Tim Allen revealed that his old pal Jay Leno is on the mend after he was burned in a car fire earlier this week. Tim, 69, was seen leaving the hospital to visit the former Tonight Show host, 72, and he gave a brief interview to TMZ. The Toy Story star revealed that Jay was in good spirits, and was being well cared for, as he left the Grossman Burn Center in California on Thursday, November 17. “He is good,” Tim said. “It is wonderful, because he’s feeling better.”
Tim explained that he did everything he could to lift his friend’s spirits, as he stopped by. “I took his car magazines. We did some jokes, which is what we do. We commiserated. We just connected as friends,” he explained.
Given the serious nature of Jay’s injuries, the interviewer asked Tim how he was looking, and the comedian naturally gave his friend a light roast, joking that he was getting plastic surgery to look like a different celebrity. “His face looks great. It didn’t look all that good to begin with,” he quipped. “He’s going with the George Clooney look.”
Despite the joke, Tim admitted that his buddy was looking and feeling okay, after the injury, before heading off to his car. “He’s handsome, and he’s happy, and the hospitals doing a great job taking care of him,” he said.
Following the accident on November 13, Jay canceled all of his public engagements for two weeks, after he caught fire following a gas leak from a 1907 White Steam Car. He was seen entering a hyperbaric chamber at the hospital in footage by Inside Edition. His doctor also shared that he’d received some skin grafts to treat his injuries.
Jay revealed that the accident happened when he was working on a clogged fuel line in the classic car, when he was sprayed with gas, and then a spark ignited it, he told TMZ. He credited his friend Dave with jumping on him and smothering the flames immediately. In a statement shortly after the accident, Jay seemed like he was feeling positive about treatment. “I got some serious burns from a gasoline fire. I am ok. Just need a week or two to get back on my feet,” he told DailyMail.
Tim wasn’t the only friend to pay Jay a visit. His longtime employee George Swift also gave an update on his condition shortly after the fire in an interview with Access Hollywood. “He’s a tough guy. He’s going to be fine. There’s nothing life-threatening. He’s in great spirits, but it’s going to take a while,” he said.