Jay Leno broke his collarbone and several other bones in a motorcycle accident last week, the comic revealed in an interview published Thursday night. The revelation comes less than two months after he suffered second-degree burns in a car fire in his Burbank garage — and at the same time “Jay Leno’s Garage” would be ending its run on CNBC.
While preparing for his March return to stand-up comedy on the Las Vegas Strip, the former “Tonight Show” host told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the November gas fire was only the first of his recent grisly mishaps.
“That was the first accident. OK? Then just last week, I got knocked off my motorcycle,” the 72-year-old TV icon said. “So I’ve got a broken collarbone. I’ve got two broken ribs. I’ve got two cracked kneecaps.”
“But I’m OK!” Leno said. “I’m OK, I’m working. I’m working this weekend.”
The motorcycle accident happened Jan. 17 while the “Jay Leno’s Garage” host was working on another vintage vehicle, he said. The car and bike enthusiast told the Review-Journal that he was test-driving a 1940 Indian motorcycle and noticed the scent of leaking gas.
“So 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 added. “So, you know, I didn’t see it until it was too late. It just clotheslined me and, boom, knocked me off the bike…. The bike kept going, and you know how that works out.”
The comedy legend said he didn’t mention the accident because of the whirlwind of coverage that accompanied his accident in November, when a car fire at his garage landed him in the hospital with burns on his face and elsewhere.
“You know, after getting burned up, you get that one for free,” he joked. “After that, you’re Harrison Ford, crashing airplanes. You just want to keep your head down.”
Last November, Leno said he had been working to repair a clogged fuel line on his 1907 White steam car — one of many vintage cars in his collection — when gas shot out and ignited.
“And my face caught on fire,” Leno said in December on NBC’s “Today” show.
The longtime late-night TV fixture was hospitalized at the Grossman Burn Center in West Hills, where he underwent multiple surgeries and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
“Eight days later, I had a brand new face,” he wrote in a column for the Wall Street Journal about his reconstructive procedures. “And it’s better than what was there before.”
Leno’s motorcycle accident revelation comes amid CNBC’s decision not to renew “Jay Leno’s Garage” for another season as the cable network doubles down on its business news and personal finance information content, The Times confirmed Friday. Meaning, the longtime NBC star will end his 30-year run at NBCUniversal, as first reported by the Hollywood Reporter.
Leno’s reality show “Jay Leno’s Garage,” which has been a prime-time offering on the cable network since 2015, will be pushed out of the lineup as CNBC launches a new program called “Last Call,” anchored by Brian Sullivan, and business-centered shows (and reruns of) “Shark Tank” and “Undercover Boss.” The network will also offer original business documentaries, according to a Thursday employee memo obtained by The Times.
“Taken together, this lineup will deliver our audience a fast paced, inside look at market movers and influencers throughout the day,” KC Sullivan, president of CNBC, said in the memo.
Representatives for Leno did not immediately respond Friday to The Times’ request for comment.
Leno, who hosted two tenures at NBC’s “Tonight Show” from 1992 to 2014, landed at the sister cable channel after his departure from late-night TV. “Jay Leno’s Garage” featured the comedian working on vehicles while also interviewing celebrity guests, the likes of which included Tim Allen, Gabriel Iglesias, Elon Musk and President Biden.