Jay Leno's Mystery Illness: ‘Exhaustion'

Jay Leno missed two days of hosting "The Tonight Show" last month due to an illness that was rumored to be food poisoning, but the comedian told People that his sick days – his first in 17 years of hosting the late night show — had a different cause.

"Exhaustion," he told the mag. "That's like a rich person's condition. Poor people that work – they don't get exhausted. Only rich people get exhausted. It's an embarrassing thing."

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Not only does Jay host the late night show five nights a week, but he spends much of the year traveling to do standup comedy as well as writing three print columns about cars, not to mention, he's always busy working on his beloved stable of classic cars.

"I write for the London Sunday Times, I write for Popular Mechanics every month and I write for a British magazine called Octane," he said. "I do all automotive stuff. And then I'm on the road 160 days. I think it's one of those deals where you just got worn out."

As previously reported by AccessHollywood.com, Jay spent a night in a Burbank hospital but was itching to get back to work, showing up on the NBC lot to write jokes before his return to the show the following week.

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MORE ACCESS ON THESE TOPICS: Jay Leno - Late Night - Comedians - Hospitalizations - Celebrities

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