Sometimes you just need a good dose of Kirk to jumpstart your Monday afternoon.

In this long lost video from 1983, the “distinguished actor William Shatner” (as he is called in his introduction here) recites Poe’s classic “The Raven.”

Is it campy, overwrought melodrama? Of course. That’s what makes it fantastic.

When I saw this, I wondered aloud, “Why the hell does he have a book tucked under his arm if he has the piece memorized?” My girlfriend promptly yelled from the next room, “Because he’s William F—ing Shatner, he can do whatever he wants!”

Then I posed a followup question: “So, whaddaya think; will this man ever be called a ‘distinguished actor’ again..?”

Quoth my girlfriend: “Nevermore.”

Via Vulture.