Shatner Beams Down For Talk With Limbaugh and Philbin

Captain Kirk is a darned commanding interviewer.
William Shatner beams down for season two of  “Shatner’s Raw Nerve” on the Bio channel Dec. 6 for interesting, insightful conversations with Rush Limbaugh and Regis Philbin.
On his show Shatner aims to touch on the “raw nerves” of his subjects. In his half-hour with Limbaugh, topics include Rush’s struggle with addiction to OxyContin and his brush with deafness, which threatened to end his career in broadcasting. Like Limbaugh, Shatner had a debilitating experience with tinnitus, and the men bond over the common affliction.
Limbaugh also tells of feeling like the black sheep of his family because of his early non-conformity. His grandfather was an extremely dignified lawyer who stressed education.  Limbaugh dropped out of college to pursue his dream of becoming a DJ.
In a touching moment, Limbaugh shows Shatner a Christmas present he received as 9 year old: A Remco Caravelle transmitter that broadcast his voice for 500 feet on an AM frequency. Only his parents were listening, but “I was on the radio,” Rush gushes.
Shatner’s attempts to argue politics with the conservative talker are less productive,
With Philbin, Shatner digs into one of his guest’s long-lasting insecurities. It seems that while Philbin pursued a career in showbiz, he wasn’t sure exactly what talent he possessed.
While interviewing for a job as Joey Bishop’s talk show sidekick, the rat-packer revealed Philbin’s talent lay in being a great listener.
In another interesting story, Philbin tells of how he invited an astrologer on the first episode of one of his early TV talk shows and asked for a prediction about whether or not the show would be a success. The prediction was failure. After the show was renewed for a second 13-week stint, Philbin had the astrologer on again. This time he forecast that the show would be canceled within 48 hours. Indeed, Philbin was called into a meeting 36 hours later, and the prediction came true. On the last episode of the show, Philbin had the astrologer on yet again. This time he predicted that Philbin would become a name known in households throughout America, but it would take 20 years. Sure enough, in 1989, “Live” became the No. 1 show in its timeslot.
Other guests on “Raw Nerve” this season will include Mackenzie Phillips, Larry Flynt, Weird Al Yankovic and Tony Danza.
Shatner may be the butt of jokes regarding his acting, singing and commercial endorsements, but his conversations on “Raw Nerve” are seriously compelling.