Jay Leno finds his “brand-new face” “unbelievable” three months after suffering third-degree burns in a car fire.
“You’d think there’d be a zipper here,” the comedian told Kelly Clarkson in a Wednesday interview after she gushed over his “great” recovery.
“I was working on a car and I got a face full of gasoline. [My face] caught on fire,” the 72-year-old recalled of the November 2022 freak accident.
The former “Tonight Show” host went on to joke that he was actually “eating a Flaming Hot Dorito and bit into” when the car combusted.
“It was pretty bad,” Leno said.
The former talk show host feels “brand new.”The Kelly Clarkson Show/YoutubeThe “Jay Leno’s Garage” host called himself the “new face of comedy” before pointing to his “brand-new ear.”
Clarkson praised his recuperation, saying, “You can’t even tell.”
“You’d think there’d be a zipper here,” he joked.The Kelly Clarkson Show/YoutubeDuring last year’s freak accident, the actor also suffered burns to his hands and chest.
He subsequently underwent two skin graft procedures, as well as several hyperbaric chamber sessions.
Leno’s face “caught on fire” last year.AFP via Getty Images
He was working on a 1907 White Steam vehicle at the time.SplashNews.com
Leno was ignited after the car suffered a fuel leak.Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagLeno was working on a 1907 White Steam vehicle at the time.
He told the Wall Street Journal the following month that “anybody who works with their hands on a regular basis is going to have an accident at some point.”
The comedian had two skin graft procedures.PageSix / New York PostLeno explained, “If you play football, you get a concussion or a broken leg. Anything you do, there’s a risk factor.
“You have to joke about it,” he continued. “There’s nothing worse than whiny celebrities.”
For more Page Six you love…
The “You Bet Your Life” host suffered another accident in January, cracking his kneecaps and breaking multiple ribs and his collarbone after getting “knocked off” his motorcycle.
“I turned down a side street and cut through a parking lot, and unbeknownst to me, some guy had a wire strung across the parking lot but with no flag hanging from it,” he explained to Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The actor broke multiple bones in a motorcycle accident two months later.Damian Avitia /London Entertainment / SplashNews.com “So, you know, I didn’t see it until it was too late,” he said of being “clotheslined.”
Leno has since returned to work.
