Bend’s own “Rocket Guy,” Brian Walker, knew better than to play his dream of building and flying his own rocket into sub-orbital space for anything but laughs in his first big network TV appearance, Thanksgiving Eve on NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.”

After hundreds of TV, radio and newspaper interviews over the past two years, Walker (http://www.rocketguy.com) no doubt has heard them all – the serious questions, the silly ones and everything in between. But his 7-minute appearance gave everyone their share of laughs, with a prop he brought along – his first successful toy, a small air-powered rocket – boosting the levity, likely just as intended.

Too bad O’Brien didn’t have time to learn of (and no doubt crack wise about) the biggest piece of news in Walker’s personal life of late – his Oct. 15 marriage to the Russian woman he found on the Internet and fell in love with, also bringing an 8-year-old son into his life (see bend.com’s story from earlier this year, http://my.bend.com/news/ar_view.php?ar_id=4303). One can imagine the jokes that would have ensued.

After a brief video showing the smaller-scale rocket model Walker has built in his back yard, Walker entered the studio to applause and the host’s logical first question: “Why do you want to launch yourself into space?” Walker explained how he grew up watching space shots and “wanted to be an astronaut,” but soon learned he “didn’t have the right stuff.”

That brought O’Brien’s first wisecrack: “So you say, `I don’t have the ability to be in one of the professional rockets, so, I know what I’ll do – I’ll make my own!’” (Laughter ensuing.) “That’s an interesting train of thought.”

Asked why he didn’t follow in the footsteps of well-off space hitchhikers like N’Sync’s Lance Bass, Walker explained the obvious – that he doesn’t have millions to pay for a ride – but also said, “I don’t want to just take a ride with someone. I want to do something on my own.”

O’Brien said he had to applaud Walker’s initiative, but then he asked how the rocket worked, and the Bend resident pulled his small, desktop air-whoosh rocket out from behind the desk, prompting the expected derision from the late-night host.

“What the hell?” O’Brien said upon first glance at the toy. “This doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.”

Walker gamely tried to explain, without getting too technical, how the “system will boost the rocket into the air, give it its own momentum.” (Then up the small rocket went, toward the studio lights; Walker reached out but couldn’t snag it on “re-entry.”)

“And this is the thing – this is what you use to calm people down?” O’Brien asked with seemingly sincere incredulity. “’Calm down – I know what I’m doing!” the host said, and popped the rocket back into the air with a slam on the desk, as Walker had done.

Fellow guests join in the fun

O’Brien’s former co-host, Andy Richter, on the show to plug his Fox series, joined in in defense of Walker, sort of: “I’m buying it. You takin’ investors? You sold me with that!”

Then O’Brien noted that astronauts have to be in top physical shape, and asked Walker if he’s doing well in that arena.

“I’m working on it,” Walker said. “The past two years, I’ve been putting in so much time on the rocket, I’ve got a little beer excess to lose,” he added, patting himself on the stomach. But he did explain that he’d been to Russia to train, on a centrifuge and the weightless-plane rides, “doing all the basic training.”

“It’s just the beer you have a problem with,” O’Brien cracked. “You’ve been to Russia, you’ve been in a MiG, but it’s the beer you’ve got a problem with.”

“They didn’t say it would stick with me so long,” Walker retorted.

Asked the biggest risk he’d face, Walker said it’s “at launch,” but that the way he’s designing things should “significantly reduce the risk.”

But O’Brien noticed his other guest for the night, rapper-actor Snoop Dogg, smiling and shaking his head, and couldn’t resist noting, “Even Snoop Dogg doesn’t think this is a good idea!”

Then the zany host pulled a familiar cartoon image to mind: “I’m thinking of Wile E. Coyote – he launches, there’s a big explosion, he’s all signed, and the Road Runner laughs and he runs away.”

Walker surely wasn’t offended, just gamely going on to notice his plans for a pressurized vessel and space suit.

Of “tin foil?” O’Brien cracked. Nope, a real Russian Space Agency suit that Walker bought. O’Brien appeared impressed, perhaps: “They’ve got the best.”

’I’m worried about you,’ Conan says

Walker said he’ll have two parachute systems in the capsule and “two in the escape area,” and that brought some concern from the host who’d been ribbing him.

“I’m worried about you,” O’Brien said. “How can you escape from the capsule if you’re in trouble?”

Walker said he’ll get to 2,000 feet elevation, even if all of the systems fail. That didn’t sound too great to O’Brien. Nor did the ejection system, as Walker explained that he “releases the handle and it blows me out the side.”

“Is there an opening for it, or are you just crushed through the side?” O’Brien said, again drawing laughter.

Walker did the “I shoulda had a V-8″ knock on his head: “I’m really glad I came out here – I hadn’t thought about that!” (But of course, he added, “There’s an opening.”

Asked when he plans the launch, Walker said next summer.

“You really want to do this?” O’Brien asked. “We can’t talk you out of it?”

“Isn’t this against the law?” was his next query, and Walker explained how he’s met with Federal Aviation Administration officials, who were “really supportive. They want to see I go through all the right steps.”

O’Brien mocked his own mental image at encounter, asking if he was sure they didn’t bust out laughing the moment he was out the door. Richter piled on: “You can’t fire bottle rockets. How can you shoot a bunch of washing machines into space?”

Walker said, “There’s no law against building and launching a rocket. If somebody says you can’t leave, they’re basically saying you can’t leave the planet.”

The backyard spaceman said there’s the need for anyone planning such an endeavor to coordinate with officials: “Let’s face it, I don’t want to pass through the passenger session of a passing 747.”

“Neither does anybody on the 747,” O’Brien retorted, briefly acting out the aftermath of such an encounter, as a wounded passenger: “I don’t want chicken. I want beef!”

O’Brien gave Walker’s Website a plug, then turned serious – well, as serious as a late-night talk show ever gets.

“You know what?” he said. “You seem like a nice person, so I guess I’m wishing you well. And I hope to God everything goes well and that you’ll come back and talk to us afterward.”

Walker had a better idea, and an invitation: “You can come to the launch.”

“No way in hell,” O’Brien replied firmly, breaking Walker up. The host then offered a and farewell handshake to Bend’s own “Rocket Guy,” as the applause and music swelled before going to the inevitable commercial break.

If Walker can set up his risky launch as well as he does a comedian’s punch lines, maybe it’ll work and he’ll come home safe to his brand-new family next year, or whenever he finds the time between all those interviews to get it all done and ready to fire into space.

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