Jay Leno joked he’s got a “brand latest face” during an appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” Wednesday.
The previous “Tonight Show” host endured a horrific automotive fire accident on Nov. 12 that left him with third-degree burns on his face, chest, and hands.
The 72-year-old was met with loud applause from the audience as he sat all the way down to chat with the “Since U Been Gone” singer about his injuries.
“You look great though,” Clarkson told Leno, to which he replied, “It is a brand-new face.”
“It’s, it’s unbelievable,” Leno continued. “What happened, I used to be working on a automotive and I got a full face of gasoline and it caught fire. And I had been eating a flaming hot Dorito and after I bit into it, it set my face on,” he quipped.
“It was interesting. It was all third-degree burns, it was pretty bad. It was pretty bad.”
“You’ll be able to’t tell in any respect,” Clarkson chimed in.
“No, you think that there’d be a zipper here or something,” he joked. “No, that is like a brand-new face.”
“Just for the second time in my profession am I the brand new face of comedy,” he added.
In December, the funnyman and automotive fanatic revealed what caused the fiery explosion in his garage.
“It was a 1907 White Steam Automotive. The fuel line was clogged, so I used to be underneath it,” he said of working on the vintage automotive — alongside close friend David Killackey — during a chat with “Today” anchor Hoda Kotb. “It sounded clogged and I said, ‘Blow some air through the road,’ and so he did.”
Leno said the fuel line made a noise, “and suddenly, boom, I got a face filled with gas. After which the pilot light jumped and my face caught on fire.”
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.’ After which, ‘Oh, my God.’ Dave, my friend, pulled me out and jumped on top of me and sort of smothered the hearth,” he recalled.
Leno was taken to Grossman Burn Center in Los Angeles, where he was treated for third-degree burns during a 10-day stay. Leno also received skin grafts and one other surgical operation.
His recovery was made worse just weeks after the ordeal when he broke multiple bones in a freak motorcycle accident.
Leno revealed details of the second accident after the Las Vegas Review-Journal questioned him in regards to the automotive fire.
“That was the primary accident, OK?” he said last month. “Then just last week, I got knocked off my motorcycle. So I’ve got a broken collarbone. I’ve got two broken ribs. I’ve got two cracked kneecaps.”
During his appearance, Leno and Clarkson gifted the three nurses who treated the talk show host with a three-night vacation to the Bahamas.