Watch Seth MacFarlane’s Kirk Impression From ‘Real Time’ February 21, 2010
by Anthony Pascale , Filed under: Celebrity, Humor, TOS , trackback
Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane regularly shows his love for Star Trek with the regular references to Trek on his shows, including the most recent episode of Family Guy. Seth was a guest on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, where (on request) he gave a near-perfect (and very Shatner-esque) recitation of a Captain Kirk speech. Watch it below.
A Taste of MacFarlane’s Trek
The panel on Real Time was discussing Senate filibusters, and host Bill Maher was saying he though they were too easy these days, which reminded him an episode of Star Trek, prompting the following from MacFarlane…
[Go to 5:30 mark to see Trek part]
The speech MacFarlane was reciting was from the original Star Trek episode "A Taste of Armageddon", here is the clip from the original series.
Watch the the entire “A Taste of Armageddon” at YouTube
Paramount: Let MacFarlane make his Wrath of Khan parody
MacFarlane has made it clear he wants to do a Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan parody episode, like he has done for two Star Wars movies. In those cases he has had the cooperation of LucasFilm, but says he doesn’t think Paramount will allow him to take on Trek. MacFarlane (who appeared twice on Star Trek Enterprise, see clip below) has shown he has a love for Star Trek and would surely treat it with respect. What is the possible harm? It could only help spread the love of Trek to a wider audience.
Make it so
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Comments»
i love this guy!
Seth is awesome. I love him… I mean REALLY love him. If I had a uterus I would want to have his babies.
That was so epic ahaha I love a man who can quote Star Trek!
I love him LOL
That is… fantastic. Man, I really hope he’s able to do a full length ST parody movie; he’d be fantastic.
Holy crud, I had no IDEA he’d been on ENT! Wow! Now I have to go back and watch those episodes…. I love “The Forgotten”; it’s a great one.
MacFarlane’s Kirk impression was scarily spot on. He’s sooo good with voices! It’s amazing. x3
I go back & forth on McFarlane -
He’s clearly a talented guy, but his shows so frequently choose the low road – a cheap insult gag or a gross out. I find it impossible to sit through a full 30 minutes (or 23 minutes, really!) episode of Family Guy or American Dad.
The Star Wars parodies, however, were pretty damned good & I agree with Anthony’s “What Would it Harm?”
……but could it ever beat the Trek Futurama episode? Ah – there’s the question.
God he does a great Kirk. I wish Paramount would let him take on Khan, it could be great, probably better than the Star Wars ones I think.
agreed about TWOK – itd probably open the door to alot of viewers who had never seen it to go rent it buy it and discover the awesomeness of Trek II – then become fans and buy all the rest
FG going TWOK is the kind of publicity you cant buy!! esp for a 30 year old film!!
he NAILED IT !!!!! NAILEDDDD IT !
Oh yea !
Damn Paramount…. Just let him do the parody video ! It’ll help open up the franchise to new markets. Possibly set up the sequels anticipation level even higher !
He did more William Statner than Captain Kirk. If you watch the actual speech, you can see he greatly exaggerated the speech patterns. Later on, as Captain Kirk became more William Statner (”I need my pain!”) they became one and the same. I think Shatner did a great, more restrained Captain Kirk in the first two seasons. Then the dam broke and he was all Shatner.
I think McFarlane could do with a little bit more nasality in his kirk. Maybe it was the tinny 1960’s microphones, but kirk’s voice it a few octaves higher than McFarlane’s silky smooth mocha latte tones.
jeeez nitpicking an impersonation! of course MacFarlane hams it up, he is a comedy guy and that made it funny. He is really doing Kevin Pollack doing Shatner. What is impressive is that Maher says ‘remember that episode’ and he can recite the speech almost perfectly.
Was there some helium in the air in that Taste of Armageddon clip (everyone sounded a little higher-pitched than normal)?
I never knew Bill Maher was a ST fan.
Impersonation: beautiful. Just … beautiful.
Obviously staged setup for impersonation: also beautiful. But “impressive?” Oh my. And professional wrestling is all real :)
so funny! and how iconic is it that the other guest so totally got the humor also and enthusiastically applauded his impersonation.
is it just me or does the A TASTE OF ARM clip appear sped up by a percent or two? the pitch sounds higher.
no, no, i’m not nitpicking. lol.
as always, Anthony, thanks so much for sharing the fun around here.
Patrick,
I agree, the Star Trek clip has to be sped up. Kirk’s voice was never that high!
Absolutely epic.
Seth Rocks!
Star Trek II Family Guy parody would be FANTASTIC!!! Hope it happens.
That was a pretty impressive Kirk, Seth.
I think Seth has tremendous talent. I still think The Cleveland Show is beyond awful, however. I’d love to see McFarlane delegate some of the work, cause he’s spread mighty thin.
can we start a petition to send to paramount for getting Seth to do TWOK parody?
What’s with William Shatner’s voice in the clip? It seems like everyone elses voices are more or less OK but Mr. Shatner’s seems like it is faster than everyone elses, almost like a Alvin and the Chipmonks episode.
11 — I agree on the Shat/Kirk thing. S.M.is a funny guy. He was pretty good in the last Hellboy.
Man that was a great episode. And, yeah, kirks voice was higher and faster than I’d remembered.
well anyone concerned about the embed clip pitch can click the link below it and watch the whole episode on youtube
What a great premise for an episode. Trek was simply ahead of its time for ’60s network TV.
I’ve said before and I’ll say it on my deathbed:
“A Taste of Armageddon” features the SINGLE, GREATEST KIRK SPEECH…
…EVER!!!
Take that one to the bank.
I laughed at them laughing at MacFarlane. From memory, that was rock solid Kirk quotation, but the Trekkie in me, I was like “That doesn’t sound 100% totally right … he forgot a word or two”. And of course, I was like “Oh Kirk, “Prime Directive my arse!” this is one of my favorites, and man, he really skips the P.D. here, but what better option was there?
SPB
if you went to the bank, they would tell you that this is the the King of all Kirk speeches
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toG6aSQFF7Y
Don’t take that to the bank just yet. Anyone knows Kirk’s greatest speech was in “Return To Tomorrow”.
“Risk is our business. That’s what this Starship is all about!”
Anthony, You beat me to it by seconds!
“THATS WHY WERE ABOARD HER ” (aboard Anthony Pascale’s Trekmovie.com)
30 – Anthony — this one from “Metamorphosis” (one of Trek’s most poignant episodes) was always one of my favorites.
Shatner should have gotten an Emmy for it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wydImOk57Y&feature=related
Great impersonation of Kirk by Seth McFarlane!
I too would like to see a Family Guy spoof of TWOK, but it isn’t going to happen for various legal reasons.
perhaps a slow news day ‘great kirk monologs’ article
36 – Anthony — that would be awesome. Don’t forget “Let me help” from COTEOF!
“above all else, a god… must have… COMPASSION!”
<3 Seth, thanks for posting!
Sorry – “needs”
Not a speech, but the line that springs to mind when I think of Kirk.
Seth did a great Shatner!
I may try one of these on my boss for some extra vacation time.
I am not a fan of Seth McFarlane! He uses his show to take cheap shots at people!
#42 Careful what you wish for! You may end up getting some extra vacation time….permanantly. :-)
Anthony:
I love “Risk is our business…” too, but there are a few too many hammy, stereotypical Shatnerisms in that one for my taste.
The Shat was downright SUBTLE is Season One, in comparison! But yes, a “Top 10 Kirk Speeches” article would be awesome indeed!
#45: “a “Top 10 Kirk Speeches” article would be awesome indeed!”
Heck yeah.
#45 I third that!
Paramount being unwilling to let Macfarlane make fun of their franchise is just ludicrous. Youre not going to let a the creators of one the most popular shows with young people essentially make an hour long fan letter to the franchise? How would that not promote a younger, more diverse audience? People would go OH! I haven’t seen that movie, let me netflix it! And then they’ll watch it, think its great and then rewatch ST09 and we’ll have that much a larger audience next time a new series or movie or whatever comes around, thus PERPETUATING THE LIFE OF THE FRANCHISE!!!
Mr. Seth McFarlane … a frakking *Titan* among us fanboys and -girls. God love him. Just recently saw the “Family Guy” repeat in which Stewie takes the cast of TNG through the Mickey D’s drive-thru. “FG” is, without a doubt, the most side-splittingly funny animated series I’ve ever seen. Long live McFarlane!
I like this Kirk montage;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YsPv56XiiY
I’ve been a fan of Seth MacFarlane and admired his many talents since I first saw Family Guy, even though his MacFarlane is spelled incorrectly! :)
Lee McFarlane
Oh, and incidentally, ‘McFarlane’ was one of the historians / archaeologists mentioned in ST TNG (don’t recall the title of the episode) so perhaps they meant Seth (or me!)
Lee McFarlane
(if I keep typing someone will notice!)
it was QPid by the way, episode 20 of season 4 :)
haha, funny stuff :)
That’s actually one of my favourite episodes from the Original Series!
Let’s hope Paramount allows Seth MacFarlane to make the Parody of The Wrath of Khan
Video has been removed due to a copyright claim by HBO.
.
The video is no longer available…
Pity…
.
Seth’s a little too vitriolic for my taste… I can’t stand him or Bill Maher.
However, his Star Wars parodies are fantastic, and tasteful. His Shatner bit was indeed clever, and I think Paramount could make some decent money allowing him to do a parody.
I just think Seth is a bit too hateful for something as great as Trek to be associated with.
Drat….HBO pulled it.
I also loved “In every revolution…there is one man with a vision! in Mirror Mirror
and I love his’ E Plebnista’ speech in Omega Glory.
That clip from “A Taste Of Armageddon” reminds me of how cool Kirk and Spock’s boots were from the original series, the heel is what makes it!
It was clearly staged.
Though I thought it was all in good fun.
And while I would not go so far as to say I “love” Seth MacFarlane, I understand that he is in the business of satire. Being provocative is his livelihood and he will continue to offend as long as FOX is paying him to do so. This is not the first time “Family Guy” has drawn the ire of the chattering classes. Remember the tasteless AIDS song? Or the racial humor that totally backfired? Or the accusations that MacFarlane is an anti-semite?
He does not represent the Star Trek franchise. Even if Paramount lets him do a TWOK parody, his views are his own. It will not affect the development of future Star Trek productions anymore than “Spaceballs” affected the Star Wars prequels.
Get Seth involved in the next TREK movie…he totally rocks!!!
i have added another embed, but you have to advance it to the right part (at the 5:30 mark)
60. JohnWA – February 22, 2010
It was clearly staged
Yeah, he set him up for that. I know it served it’s purpose but there are many greater Kirk speeches.
He sounds nothing like William Shatner. I have heard far better impersonations. The family guy dude is pretty over rated, and i really hated his interview with george lucas.
Bring on the the ‘10 Best Kirk Speeches’ article!
Wow, that was nearly word-for-word and very in Shatner-Kirk style.
I agree that Family Guy has taken the low road since its return from cancellation. Sometimes I think Seth wants to get cancelled again. =P However, the movie and the two Star Wars episodes were pure gold, and I think he could do the same to Trek.
Also, I love that his big part in that episode is getting chewed out by Trip. LOL