Jay Leno returns to stage for first time after serious burn accident

[Inviteshop]

​

Jay Leno made a triumphant return to the stand-up comedy stage on Sunday, two weeks after sustaining serious burns in a garage fire.

Earlier this month, the TV presenter was taken to the Grossman Burn Center in Los Angeles after he suffered deep second-degree burns and some third-degree burns to his face, hands, and chest after a gasoline fire broke out in his garage.

He was released from the facility on 21 November after a ten-day stay, and wasted no time in returning to his regular haunt, The Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, California, on Sunday.

The 72-year-old seemed in great spirits and cracked jokes about his injuries - which were barely visible - to reporters as he arrived at the venue.

"I've got two shows tonight - regular and extra crispy. OK, thank you, thank you, good night ladies and gentlemen," he quipped, according to footage from NBC Los Angeles. "I never thought of myself as a roast comic. Hey, thank you, thank you, good night!"

Leno reportedly poked fun at himself and the incident to the sold-out crowd during his set, reports Entertainment Tonight. He sat with his wife Mavis and the club owner while comedians Arsenio Hall and Jimmy Brogan opened the show.

Hall told ET after the set, "Jay is an amazing guy. No comic would leave the Grossman Burn Center, and do stand-up Sunday in Hermosa! I lost my big toe nail after someone stepped on my foot at the Super Bowl last year. I cancelled three stand-up dates after that!"

Leno has performed at the club almost every Sunday since he began hosting The Tonight Show in 1992. He left the show in 2009.