Jul 28th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Shatner Does The Palin Farewell Speech
I haven’t blogged on Sarah Palin’s bizarre farewell speech, but Conan O’Brien’s inspired idea to stage a dramatic reading by William Shatner has wakened me from my dogmatic slumbers:
Of course the definitive bizarre Shatner vocal performances can be found on his album The Transformed Man. Check out “Hey Mr Tambourine Man”.
28 Responses to “Shatner Does The Palin Farewell Speech”
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July 28th, 2009 at 10:19 am
No “hey” in the title, just “Mr Tambourine Man”. Kinda of a big hit for Bob Dylan and the Byrds. Now get off my lawn, please.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:22 am
As far as I’m concerned, they don’t come any bigger than William Shatner. The entire world should shut down for a week when that inevitable day comes that he leaves this good earth.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:25 am
As Betty White so brilliantly said, it was his job to explore the universe, not to fill it. She also reminded him that they make 2% milk these days.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Shatner looks (and sounds) hella good for a man of 78 years old.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:43 am
For my money Shatner’s greatest performance of all time is Rocket Man at some Sci-Fi award show in the 70s.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Shatner makes me smile.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Josh beat me to it, but it gives me a chance to point out Stewie Girffin’s version of Shatner’s Rocketman.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:11 am
‘Cause sometimes meta is bettah.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Josh beat me to it, but it gives me a chance to point out Stewie Girffin’s version of Shatner’s Rocketman.
Fuck Stewie Griffin. Family Guy is horrible, and everything that is wrong with modern animation. Stewie Griffin isn’t fit to wipe cartoon Shatner’s ass.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Curly: I’m not that passionate about it (yeah, it’s not that good a show, and it really got worse after being uncanceled, but I think that the problems with modern animation lie elsewhere) but Family Guy was kinda ripping off (or doing an homage to?) Chris Elliot’s version of William Shatner’s version of Rocket Man on David Letterman.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:30 am
‘Cause sometimes meta is bettah.
In general, “pop-culture references” in 2009 are what ‘drug humor’(e.g., “Dave ain’t here, man”) was by 1982–overused, hacky, and just completely unfunny. I do not feel there is any more juice left in that particular lemon.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:33 am
(continuing from 10) …although after looking back at Chris Elliott’s version, not really, the Family Guy was a pretty straight version of William Shatner’s version, whereas Chris Elliott added a second layer of weirdness on top of it.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Believe it or not, Shatner’s most recent CD, “Has Been,” is actually really, really good. Not bad good; good good. Check it out — someone gave it to me for a gift and I was genuinely surprised.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Global warming. The speech was about Global Warming. 150 degrees hotter. Merciless rivers are rushing and carving. Mother Nature wins. North -to the future.
Brilliant. The speech was brilliant. It was subliminal. It was sublime. It was speechwriterless.
Palin code. Get used to it.
July 28th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Shatner looks (and sounds) hella good for a man of 78 years old.
Wow, Jesus, you’re right, I looked this up after you mentioned it but I never would have guessed.
July 28th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Let me add my voice for Has Been. It’s a fantastic piece of work. Personal, poetic, ironic, with a twist. The headlining performance of Common People is fantastic, but there are so much more from You ll Have Time to It Hasn’t Happened Yet to What Have You Done.
July 28th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
[...] Via LGM, which correctly identifies this as being nothing short of genius: Secondary H/T: Yglesias [...]
July 28th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
4 and 15:
Really? I thought at any moment his face would burst and the collagen spew out all over the stage… he has a grotesque, plasticized visage in my eyes.
But he’s a hella entertaining guy at any age.
July 28th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Shatner’s appearances on pre-Sirius Howard Stern radio were very funny. It seemed the whole “Star Trek” cast (save Nimoy) despised him especially “Sulu” (whatever the hell his name is). And, he also claimed to have gotten to *3d base with Nichelle Nichols (”Uhura”)
July 28th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
It’s gonna be a long, long time before we’re rid of Palin.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
The heart wants what it wants.
Even if it wants fatuous self-involvement and teh stupid.
Sarah Palin: when commonsense is too much to hope for.
(Paid for by Howling Humanity for Sarah Palin 2012)
July 28th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
19:
George Takei was the name of the actor who played Sulu.
July 28th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
he also claimed to have gotten to *3d base with Nichelle Nichols (”Uhura”)
I’ve never been clear what the bases are, except for first and home. And the different versions I’ve gotten over the years seem to have changed over time. So what’s the current understanding?
July 28th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
[...] H/T: Yglesias UPDATED: To use official NBC [...]
July 28th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
So what’s the current understanding?
This actually seems like a pretty important question. Has the metaphor been re-calibrated to fit current sexual practices? (I’m not even sure I want to know what counts as “home” for teh kids today. Please don’t let involve animal sacrifice.)
July 28th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Because NBC would rather assert their copyright privilege than give their new Tonight Show host the full benefit of publicity through viral video, they’ve gotten the Youtube video removed.
The Hulu link is here.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
[...] Matthew Yglesias: Of course the definitive bizarre Shatner vocal performances can be found on his album The Transformed Man. Check out “Hey Mr Tambourine Man”. [...]
July 29th, 2009 at 12:33 am
Really, how stupid are the people who run network TV? What did they do, hire all the people who got fired from GM for incompetence?
Wow, millions of people are watching a clip and giving our program massive free publicity- we must put a stop to this at once.
Same with the Obama concert- if they’d left those up, while maybe insisting on putting an HBO banner on each one, what kind of benefits would that have reaped?