NBC cancels 'Jay Leno's Garage' months after accident that left host with burns on his face
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA: Jay Leno appears to be out of a job just months after the terrible accident that left him with severe burns all over his face. CNBC has apparently canceled his show 'Jay Leno's Garage'.
Leno, 72, began hosting 'Jay Leno's Garage' just a few months after his farewell episode of NBC's 'The Tonight Show' which aired in February 2014. Leno's programs have aired on the networks of NBCUniversal for 30 years straight, ever since he began presenting 'The Tonight Show' in 1992, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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2014 saw the launch of 'Jay Leno's Garage' as a web series for NBC.com, followed by an upgrade to a full-time series when a special aired on CNBC in August of that same year. The program is characterized as "a star-studded, action-packed study of all things automotive" and is shot at Jay Leno's Big Dog Garage in Burbank. The seventh and final season included Brie Larson, Post Malone, Gaten Matarazzo, Jeff Dunham, Kelly Clarkson, Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias, Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Pitbull, James Marsden, Danica Patrick, Alfonso Ribeiro, Tig Notaro, Mike Rowe, Jim Jefferies, and Diego Boneta. Many episodes featured famous car enthusiasts like Leno.
Jay Leno’s 30-Year Run at NBCUniversal Poised to End as CNBC Cancels His ‘Garage’ Car Series https://t.co/tGlFhNyQo0
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) January 27, 2023
Neither CNBC nor Leno have publicly commented on the cancellation; the seventh and last season premiered in September 2022. The cancellation also comes shortly after Leno was severely burned while working on a 1907 White Steam vehicle at his garage. ''The fuel line was clogged so I was underneath it. It sounded clogged and I said, 'Blow some air through the line,' and suddenly, boom, I got a face full of gas. And then the pilot light jumped and my face caught on fire," Leno explained to Hoda Kotb on Today last month.
When the accident occurred, Leno was working with his friend Dave Killackey, who reacted quickly. "I said to my friend, I said, 'Dave, I'm on fire.' And then, 'Oh, my God.' Dave, my friend, pulled me out and jumped on top of me and kind of smothered the fire," Leno explained.
The comedy icon had 'relatively serious' burns on 'approximately 7 percent of his body,' spanning his face, chest and hands, the director of the medical facility, Dr Peter Grossman, told NBC News last month. Leno later said in a column for The Wall Street Journal, "You have to joke about it. There's nothing worse than whiny celebrities. If you joke about it, people laugh along with you." He said that he "had a brand new face" eight days after the accident, joking, "It's better than what was there before."