Where hasn't he gone before?

What do you think of when you think about William Shatner?

Star Trek's original helmsman, Capt. Kirk, quite possibly. Or perhaps the supercilious spokesman for Priceline.com. Or any of the dozens upon dozens of other roles he has indelibly stamped with his inimitable mix of brio, cadence, and hambone.

Even in his anecdotal one-man show, Shatner's World: We Just Live In It . . ., which he brings to the Merriam Theater this week, the actor can't really convey the scope of his work.

He's a Shakespearean actor who was nominated for an Emmy for playing a horny alien disembodied head on 3rd Rock from the Sun. He has shared the screen with Howdy Doody and Yul Brynner. He's still remembered for an episode of Twilight Zone - "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" - that he shot in 1963. He was a recurring character on Dr. Kildare in the '60s and, just last season, the star of his own network sitcom, the unfortunately titled $#*! My Dad Says on CBS.

The point is that his career has been so lengthy and impossibly protean that Shatner, at 80, is never sure what people are going to associate him with.

He was reminded of this on his most recent visit to Philadelphia several months ago. While in town to pitch a website concept to a group of potential investors, he bought an expensive sports car he had been coveting for years and drove it back across the country with his wife, Elizabeth.

"Every place I stopped for gas, the guy at the pump would point and say, 'You were terrific on [American] Pickers.' Everywhere we went, it was Pickers, Pickers, Pickers."

Shatner had done one episode of the History Channel's collectible-junk feast as a favor to a friend. Like so much of his work, through reruns, it has gained a measure of immortality.

Meanwhile, the original, now octogenarian, version is still drawing big crowds with his road show.

It's tempting to attribute Shatner's enduring popularity to a decisive moment in 1986. During a sketch on Saturday Night Live, he walked into a reverential Star Trek convention and exasperatedly told the assembled fan-boys, "Get a life!"

It was as if hyperdrive engaged, and Shatner instantly rocketed from being a stale and stuffy B actor to becoming an ironic icon who is very much in on the joke of being himself.

One problem with that theory: Shatner doesn't buy it.

"I was always doing comedy, especially in Canada," he says. "In every role I've ever played, I've always looked for what is amusing. For some reason, that line took off and became a touchstone - a T-shirt, as a matter of fact."

Although he has worked in this country for six decades and maintains a home in Los Angeles and a large horse farm in Kentucky, Shatner, a Montreal native, has always retained his Canadian citizenship.

"I'm going up between shows to Ottawa to host what is the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy Awards," he boasts.

Does he really keep up with new releases?

"I deeply appreciate all kinds of music, and I love what music does to me," he says. "But if you would ask me the name of a group, I'd have to hold my phone up to the radio and get it from Shazam."

Shatner reveals that his show - a monologue that takes in everything from burlesque to the blue-humored roast Comedy Central threw for him (and that he entered on horseback) - is ever-evolving.

One thing this man-for-all-seasons does not lack for is stories. On any topic. Off the top of his embodied head.

While we have you on the phone, we'll take Philadelphia, Bill.

"My father died, and my mother, still vital at 75, is lonely," he sallies forth without hesitation. "After an appropriate number of years, she's looking for a man her age who may be going to Miami and has a little money and with whom she may live out her life.

"She meets a guy. His name is Bob. He's from Philadelphia." And we're off.

"I used to do The Mike Douglas Show a lot. So I'm speaking to my mother, and, I said, 'I'm going to Philadelphia.' She said, 'Will you check up on Bob? Maybe invite him to the show? Maybe take him to dinner? Check him out. He wants to marry me.'

"I invite this nice, white-haired man to the show. He's a jeweler. Afterwards, I take him to Bookbinders in a limo. He's flabbergasted - the restaurant, the limo.

"He says to me, 'You know, Bill, your mother is a 4.' I said, 'Pardon me?' He said, 'Your beautiful, loving mother is a 4.'

"He was referring to her ring size. His whole life was seen through a loupe. In other words, he was complimenting her delicate fingers. I got to interview my future stepfather in a limo while driving through Philadelphia."

One of the principal anecdotes in Shatner's World concerns his first big professional break, when he was an understudy to Christopher Plummer at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario. When Plummer fell ill, Shatner took the stage as Henry V and received glowing notices.

A fortnight after Shatner's World began its Broadway run, Plummer won the Oscar for best supporting actor for his role in Beginners.

It's a coincidence that proves that, while Shatner's world may be broad, it's still surprisingly small.

"Christopher is a dear, dear man and a great actor," Shatner says. "We grew up in the same city. I've known him all his adult life."

And since Plummer is, at 82, the oldest actor ever to receive an Academy Award, that's quite a long time.

What did Shatner think of his friend's witty acceptance speech, which was widely hailed as the highlight of the ceremony?

"I didn't get to see it," he admits. "I was working."

A likely excuse.

1. What female historical figure would you like to portray?

[Laughing] The goddess Athena.

2. Your favorite on-screen kiss?

I once had to kiss Leonard Nimoy gently

on the cheek. It was

quite a thrill.

3. Worst career advice you ever received?

Get out of acting.

4. Fill in the blank: You can continue to act as long as you don't lose your . . .

Voice.

5. What words do you want on your tombstone? "He didn't die."

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