Talk Show host Arsenio Hall is reflecting on the time he saved a couple from a burning house with Jay Leno. The wild incident happened in the 1990s, but Hall wrote about it in his memoir, Arsenio: A Memoir.
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Leno and Hall saw a house on fire near Leno's home. The two quickly sprang into action to help the neighbors.
"Jay and I run out the front door and sprint to the burning house," he recalled in the book. "He presses the doorbell and I pound on the door. No one answers. In tandem, we kick the door and break it down."
While shouting for the neighbors to call the fire department, the pair found an older couple asleep in the back bedroom.
"'You wake them up,' I say to Jay. 'They need to see you first, not a random Black guy standing over them,' " Hall recounted. "We wake them up and lead them out of their house. A few minutes later, sirens wail and firefighters arrive."
Jay Leno and Aresenio Hall
Fortunately, the firefighters arrived and managed to put out the flames. The two watched while emergency responders took over.
"A few of them start clapping, and the applause builds. I lower my head, feeling uncomfortable, but the crazy thought does occur to me, 'Tonight Jay Leno and I saved two lives,' " he recounted.
This may be surprising to some. Publicly, Hall and Leno seemed opposed as television rivals. But in real life, the two were great friends. Leno helped Hall when he first moved to Hollywood.
"He's just being nice, I think. Why would a comedian who's on TV all the time want me to call him?" Hall remembered.. "I'm sure the number he wrote on the napkin is bulls--, a joke, the number for 'Dial-a-Prayer' or some s--t."
But no, Leno was being serious. Hall even described him as something of a big brother figure to him.
