An interesting moment during an April 27th 2010 interview by Joy Behar of "The Joy Behar Show" (on CNN's sister network HLN), with Bill Shatner. After showing Shats a clip from the Star Trek episode "This Side of Paradise", Behar asks:
"Tell me - does [Nimoy] ever regret that hairdo?"
Shatner laughs before replying:
"It's mine I was worried about!"
Watch below (fuller exchange here in which Shats, seemingly lightening up in old age, also cracks a joke about his weight) :
The question is: what did Bill Shatner mean by that? Truth is, the statement seems like one of those completely meaningless jokes a person makes from time to time in public; once you've made it and seen the other person inexplicably laugh, you wonder what the hell you just said. In Bill Shatner's case, making a joke about his hair adds a whole other layer of meaning.
Surely, Bill Shatner wasn't saying "I'm the one that wore a toupee! It's worrying about that, which consumed my time, not Nimoy's bowl-shaped do!"?
Or was it, conversely, an affirmation of the 'hair is real' falsehood: "I, with my very real hair had an interesting hairstyle too."?
Entire books could be written about this tiny exchange (The William Shatner School of Toupological Studies is already working on several), analyzing both overt and unintended meaning. What was consciously said? What slipped out unconsciously? Did Bill Shatner, as he appears to, realize the weight of what he had said the second it came out? One thing is sure: Bill Shatner is a master of his craft - like any great performer, his toupee revelations always leave the audience wanting more!
Surely, Bill Shatner wasn't saying "I'm the one that wore a toupee! It's worrying about that, which consumed my time, not Nimoy's bowl-shaped do!"?
Or was it, conversely, an affirmation of the 'hair is real' falsehood: "I, with my very real hair had an interesting hairstyle too."?
Entire books could be written about this tiny exchange (The William Shatner School of Toupological Studies is already working on several), analyzing both overt and unintended meaning. What was consciously said? What slipped out unconsciously? Did Bill Shatner, as he appears to, realize the weight of what he had said the second it came out? One thing is sure: Bill Shatner is a master of his craft - like any great performer, his toupee revelations always leave the audience wanting more!
I am fully convinced, that in the day of his death, his final words will be about hair considerations.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is his he was using the comment - knowing that it was Nimoy's actual hair - to imply his was real too.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think Shatner will take the question of his hair all the way to the grave. He may be mindful of Michael Jackson's recent passing (where the autopsy was published which confirmed that Jackson was largely bald).
Remember that incident where Shatner threw out reporters who were doing a story on Nimoy when they were in the dressing room so that Shatner's "makeup secrets" wouldn't be revealed to non-showbiz people. So he was being truthful here. He was worried about his hair at that time of the original series and being exposed as bald.
ReplyDeleteThanks, RM - more on that incident
ReplyDeletehere -ST
I think he's trying to imply that his hair, like Nimoy's, was indeed really.
ReplyDeleteHow bold of him to make this move!
But you know what they say: the most convincing lies are those that are closest to the truth.
Clever, Bill. Very subtle and well played, really.
The plugs gave him confidence to make fun comments about the hair. "you see, not a toupee now... but, back then.."
ReplyDeleteMarc, that's exactly what I think. The plugs made this matter less worrying for The Shat. It was just after these implants that he started to make fun or be more calm about toupological issues. The "Do I wear a toupee?" question, would never appear in the "Lost Years", for example, you know...
ReplyDeleteYeah, in the Lost Years, a sudden and strong wind would make Bill lose his boldness!
ReplyDeletewilliam, what a darn good lier! Worried about what hair. By 1965, and star trek, he had been mostly wearing a syrup, for 7 years. The hair, he had left, was bum fluff, with a tiny frontal mini quiff. Which would have gone, by the last series, as he was shiny bald by then.
ReplyDeleteJoy B. makes "jokes" but there is a cruelty behind them many times. I truly think she was making a dig at Nimoy. Shatner's response about his hair I believe was directed to Nimoy who is in the know about Shatner's little makeup secrets. How this woman got her own show or any show is beyond me because she is so ill prepared as an interviewer.
ReplyDelete