Jimmy Fallon Details His Severe Finger Injury: ‘It Looked Like a Cheap Horror Movie’

“Tonight Show” host reveals he was in the ICU for 10 days after getting his ring finger caught on a countertop

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Jimmy Fallon was back from hiatus on Monday, and amid the usual jokes the “Tonight Show” host had a serious story to tell about how he nearly ripped his finger off in an accident last month.

“I am so happy to be back after a two-week break, I was so excited that I went around the office giving everyone I saw a high four,” Fallon quipped to open the show.

“As you can probably tell by the cast I am wearing, I had a bit of a mishap, but all I can say is, ‘You should see the other guy.’ And he’s dead now,” he joked, showing the large bandage on his left hand.

Later in the show, Fallon finally revealed the gruesome details of what really happened — and how close he came to losing his ring finger.

“Basically, what happened was I tripped and fell in my kitchen on a braided rug — that my wife loves and I can’t wait to burn to the ground — I caught my fall and my finger went sideways,” he said.

“I get up and am like, ‘Did I just break my finger? This is the lamest thing in the whole world, it looks fake — it looks like a cheap horror movie.’”

Fallon then wrapped his hand in a towel and jumped in a cab for the emergency room, where he was told that it was a thing called “ring avulsion … if you Google it there are graphic images. Basically, my ring got caught on the countertop when I was going down, and it got stuck there and pulled my finger off.”

He then had to go from New York City’s Beth Israel Hospital over to Bellevue, where Dr. David Chiu came in wearing “a bow tie and cowboy boots” to save the day.

“Apparently, the odds aren’t great and usually they cut your finger off, but this guy did microsurgery for over six hours and had to take a vein out my foot,” Fallon said. “This is the craziest story — I was knocked out and didn’t know any of this.”

The host added, “He did it and he saved my finger. I won’t get feeling back for eight weeks … and I was in the ICU for 10 days.”

Fallon went on to thank all the nurses and doctors over at Bellevue, “you guys are rock stars,” said the host, admitting that he started to lose it when he was in the hospital and read books on the meaning of life, along with watching “The Duff” three times and “Real Housewives of New York.”

In a heartfelt moment, Fallon said that he realized the meaning of his life was to be on TV and make people who are suffering laugh.

“I must say, the fall was funny,” he concluded. “I am a comedian so I have to fall funny. If it was me, watching me I would laugh.”

The late-night host then welcomed guests Paul Rudd and Jon Glaser, and went on with the show despite his bandaged paw.

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