The former late-night talk show host sat down with Today’s Hoda Kotb on Wednesday, Dec. 14, to open up about the terrifying incident that left him hospitalized at a burn center for more than a week, with much of the country—Kotb included—sending him their love (no, really—even President Biden gave him a call, a stranger he once helped out on the road sent him a thoughtful card, and the burn center that treated him is still getting flower deliveries in his name). The two personalities sat in the middle of a car-filled garage—seemingly Leno’s personal property and the likely scene of the proverbial crime—to delve into the horror and aftermath of the mechanical accident that ignited parts of his body. “First of all, Jay, I’m just so happy to be sitting across from you,” Kotb started off, relief evident in her tone. “Well thank you. I’m afraid that I had to get on fire to be on The Today Show,” he joked. The 72-year-old was working on a 1907 White steam car with a clogged fuel line. He was underneath the undercarriage, trying to clear the line by forcing air through it when he ended up with “a face full of gas.” Unfortunately, he was positioned too close to the pilot light, causing the gasoline to light up. His friend Dave Killackey was in the garage with him, so Leno called out, “Dave, I’m on fire.” Killackey apparently thought he was joking, or perhaps referring to his mechanic’s skills, and required a little more coaxing to pull him out. His rescuer also joined the two in the garage, where he revealed that, despite Leno’s calm demeanor, the situation was pretty dire. “You couldn’t even see his face. He downplays it all, but I’m telling you, he was really engulfed,” going on to refer to it as “a wall of fire” from the man’s chest and up. As soon as Killackey realized his friend was literally on fire, he grabbed him by the head and hoisted him out from under the vehicle. Killackey smothered the fire himself, pulling Leno’s head into his chest. “I thought it was a bad Tinder date,” he interrupted, leading Kotb to scold him. “Let Dave talk about how he saved you!” she said. Killackey sent Leno into the bathroom to douse himself in cold water, putting the car fire out before going to inspect the damage—which he calls “horrific”—leading him to call 911. When Leno asked how he looked, Killackey told him, “Not good,” noting that the first two layers of skin were already peeling off. As soon as doctors at the local ER took one look at him they insisted he go straight to a burn center, but Leno wasn’t ready for that and drove himself home. He explained to Kotb that his wife no longer drives, and he was concerned about leaving her stuck without knowing what was going on, insisting today that it was the right thing to do. Shortly after, he checked himself into the Grossman Burn Center, where he spent nine days in treatment. His doctors had to scrape away layers of burnt skin, leaving much of the left and lower parts of his face raw and red. His doctors shared that despite the painfulness of the procedures and the eight hours of daily isolation in a hyperbaric chamber—which he describes as “a glass coffin”—Leno never complained. Instead, he spent his free time ordering lunch for his nurses and trying to cheer up other patients, and he was back to doing stand-up just a week and a half after his release, several firey new jokes hidden in his back pocket. It may have been a frightening time, but Leno won’t be dwelling on it. “In the real world, this happens to people every single day,” he said, not wanting to be “some whiney celebrity.” He also has no qualms about returning to working on his collection. “Did I learn anything from this?” he asked, immediately blowing a raspberry. “Of course not!”
