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In 2004, US radio hosting team Greg Hughes and Anthony Cumia, known as "Opie and Anthony" conducted a live telephone interview with Bill Shatner. Perhaps inspired by the toupological tensions of the notorious MJ Kelli incident, at one point, applauding the actor's performance in the 1960 Twilight Zone episode "Nick of Time" (see our toupological analysis here) one of the DJs, noted "...and your hair looks fantastic in it!" Therein followed a brief pause, after which Bill Shatner asked "Say that again?" Sadly, the issue was not followed up and a potentially important moment of toupological discussion was missed. Listen to the clip below:

The compliment seems genuine (our toupological analysis also applauded Bill Shatner's hair in this installment) but also appears to be just a little provocative, hoping to broach a subject that has struck a paralyzing terror into even the most seasoned and probing interviewer. Hughes and Cumia do not pursue the matter, perhaps afraid of being crushed by the weight of Bill Shatner's personality.


Truth is, the entire interview (which can be heard in two parts on YouTube) is a little odd. Bill Shatner evidently can take all manner of banter directed at him (half of his career is built on that!), including banter levelled at his toupee (see the Comedy Central Roast), but what is clear from this interview is that if you show just a little obsequiousness or uncertainty or amateurishness or a dark undertones that seek mere mockery (as one of the DJs evidently does), he will destroy you.


A better example of this can be heard here, in which a director in a sound recording studio evidently does not know what he wants from Bill Shatner. The actor, quite rightly in our view, tears the wimpy director a new one. The guy ends up apologizing for even trying to do his job while Bill Shatner, very calmly, even makes the humiliated director admit that he does not know what he is doing - Shats really does shred the guy to pieces and it is a joy to behold!

But back to the above clip. Did Bill Shatner really not hear the question? Or did he hear it, but go into a kind of shock at the audacity of toup? Or did he hear the question and simply pretend that he didn't? Let us know what you think...

UPDATE: In January 2010, Bill Shatner was again interviewed, this time in the studio, by Opie and Anthony - listen here.