Rescued Chilean miner breaks out into Elvis-inspired song and dance on ‘Letterman’

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Last night, Edison Peña -- one of the miners who was trapped underground for weeks in Chile -- appeared on the "Late Show With David Letterman." Peña's performance added yet another layer to the miners' pop-culture renown.
Speaking through an interpreter, Peña described surviving for 69 days underground with 32 other men. When Letterman brought up the subject of the things the miners did to keep their spirits up, Pena -- apparently a huge Elvis fan -- mentioned that he liked to sing to himself and then broke out a couple of verses from "Suspicious Minds."
[Rewind: Miners get heroes' welcome at football game]
When Paul Shaffer jumped in and began playing the song on his keyboards, an overcome Peña couldn't help himself; he jumped up from his chair and launched into a full-on Elvis impersonation. When Peña -- who earlier had mentioned being a bit freaked out by all the people who wanted to hug him when he emerged from the mine -- was done, Letterman said, "I kind of want to hug you now." He then reached over and did just that.
[Photos: More of the Chilean miners]

"Late Show" producers billed the appearance as the first in-studio interview that any of the miners had done since being rescued. Next up for Peña, who says that he ran inside the mine to overcome his fear of death: running in the New York City Marathon. And needless to say, he'll be visiting Graceland in the coming weeks.
You can watch video footage of the interview, at the end of a reel of highlights from Thursday night's show, below:


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