William Shatner Sells Caution (When Deep-Frying Turkeys)

"[William] Shatner is shameless when it comes to his acting and his public persona," wrote Pat Jordan in a September 2010 New York Times Magazine profile. "There is little he will not do, no humiliation he will not embrace, to make his fans laugh. He once boasted that he did 'not let things like dignity' hold him back." If anyone doubted that this was true, the actor's latest achievement in hammy self-portrayal comes in the shape of a State Farm-sponsored PSA entitled Eat, Fry, Love, The subject? The dangers of reckless turkey-frying. Turn the page for the video.

"I was young and arrogant," says a wistful, not-so-young Shatner. "I spat in the face of science," he adds, as the actor, in grotesque slow-motion, drops a turkey into a flame-kissed vat over-filled with oil, naturally neglecting to use the all-important "dingle-dangle" or cover his hands with oven mitts. Confused? Just watch it.

The best bit is at around 2:12, when Shatner, engulfed in seriously unrealistic flames, howls dispassionately and stamps at burning streams of oil coursing around his fryer.