He spent a lifetime making America laugh, but the choices Jay Leno is making now are deadly serious. After surviving a gasoline fire that reshaped his face and a brutal motorcycle crash, his focus has narrowed to two devotions: his wife Mavis and the machines that nearly killed him. With Mavis slipping deeper into dementia, he stepped in as her legal protector, not to control her, but to guarantee her dignity and care when she can no longer ask for it herself.

Behind the scenes, he is quietly drafting his goodbye. Their home is to remain a sanctuary “as long as reasonably possible,” funded by the fortune he built. His beloved $52 million car and motorcycle collection will outlive them both in a museum, a roaring steel legacy for future generations. Family will be provided for, Mavis shielded, and the laughter, he hopes, remembered long after the engines go silent.