Jay Leno discussed the accident that left him with burn injuries on his face and body.
In a new Wall Street Journal column, the 72-year-old comedian opened up about the accident in which he was sprayed with gas from a fuel leak in his 1907 White Steam car he was working on at the time.
The gas ignited, and Jay sustained “deep second-degree burns”, according to his doctor.
He was hospitalised following the 12 November incident and spent 10 days at Los Angeles’ Grossman Burn Center and underwent several surgeries, including a skin grafting procedure, before being discharged.
The hospital said in an official statement Jay would “receive follow-up care at the Grossman Outpatient Burn Clinic for burns to his face, chest and hands”.
“But really, it was an accident, that’s all,” Jay wrote in his column. “Anybody who works with their hands on a regular basis is going to have an accident at some point. If you play football, you get a concussion or a broken leg.”
He summarised, “Anything you do, there’s a risk factor.”
While recounting the incident, Jay demonstrated the comedy he would wring from it, saying, “Eight days later, I had a brand new face… And it’s better than what was there before.”
He concluded, “There’s nothing worse than whiny celebrities. If you joke about it, people laugh along with you.”
On 27 November, he was spotted performing at the Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, California.
