Glenn-to-Leno Repartee Adds Some Shuttle Levity

Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) took a break from geriatric experiments and Mission Control on Wednesday, checking in with “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” for a few jokes about food, his fellow astronauts and the comedian.

In a welcome departure from the normally staid interviews conducted from the space shuttle Discovery, Glenn traded a few good-natured barbs. The 77-year-old senator said this time in orbit, he’s got more food choices: He can mix his Tang with Geritol or Metamucil.

“Have you ever threatened to turn the space shuttle around and go home, Sen. Glenn, if these kids don’t behave themselves?” Leno asked, calling the other six astronauts “young punks.”

Glenn said there hadn’t been any discipline problems aboard Discovery and besides, “I’m just a working stiff.”

Leno: “Is there anybody in Washington you’d like to take into space and just leave there?” No, Glenn said, but a few senators told him before he rocketed away that once he was in orbit, “they wouldn’t provide the money to bring me back.”

Despite the jokes, Leno was clearly in awe of Glenn, who was the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962 and is now the oldest.

“This is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me,” Leno said. “This will help me get the final chapter of my sixth-grade book report on Sen. Glenn. I had to write a paper on Friendship 7 in the sixth grade, and I can finally turn it in now.”

“Does Sen. Glenn keep telling you how tough it was in the old days, how cramped it was, how small it was, how lucky you young punks are?” Leno asked.

“Well, Jay, actually no, he doesn’t always do that, only when he’s awake,” Glenn’s commander, Curtis Brown Jr., responded to cackles of laughter from Leno.

The host ended up on the receiving end when he asked the astronauts what they could see on Earth. Rivers, big airports and that’s not all, said Brown.

“Every time we fly by California, we see your chin,” Brown said. “Really? Wow!” the comedian said, laughing.

After they signed off, Leno was still laughing.

“I got a shot from space that really made me laugh. Hey. HEY. H-E-E-Y!” he said.