Top Gear

Is there a show as cool as Top Gear? Where else can one see such wanton destruction, dry wit, and really, really funny hosts in one engaging, if slightly juvenile, show? Personally, I love the show, and it's been my frustration that I can't catch it on regular TV. To which I must give due props to the internet. Otherwise, I'd be stuck with memories and bootlegged DVD copies.

Back to Top Gear. I just finished watching the last episode of the previous season, and the first episode of the current, 12th (!) season. And while Hammond, May, and Clarkson are getting a bit older, (and stranger: what's with their hair?) they are still just as insane as ever.

Case in point: Jeremy Clarkson reviewing the new Porsche 911 GT2.

Quote: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! And that concludes my road test of the GT2. It's terrifying." The visuals were even nuttier, with him screaming, red-faced, bug-eyed, cutting rapidly with images of the GT2 spinning, smoking up an insane amount of rubber.

If there is one thing Top Gear does well, its the funny bits. Never mind that these are not the greatest drivers or even reviewers out there. I don't really care. It's their sincere opinions, and their often hilarious remarks, that get me every time. The fact that they don't mind being idiots sometimes just endears them to me even more.

Another tidbit from the episode I just viewed:

The three hosts are asked to be lorry (read: cargo truck) drivers. They come off as being complete fools, failing miserably in every task while purposefully laughing at themselves (and their colleagues) while doing it. And yet, I'm rooting for them every step of the way. I root for them because I can't do what they did, not without either getting sued, broke, or killed. It thrills me to no end that I can see these gits do things I secretly wished I did.

It's like jackass with cars, actually. I liked that show too.