William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, and a cab driver 25 years ago

Late Night with Conan O’Brien included many guests stars over its 2,725 episdes, and William Shatner was one of the better ones.

Conan O’Brien, well-known as the funny guy who hosted his own late night show from 1993-2009, uploaded a 25-year-old clip with William Shatner as his guest. Titled “William Shatner Rates Captain Kirk vs. Picard,” the clip is from April 15, 1998 and shows a 68-year-old Shatner looking more like a 40-year-old discussing the Captain Kirk vs. Captain Picard debate which is still going on so many years later.

In it, Shatner hilariously talks about a cab ride Patrick Stewart tried to take in Las Vegas. Stewart is supposed to meet Shatner in a hotel across the street. When he tells the cab driver where he wants to go, the driver tell Stewart to get out of his cab. Stewart refuses.  The driver physically removes Stewart from the car then immediately recognizes him as Captain Picard. The driver then says “Oh, well then I’m lucky because if it was Captain Kirk, I’d really be in trouble.”

William Shatner is known for his great story-telling.

Shatner is such a good storyteller that he can hold fans captive for hours. In this instance, you can’t tell if this story is actually real or not, but it makes for a bit of humor that the audience and O’Brien enjoys. It certainly seems like it actually happened as Shatner starts the story after O’Brien talks about the comparison between Captain Kirk and Captain Picard.

O’Brien then segues into a suggestion for a cage match between the two captains as people would pay a lot of money to see it. Shatner’s trademark wit is on clear display when he says he’s against killing, and he doesn’t want Stewart to die now. It’s a piece of nostalgia, and one Star Trek fans will certainly appreciate as they contemplate who really would have won the cage match back in the day!