After spat, Chavez jokes to reporter: "Shut up!"

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez joked with a reporter on Tuesday to "shut up" asking questions, echoing the Spanish king's weekend rebuke of him and showing he also saw the funny side of the diplomatic spat.

This weekend, King Juan Carlos told Chavez to shut up at a summit of leaders from Latin America and Iberia when the Venezuelan leftist interrupted a speech by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

The controversy has tested relations with Spain, sparked headlines around the world and eclipsed debate in Venezuela over Chavez's effort to win approval in a December 2 referendum to expand his powers, including scrapping term limits.

Chavez, who persistently railed against former conservative Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar at the meeting, has courted controversy at summits before, most notably last year calling U.S. President George W. Bush the devil at the United Nations.

Chavez complained the king's response showed that colonial attitudes toward South America have not died out, gave a veiled threat the incident could hurt commercial ties and again called Aznar a fascist.

But the folksy president also showed, like many Venezuelans, he had a sense of humor over the flap.

"Four questions you've come up with there, quite a few. What should I do?" he asked the reporter giggling. "You know what? Why don't you shut up?"

He also noted, laughing, that Venezuelans have turned the king's phrase, "Why don't you shut up?" into the ringtone on their cellphones.

In Internet chat rooms, Venezuelans have even proposed the opposition takes up the phrase as a new political slogan.

The king's frustration with the talkative Chavez resonated with many in this Caribbean nation, whose normal television fare of soap operas and baseball games is frequently interrupted by mandated coverage of Chavez events.

Chavez, who is better known for diatribes against the United States than Spain, is capable of speaking for more than eight hours at an event, particularly on his Sunday television show.

The journalist, a Reuters correspondent, asked several questions on Tuesday about Chavez's proposed constitutional changes that must be passed in a December plebiscite.

Chavez's response lasted more than an hour, did not directly address the questions and covered a range of topics such as U.S. "imperialism," the foreign media, violent Venezuelan demonstrations and a 2002 coup against him.

The president earlier entered the news conference holding his sullen-looking 2-month-old grandson.

"He's got a face fit for a king," Chavez said.

(Reporting by Fabian Andres Cambero; writing by Saul Hudson, editing by Eric Beech)