Jay Leno breaks bones in 2nd accident after announcing Vegas return

LAS VEGAS — If his run of tough luck continues, Jay Leno will be known as the comedy star who performs his own stunts.

Prepping for his return to the Strip in March, Leno is recovering from a fire in his garage in Los Angeles last November. He suffered second-degree burns over his upper body and part of his face while repairing the fuel line in a 1907 White Steam Car.

That’s the incident we know about. But there’s another mishap, this month, which Leno disclosed in a phone chat Thursday.

Referring to the November fire, I asked, “How are you doing, especially after the accident?”

“It’s so funny you should say that,” said Leno, headlining for Encore Theater for the first time on March 31, his first Vegas show since the November incident. “That was the first accident. OK? 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.”

“Whoa,” I said. “Whoa, Sir.”

“But I’m OK!” Leno said. “I’m OK, I’m working. I’m working this weekend.”

Leno specified the accident happened nine days earlier (Jan. 17), again as he was working on a vintage vehicle. He was testing a 1940 Indian motorcycle and noticed the scent of leaking gas (fuel lines have been unkind to Leno recently).

“So I turned down a side street and cut through a parking lot, and unbeknownst to me, some guy had a wire strung across the parking lot but with no flag hanging from it,” Leno said. “So, you know, I didn’t see it until it was too late. It just clothesline me and, boom, knocked me off the bike.

“The bike kept going, and you know how that works out.”

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