William Shatner Got In Trouble With Star Trek Fans Because Of SNL
In 1986, William Shatner hosted SNL and participated in a sketch that would forever change his relationship with the Star Trek fandom. The infamous “Get a Life” sketch was laughed at by some Trekkies and reviled by others. While Shatner had no hand in writing the sketch, he later confessed that much of it felt like his own words bubbling up to the surface.
The Original Nerds
Star Trek fans were the original nerds. Comic book conventions have existed in some form since 1964, but Star Trek was the first fandom to have a convention of its own. Basically, modern geekdom as we know it wouldn’t exist without Star Trek fans.
That’s why those fans really took it to heart when William Shatner—a man they practically worship—made fun of them on a show as popular as SNL.
The Sketch
The sketch itself is set at a Star Trek convention. We are introduced to three Trekkers arguing over minute details in Trek lore. The late Phil Hartman comes out as the con’s MC and introduces Captain Kirk to thunderous applause. It’s here that William Shatner’s SNL appearance takes a drastic turn.
Things Get Ugly
After being asked a couple of nit-picky questions by the Trekkers from earlier, Shatner erupts and starts insulting the crowd. “Having received all your letters over the years, and I’ve spoken to many of you, and some of you have traveled… y’know… hundreds of miles to be here, I’d just like to say… GET A LIFE, will you people?”
William Shatner’s blunt words sting the crowd of Star Trek fans, but the SNL sketch gets nastier from there.
“I mean, for crying out loud, it’s just a TV show!” Shatner continues. “I mean, look at you, look at the way you’re dressed! You’ve turned an enjoyable little job, that I did as a lark for a few years, into a COLOSSAL WASTE OF TIME!”
Never Been Kissed
The stunned crowd gasps as William Shatner delivers a coup de grâce to then-SNL cast member Jon Lovitz: “You must be almost 30. Have you ever kissed a girl?”
Later in the sketch, Shatner even mentions the trope of nerds living in their parents’ basement, telling all the Star Trek fans to move out and get their own apartments. Clearly, the sketch was supposed to be a joke, but it was an incredibly mean one.
Geek culture might be mainstream now, but at the time, things like Star Trek were incredibly niche. Shows like Stranger Things might make playing Dungeons & Dragons look cool, but back in the day, it was anything but.
People who were into D&D and Star Trek were treated harshly by folks who just didn’t “get it.” William Shatner may have thought he was affectionately ribbing the Star Trek fandom with his SNL sketch, but some fans took it more seriously than others.
Shatner Changed His Mind
Eventually, Shatner changed his mind about Star Trek fans. In his 1999 memoir—cheekily titled Get a Life, William Shatner admitted that he once felt exactly like the man he played in that infamous SNL sketch but had since changed his mind.
“To be brutally, humiliatingly honest,” Shatner said in the book, “that now-infamous ‘Saturday Night Live’ sketch was for me, at that time, equal parts comedy and catharsis. I was oblivious to the facts. I bought into the ‘Trekkie’ stereotypes. In a nutshell, I was a dope.”
William Shatner has since embraced the Star Trek fandom and no longer harbors the ill will toward it he did when he hosted SNL almost 40 years ago.
While some fans still have a low opinion of Shatner—mostly stemming from his mistreatment of several of his Trek co-stars—for the most part, the community has embraced him right back. He is Captain Kirk after all and no amount of calls to “Get a life!” will ever change that.
