Trust me, interviewing a chippy celebrity who is not necessarily as all there as he used to be, with a mobile connection that has a second delay between transmit and receive on both ends, is seriously difficult - I know, I've done it!
I interviewed the famously cantankerous Ginger Baker for Drummer Magazine, when he lived in South Africa, and he was on a radio phone, hence the one second delay at each end. Add to that he is deaf, and seriously miserable and difficult, and this is what you end up with.
In Mr Shatner's defence, he appeared to have been told he was being interviewed by someone else, hence the 'Neils' query, and he was a little brusque at being asked a question he has no doubt heard a thousand times before.
In an ideal world, people can talk to elderly celebrities through equipment that facilitates easy conversation, and in turn the elderly celebrity will be courteous and professional - but sadly, that doesn't always pan out!
My sympathy was with the journalists, but also with Mr Shatner, and it seems they all made the best of a difficult situation - as indeed did I when I was in that same set-up!!!