True to form, Jay Leno is using humor to recuperate after sustaining injuries in two separate incidents over the past six months.
The comedian and former late night talk show host was in great spirits on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” Wednesday, which marked one of his first televised appearances since being injured in both a car fire last fall and a January motorcycle accident.
“This is a brand new face,” he quipped, gesturing to his jawline. “It’s unbelievable. ... You’d think there’d be a zipper here, or something.”
Leno, a car and motorbike enthusiast and host of the show “Jay Leno’s Garage,” had reportedly been at a Los Angeles garage in late November when a vintage car went up in flames. Leno stores his collection of vehicles at the facility.
Watch Jay Leno’s appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” below.
The 72-year-old sustained third-degree burns to his face, chest and hands in the blaze, and was subsequently hospitalized for 10 days at LA’s Grossman Burn Center. He underwent two surgical procedures, including a surgical excision and grafting.
In January, he required surgery yet again after being thrown off a 1940 Indian four-cylinder motorcycle that he’d been test-riding. That accident reportedly left him with two broken ribs, two broken kneecaps and a snapped collarbone.
Being on the mend, Leno told Clarkson, had one unexpected benefit.
“Only for the second time in my career am I the new face of comedy,” he quipped. “I got it once in the ’80s, and now I get it again.”
On Wednesday’s episode, Clarkson also spoke with Dr. Peter Grossman and a trio of nurses who tended to Leno after the car fire.
“When I first saw Jay, I was a little uneasy,” Grossman said. “Because when I saw him, he was a little bit more significantly burned than I had hoped. Knowing that it’s Jay Leno, and a face that everybody recognizes, there’s a little bit of angst going on there.”
At one point, the doctor recalled overhearing Leno take a phone call from President Joe Biden, who wished him a speedy recovery.
“I think he did that on purpose as I walked out,” he said, “just so I made sure I stayed in line.”