Star Trek legend William Shatner has revealed he boldly went where he had not gone before – on stage when he had a dicky tummy.
He said: "Halfway through the show, disaster struck. In my pants."
The actor – best known as Captain Kirk in the sci-fi series – found himself in trouble on the opening night of his one-man gig.
READ MORE: Star Trek's William Shatner 'devastated' he never made peace with co-star Leonard Nimoy
Shatner, 91, explained: "The first performance of Shatner’s World was an experience the likes of which I had never before encountered.
"Earlier in the day, I had woken up in all sorts of, shall we say, gastrointestinal distress. I was losing fluids and worse from every part of my body and was barely even able to imbibe water.
"Somehow, by the evening, I was able to pull myself together enough to physically get to the theatre, but I was not entirely sure I’d be able to go onstage.
"This was opening night. It was a packed house. The critics were waiting to write their reviews. What was I supposed to do?"
The Canadian-born star said he has "started to take a philosophical view of hardship” later in life and resolved that the show would go on."
He continued: "Boldly, I took my place on the stage and attacked the material with panache. The response was terrific; the audience was eating it up.
"Then, about halfway through the show, disaster struck. In my pants.
"’Hold up,’ I told the audience. ‘We seem to have a small technical difficulty. Please bear with us; I’ll be right back.’
"I raced off the stage and up the stairs to my dressing room."
In his new book Boldly Go, Shatner said he refused to be put off by Klingons on the starboard bow.
He added: "A quick shower and change of underwear later, and I was back in front of the audience. I was not going to be defeated by defecation in my Dockers!
"The rest of the show went without incident. To my great satisfaction, the reviews (which were great) didn’t even mention the ‘technical difficulty’ that had paused the show for 10 minutes.
"I performed Shatner’s World on Broadway for just under a month before taking the show on a national and later international tour."
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