After a fire broke out in his garage over the weekend, comedian Jay Leno was taken to the hospital with severe facial burns.
According to direct knowledge sources, TMZ reported that on Saturday, while Jay was in the Burbank garage where he keeps his cars, “one of the cars erupted into flames without warning.”
In a statement, Leno said, “I got some serious burns from a gasoline fire, I got some serious burns from a gasoline fire.”
The flames burned the left side of Jay’s face, but thankfully did not penetrate his eye or his ear, TMZ reports added.
Leno had to cancel his scheduled appearance at the Financial Brand Forum in Las Vegas as a result of the accident. An email sent to attendees stated that,
“His family was not able to provide us very many details, but there was a very serious medical emergency that is preventing Jay from traveling. All we know is that he is alive, so our prayers go out to him and his family tonight.”
Leno is a rabid car enthusiast who is said to own 160 motorcycles and 180 cars totaling millions of dollars in value. His collection includes, among other things, a Daimler Ferret Scout armored car, a 1955 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing Coupe, and a $12 million McLaren F1. The comedian occasionally still drives his original vehicle, a Buick Roadmaster. He reportedly keeps every vehicle in his 122,000 square foot garage in Burbank, California.
Best caption wins, go! pic.twitter.com/Sc36b3OJo9
— Jay Leno’s Garage (@LenosGarage) November 13, 2022
The comedian also had a starring role in the seventh season of the CNBC program Jay Leno’s Garage. The show’s titular funny man reviews classic cars, supercars like the McLaren P1, restored cars, vintage cars, and sports cars. It originally debuted as a web series.
Some of Leno’s more impressive automobiles, according to DuPont Registry, includes the following:
“427 Shelby Cobra, 2017 Acura NSX (VIN 003), 2011 Audi R8 V10 Spyder, 2009 Aston Martin DBS, 1931 Bentley 8-Litre, 1989 Bentley Turbo R, 1924 Bentley Twin Turbo, 1929 Bentley Speed 6, 1930 Bentley 27-Litre, 1928 Bugatti Type 37A, 1937 Bugatti Alantique, Bugatti Type 51, 2008 Corvette C6RS by Pratt & Miller, 2009 Corvette ZR1 (VIN 001), 1993 Dodge Viper RT/10 (First Black Viper), 2017 Ford GT, 2015 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350-R, 1986 Lamborghini Countach, 2004 Maybach 57, 1994 McLaren F1, 2012 McLaren MP4-12C, 2015 McLaren P1, 2010 Mercedes SLR McLaren, 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, 2011 Rolls-Royce Ghost, and 2012 Tesla Model S.”
The CNBC reported that, in an interview last year, Leno, whose net worth is in the hundreds of millions of dollars said that “his long-standing approach toward work was shaped by something his mother said to him once when he first moved out to Hollywood in the 1970s.”
“I was trying to impress my mother and I said, ‘You know, Sylvester Stallone just got $10 million for two weeks’ work, and she said, ‘Yeah, but what’s he going to do the other 50 weeks? What happens when that job’s out? ’” Leno said.
“Later on, I was literally in that position where I was making a ton of dough doing ‘The Tonight Show,’ but I had it in my head that if I didn’t go out and tell jokes and earn money, it wasn’t real, it was all in the bank somewhere,” he continued.
It “does keep you hungry. And hunger is what it’s all about,” Leno said, claiming his mindset about not getting comfortable.
Sources: Dailywire, CNBC, TMZ, Dupontregistry