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Jay Leno is setting the record straight about his recent string of injuries.
Jay Leno in November 2023.
Monica Schipper/Getty
The former Tonight Show host, 74, appeared on the Dec. 22 episode of Bill Maher‘s Club Random podcast to discuss comedy, performing live and the early days of their careers as stand-up performers. During the conversation, Maher, 68, asked Leno about a recent rumor that his injuries were from getting beat up by the mob due to gambling debts.
“Well, I like the idea that they wouldn’t just take one of my cars for the gambling debt,” the New York-born comedian quickly quipped in reply. (Leno famously owns nearly 200 cars, many of them rare collectibles worth multiple millions of dollars.)
Leno then got serious, revealing that while he personally has no affiliation with the mob, he did have a run–in with a member of the Mafia when he was an up-and-coming comedian trying to catch his big break.
“I was pretty smart,” he told Maher. “I remember years ago, I was at [the East Coast-based comedy club] Catch a Rising Star, and I was onstage, and this guy — a mob guy — comes up to me afterwards and he goes, ‘Hey, you’re a funny kid. You’re a funny kid.’ ”
“He takes $100 and he puts it in my pocket,” he continued. ”I say, ‘Oh thank you.’ I say, ‘Look, I don’t mean any disrespect, but, you know, give it to the church or something … I’m okay, but thank you.’ And he says to me, ‘You know, you’re a smart kid. You don’t take money from people like me. That’s smart.’ And nobody ever bothered me again.”
Leno then shared that while he personally never had any trouble, he used to see the mob “kick the crap out of comics left and right” for being “wise a——” onstage.
Leno also said that the rumors about the cause of his injuries are unfounded for the simple reason that he doesn’t like gambling. “I don’t gamble,” he insisted, adding, “Losing 100 bucks makes me feel stupider than winning one thousand makes me feel good. Because I go, ‘I could have taken my wife to dinner.’ “
The fall came one year after the USO Show alum experienced second- and third-degree burns on his face, chest and hands while working on one of his cars when a gasoline fire broke out. He underwent a series of surgical excision and grafting procedures for his injuries and spent 10 days in a recovery facility.
