Jay Leno took a nasty fall hours before his comedy show and still made it on stage.
“I went out and the restaurant was [at the bottom of a hill] but to get to it — I didn’t have a car — so you had to go about a mile and a half around,” the comedian, 74, told TMZ on Monday, November 18. “Well, I said, ‘The hill doesn’t look that steep, maybe 60 to 70 feet. Let me see if I can go down the hill.’ And then I fell down and boom, boom.”
Leno, who was wearing an eyepatch while speaking to the outlet, was staying at “a hotel on a hill” and looking for a place to eat. Over the weekend, Leno was scheduled to perform at the Yaamava’ Resort and Casino in Highland, California, which is around two hours away from Los Angeles.
“I fell down the hill, hit my head on a rock and knocked me in the eye,” he said before removing his eye patch to show off his injury.
Leno’s face was swollen and bruised in addition to sustaining a black eye. Despite hurting himself, Leno proceeded with the show since the accident took place “a couple hours before.” He shared that he didn’t end up going to the hospital until he returned home to Los Angeles and is currently “holding up fine.”
When asked why he didn’t postpone the show to tend to his injuries, Leno said that he didn’t want to let down the “26,000” fans who came all that way to see him and declared the show must go on. (Leno performed three shows at the venue.)
“It’s not that big of a deal,” he added of his injury. “It’s alright.”
His recent fall is not the only instance in which Leno has sustained injuries to his body. In 2023, Leno was involved in a motorcycle crash that resulted in a broken collarbone, two broken ribs and two cracked kneecaps.
The year before, the former late-night host was hospitalized for 10 days after suffering severe burns to his face and body. While working on his 1907 White Steam Car, a fire broke out in his Los Angeles garage. Leno subsequently underwent a skin grafting procedure and several other surgeries to properly treat his injuries.
Leno poked fun at himself on Monday for being so injury-prone the past couple of years.
“The great thing about [being] this age is that you don’t learn from your mistakes,” he quipped. “You just keep doing the same stupid things.”
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