This past weekend, famed comedian Jay Leno officially made his way back to the state for the first time in the wake of being afflicted with severe burns across a number of part of his upper body and face due to a gasoline fire while working on a vintage car near the start of the month.
Leno showed up in Hermosa Beach, California, at the Comedy & Magic Club Sunday evening and cause a small scene as he pulled in due to his clipping of a police vehicle on the scene, as explained via a video of the entire event released by TMZ.
“I’m not on stage yet, I just got here!” stated Leno to the gathered press as they circled him and shouted questions as soon as he left the confines of his car. “Stay away from the Flamin’ Hot Doritos, that’s what caused all this!”
Leno then quickly went to the police officers on the scene to ask them about the damage done to their patrol vehicle and it appeared as though his car just lightly grazed the side of the tire of the patrol car.
“The National Enquirer got the story all wrong, they said I was in the hospital because Nancy Pelosi hit me in the head with a hammer,” Leno stated jokingly to reporters. “That’s not what happened.”
When questioned about if he was at all nervous about making his way back up on stage, Leno answered, “No, we got two shows tonight: Regular and extra crispy.”
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Leno was officially released from the hospital Monday of last week, which in itself was well over a week since he had been afflicted with the series of third-degree burns gained while working on his 1907 White Steam Car.
After suffering severe injuries to both his face and hands, Leno took part in skin grafting procedures in Los Angeles at the Grossman Burn Center. Dr. Peter Gross seemed to change his preliminary concerns that it might take more than a few weeks for Leno to get back on his feet.
“I am pleased with Jay’s progress, and I am optimistic that he will make a full recovery,” explained Grossman, a board-certified plastic surgeon, to Fox News Digital.
As a well-known car enthusiast with a collection including Bugattis, Bentleys, and McLarens, Leno was performing some work to fix a clogged fuel line as a leak doused his hands and face with gasoline. A nearby spark kicked off a chain-reacting explosion that ignited the gas covering Leno.
Leno stated to TMZ that his close friend Dave, who happened to be in the garage with him at the time of the incident, was able to smother out the fire — otherwise, he stated that the fire had been serious enough that could easily have resulted in his death.