Jay Leno is recounting his dramatic rescue by a close friend when he suffered severe burns in a horrifying freak accident last month.
The funnyman and car fanatic revealed what caused the fiery explosion in the 72-year-old former “Tonight Show” host’s garage, where the incident happened on Nov. 12.
“It was a 1907 White Steam Car. The fuel line was clogged, so I was underneath it,” he said of working on the vintage car — alongside close friend David Killackey — during a talk with “Today” anchor Hoda Kotb. “It sounded clogged and I said, ‘Blow some air through the line,’ and so he did.”
Leno said the fuel line made a noise, “and suddenly, boom, I got a face full of gas.
“And then the pilot light jumped and my face caught on fire,” he recalled.
Luckily, Leno said Killackey acted fast.
“I said to my friend, I said, ‘Dave, I’m on fire.’ And Dave’s like, ‘All right.’ I said, ‘No, Dave, I’m on fire.’ And then, ‘Oh, my God.’ Dave, my friend, pulled me out and jumped on top of me and kind of smothered the fire,” Leno recalled.
Leno was taken to Grossman Burn Center in Los Angeles, where he was treated for third-degree burns on his face, chest and hands during a 10-day stay. Leno also received skin grafts and another surgical procedure.
Any scarring was not immediately, clearly visible during the new “Today” interview.
But he was all smiles in a photo with clinic staff on Nov. 21 when he was released from the center. Leno wasted no time getting back to his classic cars as he was spotted cruising around Los Angeles in several of his whips the very next day.
He even performed a comedy set to a sold-out crowd at the Comedy & Magic Club in California’s Hermosa Beach just over two weeks after the incident. He had some trouble parking, though, and hit a cop car in the process.
Leno and Kotb’s full conversation will air Wednesday on “Today.”