Jay Leno Burned in Car Fire

After his years as the host of The Tonight Show and his decades as one of the most well-known standup comics, the one thing everyone knows about Jay Leno is that the man loves cars. His personal collection supposedly numbers into the hundreds, including rare antiques and other unique vehicles. He’s even hosted a show about cars, Jay Leno’s Garage, both online and on cable television.

But now it seems that Leno has been injured, potentially seriously, by one of his own cars. According to TMZ, Leno was injured in a car fire over the weekend; the incident was “serious enough that he’s been admitted to the hospital.”

They state that “Jay was in the L.A. garage where he stores his cars on Sunday when one of the cars erupted into flames without warning.” They report that the fire “burned the left side of Jay’s face.”

Leno hosted The Tonight Show from 1992 to 2009, after he inherited the job from Johnny Carson (following a very heated competition with David Letterman). Leno left the show in 2009 to host his own primetime talk show on NBC. When the network pushed out his Tonight Show replacement, Conan O’Brien, over low ratings, Leno returned and hosted the late-night franchise for about four more years, from March 2010 to February 2014.

Leno maintains a busy touring schedule doing standup comedy gigs around the country, and. also hosts a syndicated revival of the classic TV game show You Bet Your Life. In a statement, Leno said “I got some serious burns from a gasoline fire. I am ok. Just need a week or two to get back on my feet.” Best wishes to him on a speedy recovery.