Jorma Taccone is in recovery mode following a horrific accident last month while celebrating his daughter’s fifth birthday. The TV comedian, actor and writer is best known for his nine-year stint with Saturday Night Live as a writer and segment director, where he became one-third of the beloved trio The Lonely Island with childhood friends and fellow writers Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer. And now, he’s giving his group members an update on his health following the incident on the latest edition of their podcast.
Jorma, 48, phoned in from his hospital bed to Tuesday’s episode of The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, which he co-hosts with Andy, Akiva and Seth Meyers. On the podcast, the foursome usually share quick updates on their lives while diving through the archives of their digital shorts with SNL, the latest titled “Firelight” starring then-newcomer Taylor Swift.
“We’ve had an incident with one of our members that we’re gonna address right off the top,” Seth started, and as he handed it over to Jorma, he joked: “I feel like the minute as you said ‘one of our members,’ everyone was like, ‘Aah, I know who it is’,” getting a chuckle out of the group before groggily diving into what exactly happened.
The Hot Rod star shares two children with director and actress Marielle Heller, and explained that it all happened when he was painting a mural on their barn for his daughter’s fifth birthday in August. “There’s a barn, and the back half of the barn has this big white wall. I was like, ‘This is great, we can do a big mural…’,” he recalled.
© Getty Images“I’m using this ladder that my neighbor let me borrow, and he was like, ‘Hey, this ladder is bad, like, you shouldn’t use this ladder. This doesn’t have a footing thing.’ I was like, ‘It’ll be good.'” Sure enough, things went well until the final few moments of his paint job. “I’m almost done. I’ve done most of the [barn].”
“When this happens, I’m probably 20 feet off the ground on this very rickety ladder and I have it diagonal. The legs are not good, the base of the ladder is not good,” Jorma continued. However, he then felt the base of the ladder give way and fell off. “In this moment, my life flashes before my eyes. I’m like, ‘Oh no, I’ve got to get off this ladder.'”
© Getty Images“I had enough time as I’m falling to be like, ‘I’m going to die.’ I drop, I look over, I see the yard, I’m like, this is going to hurt a lot. I fall straight on my butt, taking all of the impact on my butt. Then I do a lot of screaming and cursing. Keep in mind, it’s my daughter’s fifth birthday party, so it wasn’t the coolest way to start the day. I’m like, ‘Call an ambulance!'”
© Getty ImagesJorma explained that he’d shattered his pelvis, one of his discs was bad, and his sacrum had detached from his spin, all of which required surgery. “It takes a while to schedule the surgery because they wanted to do the front part and back part as well.” He’s now in recovery, although still requires assistance to be able to stand up. His doctors told him he can walk in three to six months. “So we shall see.”
© Getty ImagesHe called the experience extremely painful, but was able to joke about it and find the humor in it with his co-hosts, detailing the need for acute rehab and physical therapy. He even noted how such injuries are described as “life changing,” adding: “It’s definitely no joke, and it’s not *the funniest* way to start a podcast.” Akiva sweetly responded: “We love you, and you know we’ve been worried sick.”
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