William Shatner may have lost out not getting a part in the most recent Star Trek epic, but he certainly hasn’t lost any warp speed as a talk show guest.  As The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien looks to find its sea legs, beyond the ultra-heavy reliance on often forced pre-taped packages and shtick, TGW was happy to see the C man could take on a veteran of a thousand talk wars.  The combination of what was obviously well rehearsed material from Shatner, and Conan’s fearless use of physical comedic reactions, proved to be a winning combination.
Shatner, no stranger to the “plug machine,” came loaded for bear with the paperback release of his latest autobio “Up Till Now,” a new edition of his comic book series, and the season debut of his BIO Channel interview series “Raw Nerve.”  No moss growing under this stone.  But the plugs were mercifully left to the end of the interview.  That gave Shatner the chance to tell cryptic stories about traveling across country and miming the action of relieving himself near a stopped train and offering his own interpretation of a Vulcan hand gesture.  It all sounds pretty juvenile – which it was – but somehow Conan’s innate midwestern pseudo innocence worked like a charm.  In a final demonstration of just how far Conan will go for the laugh, he ended up with his already towering presence, standing on his desk in feigned disgust.  Leaving the show’s director no doubt challenged to figure out just how far he could widen his shot.
The lesson here is that the plugs and pre-interviewed stories on the “blue cards” sometimes aren’t enough.  A talk show appearance is a performance whether the guest likes it or not, and if their agents or publicists are telling them anything different, they’re selling them short.  The talk success bar is on the rise due to renewed competition in late night and constant format tinkering to insure the success of these historic money machines.
Bottom line.  Find your stories, get comfortable with them and then get some feedback from a regular watcher of these shows and kick it all up a notch if you truly want to be a repeatable guest.  Shatner is once again welcome on any TV couch.

Today’s challenge: you’re a successful comic actress in your mid-30s. Your show, which was the highest-rated new sitcom last fall, disappeared like many series under the weight of the writers’ strike, and is about to return. So what do you do? If you’re Christina Applegate star of Samantha Who?, you pop up on Late Night to remind viewers that you’re still here. But what does a guest do when the host is having an off night, with a weak monologue and a luke warm comedy sketch that are your unavoidable lead in?  Take a page from the Applegate Almanac.

First, you adapt to the low-key, if deflated, atmosphere. Then you affirm your status as a Conan fan by asking him why he doesn’t do his “string dance” during the monologue anymore? Following through by engaging your host in a dance duet. Then you have some fun by getting in a crotch joke as you take a shot at your recent Self Magazine cover.

While Applegate has mastered the knack of being sexy and funny, what really serves her well as a guest is her ability to react. She fine tunes her expressions and responses so that they fit the less than perfect mood of the night, while still getting in her own gags and, most importantly, feeding her host with solid set-up lines.

Not every show permits the guest to hit the ball out of the park, but Applegate played to her natural charm, making the audience feel comfortable in what could have been an awkward interview. Typically we’d saddle Applegate with a less than perfect score, but for her careful read of the situation and adaptability to the tone of the show, we give her the maximum grade.