Comedian and car lover Jay Leno opened up for the first time about receiving third-degree burns on his face and arms after an accident.
In his interview with Hoda Kotb from “Today,”, the 72-year-old comedian opened up about the incident that gave him third-degree burns on his face and body. A car lover, Leno said that it happened when he was working with his antique 1907 car with his friend Dave Killackey.
He said that the fuel line of the car was clogged, so he decided to go under the car. He was in the middle of unclogging the line when suddenly gas came out and his face was on fire. In the interview, he said, “And suddenly, boom, I got a face full of gas. And then the pilot light jumped and my face caught on fire.”
But he expressed gratitude for his friend Killackey who did not panic and acted quickly in the situation. He said to Killackey “Dave, I’m on fire.” To this, his friend replied “All right” and then Leno further said ‘No, Dave, I’m on fire.’ And then, ‘Oh, my God.'” His friend then jumped on top of him to put out the fire.
More about Jay Leno and the accident
Leno described the incident very casually, which is a good thing because fire accidents are always quite serious. On November 16, Dr. Peter Grossman said in a news conference that Leno had ” pretty significant burns to face and hands”. He said that the burns were a mix of second-degree and third-degree, where some of the burns on the face were deeper and so more concerning.
The fire incident happened on November 12. But only two weeks after that Leno performed his regular show at the Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, California. A day after he got discharged from the hospital, he was also seen smiling and cruising around Los Angeles in one of his classic cars.
