Jay Leno details the surgical procedures he had to endure after a car fire burned his face, including getting “a new ear” and multiple skin grafts on his face, as well as how he broke several bones falling off a motorcycle in a separate accident.
Jay Leno loves his cars and motorcycles, but he has to be starting to wonder if they love him back after two very serious recent accidents. The first saw him have to have parts of his face recreated, while the other left him with several broken bones.
The comedian was chatting with CNN anchor Chris Wallace on the latest episode of his Max series “Who’s Talk to Chris Wallace,” when he offered an update on his recent mishaps, and his recovery.
Getty
15 Years Later, Jay Leno Again Passes Out Donuts to Picketers During Writers Guild Strike
View Story
Fans have remarked how great Leno looks after a November 2022 garage fire left him suffering from third degree burns on his face, chest and hands. Well, Leno credits “a very good doctor” for how great he looks, detailing just how serious his injuries were.
“I got a new face and a new ear,” he told Wallace, per Mediaite, telling him that in a fire “ears are like paper — they go up — so they make you a new one.” Leno’s left ear was apparently completely reconstructed after the accident.
After showing him both of his ears, Wallace remarked that they look the same, to which Leno shot back, “Yeah, I had a very good doctor?” Then, Wallace asked him what it’s made of.
Getty
Jay Leno Surprises Burn Center Nurses With Bahamas Vacation
View Story
“It’s artificial skin,” Leno said. But it wasn’t the same material used on his face — at least, not according to Leno’s quick joke.
“People think that the skin grafts are expensive,” he said. “I have a friend who’s a mohel. And he gave me a bag of them and you can’t even, you can’t even tell it must be 50-60–“
“It’s funny,” Wallace replied. “It doesn’t look like foreskin.” A mohel is the person who performs the religious rite of Jewish circumcisions.
Leno shot back, “No, no, but when I get excited– Well, never mind.”
Getty
Jay Leno Reveals ‘Brand New Face’ After Third Degree Burns from Garage Fire
View Story
In his defense, Wallace set that one on a tee for him, how could he not take a swing. The anchor even acknowledged it, laughing, “Wow, I walked right into that one!”
The men then shifted gears to Leno’s follow-up accident where he broke his collarbone, ribs and cracked both of his kneecaps. That one was just a couple of months ago and, according to Leno, entirely his own fault.
In fact, had it not been for the seriousness of his injuries, it would have been a classic pratfall; the kind Leno himself might have set up during his time on “The Tonight Show.”
Jay Leno Details Burn Injuries and Recovery in First TV Interview After Horrific Garage Fire Accident
View Story
“So I cut through a parking lot, but there was two posts with a chain across it,” he explained. Unfortunately, there were no flags on the chain and so he didn’t see it at all. “if I had been going 50 or 60, I would have been decapitated,” Len said.
Beyond his broken and cracked bones, Leno did tear his face up again, saying he “called my face guy again” and had to go and get it fixed once more.
So are either of these accidents enough to get him off the bikes and out of the garage? When asked about it, Leno didn’t even understand the concept, instead pivoting to the old adage, it could be worse.
“Oh he just killed himself, he wasn’t with a woman, was he?” he quipped. “Okay, that’s fine.”
