Comedy legend Dick Van Dyke narrowly averted disaster yesterday—a horrific accident not unlike tripping over an ottoman, except instead of an ottoman it was a Jaguar, and instead of tripping, it was nearly being trapped inside a raging inferno. The 87-year-old was driving in Los Angeles when his car suddenly burst into flames, forcing him to the side of the road. Fortunately, the scene caught the attention of one Jason Pennington, who immediately pulled over and, as TMZ reports, “ran over to discover Dick Van Dyke struggling inside,” then “pulled the actor out of the vehicle as flames tore through the engine.” (Good Samaritan drivers: the porpoises of the freeway.)
Anyway, Van Dyke is fine and in remarkably good humor about the whole thing, judging by this subsequently tweeted photo of his now-cremated car with the caption, “Used Jag for sale REAL CHEAP!!” Van Dyke has yet to add, “Though I spends me time in the ashes and smoke, in this ‘ole wide world there’s no ‘appier bloke,” because come on, that would probably be a little too flippant. The man almost died.