Comedian Jay Leno cracked a joke late this week about actor Jeremy Renner after both Hollywood celebrities have been involved in serious accidents over the last few weeks.
The 72-year-old comedian revealed to the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week that he suffered several broken bones a couple of weeks ago after getting into a motorcycle accident.
“I was riding my motorcycle up in Lake Tahoe and I came around the corner and bam, I crashed into Jeremy Renner’s snowplow,” Leno tweeted.
I was riding my motorcycle up in Lake Tahoe and I came around the corner and bam, I crashed into Jeremy Renner’s snowplow.
— Jay Leno (@jayleno) January 27, 2023
Renner was seriously injured in a snowplow accident at the start of the month when he tried to prevent the snowplow from hitting his nephew. He suffered dozens of broken bones and is recovering in a hospital bed that is set up in his home.
News of Leno’s motorcycle accident comes after he was severely burned in a gasoline fire in his garage a couple of months ago that resulted in him being hospitalized.
“That was the first accident. OK? Then just last week, I got knocked off my motorcycle,” Leno told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “So I’ve got a broken collarbone. I’ve got two broken ribs. I’ve got two cracked kneecaps.”
When the interviewer expressed concern, Leno was quick to reassure him that he was doing well. “I’m OK!” Leno exclaimed. “I’m OK, I’m working. I’m working this weekend.”
The former “Tonight Show” host explained how he was test-driving a vintage 1940 Indian motorcycle when he got pulled off by a wire strung across the parking lot. He recalled noticing a leaking gas line, which prompted him to check it out.
“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 explained. “So, you know, I didn’t see it until it was too late. It just clothesline[d] me and, boom, knocked me off the bike.”
“The bike kept going, and you know how that works out,” he recounted.
Next, the TV host explained why he kept the incident quiet. “You know, after getting burned up, you get that one for free,” Leno said while laughing. “After that, you’re Harrison Ford, crashing airplanes. You just want to keep your head down.”