Jay Leno Cannot Catch a Break

Comedian fell from motorcycle and broke bones in new mishap
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 27, 2023 6:37 AM CST
Jay Leno Breaks Bones in New Mishap
Jay Leno attends the Hand in Hand: A Benefit for Hurricane Harvey Relief in Los Angeles on Sept. 12, 2017.   (Photo by John Salangsang/Invision/AP, File)

Jay Leno has suffered numerous broken bones in a motorcycle accident just two months after he was seriously burned in a fire at his Los Angeles garage. In a phone call Thursday, the comedian and talk show host told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he was "knocked off my motorcycle" on Jan. 17 and now has a broken collarbone, two broken ribs, and two "cracked" kneecaps. "But I'm OK!" the 72-year-old said. The second incident, like the first, happened while Leno was working on one of his vehicles.

He said he smelled leaking gas while testing a 1940 Indian motorcycle, "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," Leno said. "I didn't see it until it was too late. It just (clotheslined) me and, boom, knocked me off the bike." He added, "The bike kept going, and you know how that works out."

Leno said he hadn't spoken about the second accident given all the press coverage of his recovery from burns suffered at his garage on Nov. 12. He was repairing the fuel line in a 1907 White Steam Car when gas sprayed at him, then ignited, resulting in serious burns to his face, chest, and hands, per NBC News. He told People last month that "it felt exactly like my face was on fire—maybe like the most intense sunburn you've ever had."

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After a second incident, "you're Harrison Ford, crashing airplanes," he joked, per the Review-Journal. "You just want to keep your head down." The interview came ahead of Leno's return to Las Vegas for a March 31 show at the Encore Theater at the Wynn. With interesting timing, the Hollywood Reporter reported Thursday that CNBC will cancel Jay Leno's Garage, the reality show in which Leno shows off his car collection while interviewing celebrities, which has been airing since 2015. (More Jay Leno stories.)

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