Jay Leno shows off his “brand-new face” on 'The Kelly Clarkson Show'

e_jay_leno_kelly_clarkson_03022023748948
NBCUniversal/Weiss Eubanks

Jay Leno made an appearance on Wednesday’s installment of The Kelly Clarkson Show and talked about his recovery from that fiery garage accident in November of last year that left him with serious burns to his face, and body. 

“You look great, though,” Kelly said, to which the 72-year-old comic replied, “Well, this is a brand new face.”

Leno explained, “I was working on a car and I got a face full of gasoline. It caught fire,” Leno explained, recalling the November, 2022 freak accident. “I had been eating a Flamin’ Hot Dorito, and when I bit into it, it set my face [on fire],” the former Doritos pitchman joked.

“It was all third-degree burns, it was pretty bad. It was pretty bad,” Leno said, getting serious for a moment, to which Clarkson added that “you can’t even tell” anything had happened.

“Yeah, you’d think there’d be a zipper here or something, but no,” Leno said, pointing to his famously large chin. 

“Only for the second time in my career am I the new face of comedy,” Leno said, cracking Kelly up. “I got in once in the ’80s and now I get it again,” before pointing to the left side of his head and his “brand-new ear.”

Jay underwent skin graft surgery and other therapies during a 10-day stay at the Grossman Burn Center after the accident, which occurred when he was working on a vintage car in his collection. 

In January, the former Tonight Show host suffered multiple broken bones in a motorcycle accident, to boot.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.