Thunderbird appears on 'Daily Show'
Staff report
Posted : Thursday May 24, 2007 15:24:03 EDT

As commander of the Thunderbirds, Lt. Col. Kevin Robbins is used to turning thousands of heads. But he may have gotten his biggest audience yet while sitting still.

Robbins was a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on May 23, a program which regularly draws over a million viewers per night. In a seven-minute interview, Robbins and host Stewart joked about a range of topics, from the Thunderbirds’ dangerous maneuvers to inter-service rivalries.

Robbins, with the fitting call sign “Hollywood,” handled the jibes and questions easily, though he prefaced a question about his piloting prowess with, “Here’s how public affairs tells me how to answer this one.”

When asked about the Thunderbirds’ planes, Robbins answered, “Those literally are the oldest F-16s in the active-duty fleet.”

“That’s gotta make you feel good,” quipped Stewart.

But Robbins answered seriously: “I want the best toys to go to the guys who need it, and we don’t really need it to fly an airshow.”

The only hairy moment of the interview came near the end, when Stewart pointed out some Marines and sailors in the audience, and asked if Robbins would “take a swing” at any of them.

“Maybe a sailor, but not a Marine,” Robbins said, smiling.

Robbins also offered Stewart a chance to ride with the Thunderbirds, but the host declined.

“Here’s why I’m not going to, and I mean this: I’m scared,” he said.

He was in my squadron at kadena. Great guy.

Most people would jump at the chance for a back seat ride with the T-birds. Jon Stewart is scared because he lost Father and Brother in a Eastern Airlines crash several years ago.