William Shatner on Getting Shoved in the Face by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Auctioning His Kidney Stone for $75,000
William Shatner sits down with Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes on Dropping Names and opens with the moment he still cannot let go of, the time Neil deGrasse Tyson answered him on camera by putting a hand in his face and pushing, hard enough that Shatner went backwards. From there he gets into the…
Two moments from this episode
Altman, Miller Lite and Ann Arbor
Jonathan worked with Robert Altman on a Miller Lite beer commercial shot in Ann Arbor, Michigan, complete with improvisation and overlapping dialogue. As a fan, he wondered why a director he admired was shooting a commercial at all, and Altman gave him a straightforward answer. Jonathan says he has been trying to land another commercial ever since.
“He said, Jonathan, the money in commercials is great.”
Neil's Wrestler Move
While shooting publicity with Neil deGrasse Tyson for a show they were doing together, Bill disagreed about whether they had the take, and Neil simply pushed his face away instead of arguing. Bill says Neil is so physical, a former wrestler, that the shove took the place of words, and he was taken so far aback that he fell backward. Afterward their producer had a quiet word with Neil about it.
“Neil, you can't push somebody in the face.”
Names dropped in this episode
46 names come up in this episode, in the order they are mentioned.
Leonard Nimoy
American actor and director, famous for playing Spock in the Star Trek franchise for over 40 years Wikipedia ↗
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Austrian and American actor, businessman, film producer, politician, and former professional… Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Bernhard Holub · CC BY-SA 4.0
Guy Fieri
American restaurateur, author, and television presenter Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Big Red Liquors · CC BY 3.0
Marlon Brando
American actor Wikipedia ↗
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Maryland GovPics · CC BY 2.0
Alexander Skarsgård
Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård is a Swedish actor Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Veggiegalaxy · CC BY-SA 4.0
Stephen Hawking
English theoretical astrophysicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre… Wikipedia ↗
Isaac Newton
English polymath who was a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, historian and… Wikipedia ↗
Albert Einstein
German-born theoretical physicist best known for developing the theory of relativity Wikipedia ↗
Christopher Columbus
Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four Spanish transatlantic… Wikipedia ↗
Thomas Edison
American inventor and businessman known for his work on the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph… Wikipedia ↗
Luigi Mangione
American former software engineer known for killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in 2024 Wikipedia ↗
Brian May
English musician, animal welfare activist, and astrophysicist Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 4.0
Peter Frampton
English musician who rose to prominence as a member of the rock bands The Herd and Humble Pie Wikipedia ↗
Rick Wakeman
English keyboardist and composer best known for his multiple tenures in the progressive rock band Yes… Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Stéphane Gallay · CC BY 2.0
Bootsy Collins
William Earl "Bootsy" Collins is an American bass guitarist, singer, and songwriter Wikipedia ↗
Photo: MikaV · CC BY-SA 4.0
Judy Collins
American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning nearly seven decades Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Raph_PH · CC BY 2.0
Brad Paisley
American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Crisco 1492 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Judy Garland
American actress, singer, and vaudevillian whose career spanned four decades Wikipedia ↗
Gregory Peck
American actor Wikipedia ↗
John Huston
American and Irish filmmaker and actor Wikipedia ↗
Stanley Kramer
American film director and producer, responsible for making many of Hollywood's most famous "message… Wikipedia ↗
Burt Lancaster
American actor Wikipedia ↗
Spencer Tracy
American actor Wikipedia ↗
Harold Clurman
American theatre director and drama critic Wikipedia ↗
Julie Harris
American actress Wikipedia ↗
Christopher Plummer
Acclaimed actor, played General Chang in Star Trek VI Wikipedia ↗
Yul Brynner
Yuliy Borisovich Briner , known professionally as Yul Brynner , was a Russian and American actor Wikipedia ↗
Albert Salmi
American actor of stage, film, and television Wikipedia ↗
Rod Serling
American screenwriter and television producer, widely known for his live television dramas of the… Wikipedia ↗
Lorne Greene
Ben Cartwright on Bonanza Wikipedia ↗
Howard Da Silva
Howard da Silva was an American actor, singer, and theatre director Wikipedia ↗
Elia Kazan
Elias Kazantzoglou , known as Elia Kazan , was a Greek-American film and theatre director, producer… Wikipedia ↗
Baruch Spinoza
Baruch Spinoza , also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of… Wikipedia ↗
John Keats
English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley Wikipedia ↗
Jeff Bezos
American businessman, and the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon, the… Wikipedia ↗
Elon Musk
Businessman, industrialist, and former public official who is the chief executive officer and largest… Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 4.0
Sam Altman
American entrepreneur and investor who has been the chief executive officer of the artificial… Wikipedia ↗
Photo: 首相官邸ホームページ / Office of the Prime Minister of… · CC BY 4.0
Mr. T
American actor and retired professional wrestler Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Miguel Discart · CC BY-SA 2.0
Diana Nyad
American author, journalist, motivational speaker, and long-distance swimmer Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons.
Listen anywhere
Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube · Audible