
A brief catch-up, on Tuesday Arizona’s ultra conservative Supreme Court ruled that all of the state’s abortion laws are void — except one, a total ban that was passed into law in 1864. Yes, 1864. The law does not make exceptions for victims of rape or incest — and why would it, because at the time the law was passed, child rape was legal in Arizona.
“Gotta be careful with your love life, I feel like that’s the theme of the show this week,” Maher said as he launched into the subject. “Because I don’t know if you saw what’s going on an Arizona, anybody here from Arizona of birthing age? Because the Arizona Supreme Court, they breathed new life, ironically into a very old law.”
Maher explained how the law “says basically, abortion absolutely no way no how. That’s been a Republican slogan on abortion.”
Then he quipped, “life begins at reconstruction. Because the law is from 1864. 1864. Lincoln was months away from getting shot. Women and minorities couldn’t vote. The age of consent was 10. Finally we have an answer to the MAGA nation question. When was America great?”
As for the Shatner interview, their chat, ostensibly about Shatner’s new documentary “William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill,” as well as a new album of music he’s releasing, was mainly a chance for him to drop quips in response to Maher’s questions. And yes, he also appeared at times to sort of lose the thread a little. But who cares, he’s 93 right?
It often wasn’t clear if Maher really was getting politely and respectfully exasperated with the experience or if he was playing along — we generously assume the latter. Shatner was often quick with bon mots and made the crowd laugh again and again.
They also discussed some of Shatner’s ‘Trek’ history, including the episode in which he and Nichelle Nichols kissed, which was the first interracial kiss in American TV history. You can watch Shatner and Maher discuss that particular point at the top of the page.
