Saturday, January 28, 2023

If It Weren't for Bad Luck, Jay Leno Wouldn't Have Any Luck At All


On Thursday, the late-night legend, 72, revealed to the Las Vegas Review Journal that he's on the mend again from a Jan. 17 motorcycle accident that broke several bones in his body.

To make matters worse, soon after that interview was published, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that CNBC is canceling the comedian's show, Jay Leno's Garage, after seven seasons of being in the primetime spot, as part of the network's recent shift  to invest more in business news and personal finance content — thus ending Leno's three-decades-long relationship with NBC, following a 22-year stint hosting the Tonight Show.

The comedian, who is prepping for a one-night engagement at the Wynn hotel in Vegas on March 31, explained that he "got knocked off" his vintage motorcycle (a 1940 Indian) after taking it on a test drive, during which he decided to pull over after smelling what he thought was leaking gas.

Leno on the mend
"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 to the journal. “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," he said, noting that until now he has chosen to stay silent about the crash because of the amount of coverage he received from a prior burning accident in November, which left him with severe burns on his upper body — including his face and neck.

The crash comes nearly two months after he was hospitalized for second and third degreee burns when a clogged fuel line blew gas in his face as he and long-time friend Dave Killackey were in the undercarriage of a 1907 White Steam car.

The cancellation effectively ends his relationship with NBC that has spanned more than 30 years, beginning in 1992 when he took over The Tonight Show from the late, great Johnny Carson (after winning a highly publicized bidding war against David Letterman, who ultimately launched his own competitor show on CBS, which ran for 23 seasons).

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