News > William Shatner waits by the phone

Written by: Josh Karp 

Poor William Shatner. Having been forced to stand by an watch his old pal Leonard Nimoy get asked back to the Star Trek fold, Shatner has bee once again subjected to immense humiliation. During an onstage conversation at with Nimoy at VegasCon 2007, Shatner was asked if he "had been working a lot…" Check out their poignant, hilarious exchange below, courtesy of SlashFilm:

Nimoy: “How you been, Billy?”

Shatner: “I’ve been pretty good - not as good as you, of course!”

Nimoy: “Been working a lot?”

Shatner (remorsefully): “No, no — I’ve been waiting for the call. I’m hanging by the telephone waiting for the call.”

Nimoy: “I’ll call you”

Shatner: “It’s not the same as J.J.”

Shatner then went on to tell a few stories, then out of nowhere, he launched into a rant about not being cast in the film.

Shatner: “I am not in the movie OK!? Doesn’t bother me. I’m okay about this. It bothers you?”

[crowd yells ‘yeah’]

Shatner: “Write J.J. I don’t understand it! Listen I’m up for an Emmy for Boston Legal. I don’t know whether any of you saw the Roast on Comedy Central — that’s up for an Emmy! I’m up for two Emmys! I’m not in the movie! Is he nuts?”

[a fan yells out ‘mad cow’]

Shatner: “He has mad cow, exactly. Poor J.J. - wonderful director, wonderful writer - he’s got mad cow.”

Hmmm. What do you think? Has Shatner been cast and is simply playing coy, or is the big lug truly on the outside here?