US talkshow host Jay Leno injured in motorbike crash

US talkshow host Jay Leno has broken several bones in a motorbike crash, just weeks after he was badly injured in a car fire.

US talkshow host Jay Leno. (Photo by ADRIAN SANCHEZ-GONZALEZ / AFP)

US talkshow host Jay Leno has broken several bones in a motorbike crash, just weeks after he was badly injured in a car fire.

The former Tonight Show host revealed in a new interview that he is recovering from multiple broken bones after the motorcycle accident, Page Six reported.

“It’s so funny you should say that,” Leno said in response to a Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter asking how he was doing in his recovery from a November car fire that severely burned him.

“That was the first accident. OK?” the 72-year-old continued. “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.”

Jay Leno is seen with burns on his face and neck after the car fire. Picture: Grossman Burn Centre

Leno assured the interviewer that he’s “OK” after the accident on January 17 and is even working this weekend.

The TV star, who will return to Sin City in March to perform for the first time since the explosion, explained that he had been testing a 1940 Indian motorcycle and noticed the scent of leaking gas — an uncanny similarity to the car explosion that left him with severe burns — and wanted to pull over.

“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 me and, boom, knocked me off the bike.

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

Leno decided to keep the crash quiet because of the media coverage surrounding his November accident and subsequent recovery.

US talkshow host Jay Leno. (Photo by ADRIAN SANCHEZ-GONZALEZ / AFP)

“You know, after getting burned up, you get that one for free,” Leno said. “After that, you’re Harrison Ford, crashing airplanes. You just want to keep your head down (laughs).”

Leno was working with one of his vehicles, a 1907 White Steam car, on November 12 last year when a fuel leak caused his hands and face to be doused with gas, which subsequently set him ablaze.

The former late-night host was rushed to a burn center and underwent several forms of treatment, including two grafting procedures to remove unhealthy tissue and promote healing and several hyperbaric chamber sessions in an effort to “decrease swelling” and “increase blood flow with good oxygenation.”

He remained in hospital for 10 days and went back to work shortly after his release.

This story was originally published by Page Six and was reproduced with permission