Jimmy Fallon shares gory details of finger injury, won’t get feeling back for 8 weeks

Jimmy Fallon is back on “The Tonight Show” after a two-week break that started a day early because of an accident that ripped off his finger.

The host told the gory tale on his Monday show, explaining that he slipped at home, had to have surgery on his left hand and won’t get feeling back in the digit for eight weeks.

The “Saturday Night Live” alum had to cancel his June 26 show after the gruesome incident and spent 10 days in an intensive care unit, where he tweeted updates and images of his bandaged hand and assured fans that he was doing well.

“I tripped and fell in my kitchen on a braided rug that my wife loves and I can’t wait to burn it to the ground,” the comedian quipped on Monday. “I tripped and fell and I caught my fall, so I’m getting up and my finger is sideways. So I go, ‘Oh my God, did I just break my finger? This is the lamest thing in the whole wide world. It completely looks fake. It looks like a cheap horror movie where you see a broken finger.”

Then he introduced the phrase “ring avulsion” to his audience.

Fallon, 40, said that his wedding ring got caught on the countertop, got stuck there when he was falling and pulled his finger off. He then wrapped his hand in a cheap towel, got in a cab and headed to the emergency room.

The doctors at the Beth Israel E.R. said they couldn’t fix it because it required micro-surgery, so he went to Bellevue Hospital in New York City and was seen by a doctor wearing a bowtie and cowboy boots who would reattach the digit.

“Apparently the odds aren’t great with these things. This happens a lot and the odds are not -- usually they’re just gonna cut your finger off, so I was going to lose my finger,” he said, showing close-up shots of his bandaged hand.

The lighthearted host underwent surgery under a microscope for six hours that required implanting a vein from his foot into his hand.

Fallon thanked the “angels” at the hospital who took care of him, sent a heartfelt message to patients stuck in hospitals watching his show and ended the bit a lighter note.

“I’m a klutz now,” he said. “I should say the fall was funny. I’m a comedian so I have to fall funny ... almost Jerry Lewis-y, with the bumble step. My foot got caught in the rug and then I tried to catch my fall. The double trip is so much more funny. I feel bad for anyone who trips but if it was me watching me, I would laugh.”

Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad.

SIGN UP FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTERS:

Indie Focus: Your field guide to only good movies

Classic Hollywood: A weekly email celebrating the Golden Age of Hollywood

Essential Arts & Culture: A curated look at SoCal’s wonderfully vast and complex arts world