A The Lonely Island member and former SNL mainstay, Jorma Taccone, was left temporarily unable to walk following an accident involving a ladder.
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During the latest The Lonely Island & Seth Meyers Podcast, Taccone said from his hospital bed that he was “insanely lucky” to be alive after his dangerous 20-foot ladder fall. The accident occurred at his farmhouse in Connecticut on the morning of his daughter’s birthday. He was using a borrowed “rickety” ladder inside the property’s barn.
The Lonely Island member further stated that the accident left him with a shattered pelvis. He called the accident “life-changing” while pointing out that the doctors told him he should be able to walk “within three to six months.”
“One of the projects I wanted to do this summer was I wanted to build…” Taccone told his podcast co-hosts Seth, Adam Samberg, and Akiva Schaffer. “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.”
Taccone said he “borrowed tons of ladders” for the project. “I was painting this barn, and as a final touch, I was like, ‘I should hang these lights that will go around the eve of the barn to highlight the barn.’ I was doing that on the day.”
The Lonely Island Member Details His Terrifying Fall
However, things took a turn. “I’m using this ladder that my neighbor let me borrow,” he recalled. “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.”
Taccone also said that when the accident occurred, he was “probably” 20 feet above the ground while he had the ladder in a diagonal position. “The legs are not good, the base of the ladder is not good.”
While recounting the ladder “give away” under him, Taccone said, “In this moment, my life flashes before my eyes,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Oh no, I’ve got to get off this ladder.’ I had enough time as I’m falling to be like, ‘I’m going to die.'”
Immediately following the fall, Taccone said he looked over and immediately thought, “This is going to hurt a lot.”
“I fall straight on my butt,” he continued. “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!'”
Taccone also pointed out that he had a “sort of numb” feeling while waiting for the ambulance. He was taken to a nearby hospital and discovered he had shattered the left side of his pelvis, and his sacrum had detached from his spine.
“A disc is bad now, so they have to chuck that out,” he noted. “It takes a while to schedule the surgery because they wanted to do the front part and back part as well.”
Taccone added that his recovery could take up to six months. Although he is already managing to get up with assistance, he still needs “acute rehab” for the recovery.
“On the plus side, all the doctors have been like, ‘You’ll be walking within three to six months and you’ll be back to like all of the stuff you normally do,'” he added. “So we shall see.”