EVANSVILLE, Ind. — By turns silly, insouciant and serious, William Shatner told story after story from his decades-long career Wednesday night to keep a local audience in stitches.

The man who played Capt. James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek television series and in feature films answered audience questions for an hour after a screening of the 1982 movie, "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" at the Victory Theatre.

But this wasn't a Star Trek fan convention.

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The 88-year-old Shatner threw out plenty of red meat for devotees of the iconic TV and movie franchise, but he also drew liberally on his other entertainment ventures and his life itself. Telling long stories that grew progressively funnier as they built to a climax, he used expert comic timing, pregnant pauses and a deep well of memories to put on a rollicking show.

Howls of laughter greeted Shatner's memory of chasing a horrified, screaming Terry Bradshaw with fermented cod. The two men worked together on the reality-travel show, "Better Late Than Never," with Henry Winkler, George Foreman and Jeff Dye.

"I take another piece of cod, and he sees it in my eyes," Shatner roared through the laughter. "He gets up and starts to run. I run after him. He cuts to his left, he comes out of his shoes, he falls to the ground, and I get the cod. And I'm wiping his head with it! And he's screaming.

"And he tells me later, 'The greatest shame — the worst thing that's ever happened to him — it's not the cod. It's being run down by Shatner!"

In an evening filled with giggles, Shatner turned momentarily serious when the subject turned to Leonard Nimoy, his co-star in the Star Trek franchise and a friend for decades. Shatner wrote a book about their relationship, "Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man."

"He was a brother, due to a number of circumstances," Shatner said of Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock in Star Trek.

Shatner said he and Nimoy were bonded by sharing many experiences in and out of show business.

"He was the brother I never had," he said. "I loved Leonard very, very much."

But Shatner soon turned ridiculous again with an extended tale of a silly practical joke on Star Trek cast member DeForest Kelley, who played Dr. McCoy.

Kelley once confessed to him in all seriousness that he was afraid he might be rapidly losing his memory. After oozing reassurances to his castmate, Shatner responded to the touching revelation with a prank that he said alienated Kelley.

It happened because Kelley loved toasting bagels for breakfast on the Star Trek set, Shatner said. He described becoming more and more amused by the enthusiasm Kelley brought to the endeavor. But when Shatner enlisted Nimoy to distract Kelley twice in a matter of minutes so he could repeatedly swipe the bagels from the toaster, Kelley got agitated.

Not knowing at one point what to do with Kelley's bagel, Shatner simply crammed it into his mouth.

"DeForest comes back, he's waiting for the thing, the thing popped up and there's no... bagel in there!" Shatner thundered. "And now, he doesn't know what to do, he's looking around, and he sees me, and I'm going — 'aaargggh' — and he says, 'Shatner! It was you!' Wasn't it?!'"

"And I said, 'Never mind! Call the doctor, I'm choking!'"

Shatner stopped shouting, pausing for effect as laughter rang throughout The Victory.

"He never forgave me," he said.

After the show, members of the audience smiled broadly at Shatner's talent for regaling them with funny stories.

"I thought he just did an incredible performance — very comical, entertaining, very captivating," said Boonville resident Brad Warthan, who attended Star Trek conventions in his youth.

"He was always a very talented actor with a strong history of, what, 60 years of acting, so I thought it was a great treat to have him here," Warthan said.

At 24, Michelle Huff was unfamiliar enough with Shatner to be surprised by his zany sense of humor.

"I didn't expect him to be like that at all," said Huff, who has watched episodes of Star Trek with her mother, Christina Huff. "I thought he'd be more serious than what he was.

"It was great — I loved all the stuff he shared."

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