Jay Leno Jokes About His 'Brand New Face' After Burn Accident: 'It's Unbelievable'
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Jay Leno is showing off his "new face" after recovering from extensive burn injuries following an accidental car fire at his garage back in November.
During an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, the former Tonight Show host reflected on his recovery after Clarkson, 40, pointed out that he looks great.
"This is a brand new face," Leno, 72, boasted. "It's unbelievable. I was working on a car and I got a face full of gasoline and it caught fire."
"I had been eating a flaming hot Dorito and when I bit into it, it set my face on fire," he joked. "No, no, but it was interesting. It was all third-degree burns. It was pretty bad."
Clarkson then admitted that she's amazed at the comedian's recovery because she can't tell he had an accident at all.
"You think there'd be a zipper here or something, but no this is like a brand new face" Leno teased as the singer laughed. "Only for the second time in my career am I the new face of comedy. I got it once in the '80s and now I get it again. That's a brand new ear!"
RELATED: Jay Leno Shares the Shocking Details of His Burn Accident: 'My Face Was on Fire'
Back in November, Leno and his longtime friend, Dave Killackey, were working on a clogged fuel line in the undercarriage of a 1907 White Steam Car parked in the TV host's 140,000-square-foot Burbank garage when he sustained severe second-degree burns all over his face and upper body.
Within minutes, paramedics arrived, and by the next day, Leno had checked into The Grossman Center, where he was treated for burns across his face, neck, chest, hands and left arm.
Over nine days, Leno — whose wife of 42 years, Mavis, slept beside him at The Center — underwent two skin grafting surgeries (one with human cadaver skin and another with pig intestine) to help regenerate new healthy skin, as well as sessions in hyperbaric chambers to help oxygenate tissue. Within six days after he left the Center, Leno was back onstage, performing standup at the Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, California.
In an exclusive chat with PEOPLE a month after the accident, Leno described the ordeal in detail, stating, "It felt exactly like my face was on fire. Maybe like the most intense sunburn you've ever had, that'd be fair to say."
As he continued to heal, Leno said he was aware that his situation could have been much worse. "I know how bad it could have been," he explained. "But I'm OK. And I'm sure I'll continue to do the same stupid things I've always done. Just maybe a little bit more carefully!"
