Patrick Stewart Admits He Was a Closeted ‘Star Trek’ Fan, Then Botches the Trivia in a 1994 ‘SNL’ Monologue

Lori Dorn
November 2, 2026

During his 1994 Saturday Night Live monologue, the late Star Trek: The Next Generation star Patrick Stewart admitted, rather self-deprecatingly, that he was a closeted Trekker and tried to impress the audience with franchise trivia. Unfortunately, he gave himself away by naming random trivia that sounded real, but wasn’t quite right, like “Dr. Spock”, “Boney” and “live long and be happy”.

Patrick Stewart admits that he has been a closeted, hardcore Trekkie from the very beginning.

As it turns out, he actually knew the fandom well. In a 1988 interview with Terry Wogan, he said he learned that devoted fans prefer to be called Trekkers rather than Trekkies.

Stewart, who died on October 28, 2026, at age 86, hosted the episode during the final season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Stewart Introducing Salt-N-Pepa

Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.