It's Official: Adam Carolla Tapped to Host NBC's Iteration of 'Top Gear' - TV Crush

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Mary McNamara

It's Official: Adam Carolla Tapped to Host NBC's Iteration of 'Top Gear'
June 16, 2008

Word to the skeptics: former Man Show host Adam Carolla is hands down one of the funniest guys on the planet. The ad-libbing, wisecracking Carolla had television critics ROTFL a couple of years ago when TLC Network introduced The Adam Carolla Project. The network distributed a unique hammer which is a beer bottle opener/hammer combination. (The claw is reshaped into a bottle opener.)

I keep that item in my office. My guy friends love it.

Today, the following news was first reported by Jalopnik.com which also published a photo from the set.

NBC finally announced that Carolla will host the U.S. iteration of the hit U.K. series Top Gear. (Carolla chattered about it months ago on his radio show, however.) Filming begins this week on the pilot.

Tops among the comedian's many accomplishments listed in the NBC press release: Carolla's ground-breaking Dancing with the Stars appearance. Carolla became the first-ever contestant to complete a Paso Doble on a unicycle.

Carolla is said to be an avid car collector and owns several classic collectible Lamborghinis, Maseratis, two Ferraris and an Audi S4.

States the NBC press release: The U.S. version of the hit franchise will mirror the UK show’s irreverent humor and camaraderie between the three presenters, epic races, outrageous stunts and challenges, unique celebrity guest participation and eccentric methods of testing cars

Jeremy Clarkson, executive producer and host of the UK Top Gear, is both thrilled and confused. "This is fantastic news," snarked Clarkson, "but how on earth you lot are going to do it on the wrong side of the road I’ve no idea."

Posted by Mary McNamara on June 16, 2008 | Comments (2)

Industries: Content

June 23, 2008
In response to: It's Official: Adam Carolla Tapped to Host NBC's Iteration of 'Top Gear'
Ceres commented:

It's reported that Top Gear has a global audience of 150m, and even the Dalai Lama is a fan, so I guess it's inevitable that BBC Wordwide would want to capitalise on that eventually. The line-up for the US show looks at first glance more interesting than the forthcoming Aussie version but time will tell. Top Gear UK is famous for fearlessly and recklessly biting the hand that feeds it right down to the stump. Whether the US version will be able to emulate that audacity or end up paying toothless pitty-pat with the car manufacturers--well, some have doubts. Big fan Jay Leno refused the invitation to participate and wrote: "My great fear...is...if Kia was our sponsor this week, we'd have to say the car was fantastic." It'll be interesting to see if they dare take on the big US car producers and how those businesses react.

June 25, 2008
In response to: It's Official: Adam Carolla Tapped to Host NBC's Iteration of 'Top Gear'
mary mcnamara commented:

well, NBC IS run by the king of product placement, Ben Silverman. and NBC is a majorly dumbed down network these day. I'd say your worst fears will probably be realized, Ceres. They'll probably only let the smashingly funny Carolla nibble on the hand that feeds.