Let the record show this review is written by me, Zack Klapman, and NOT Matt Farah. It may seem silly to have a review on Matt’s site for a show he’s on. Some people might assume it will be positive because he’s paying me to plug his new venture. Trust me and my Wells Fargo bank account balance, he’s not. I’m not doing this to kiss his ass, get a date with his sister, a ride in his Vette or the seemingly unobtainable accolade of shaving his scrotum (the car blogger equivalent of being in Bill Gates’ will). None of those things are happening.
The show is going to be good. Very good. There’s going to be car porn in it, so that means that every fan of this site and anyone with some amount of gas in their DNA will watch it. I can’t tell you what I saw, but when the clip ended I was pissed, because it was so good and exciting I wanted to see more. There’s going to be fast cars, exotics, junkers, economy cars, everything. It’s visually on par with anything out there.
Ok, so now we’ve hooked the the car geek audience. Since car nerds like us are as easy to please as the first time a 15 year old boy gets to put his Hogwart wand in a wizard’s sleeve I want to spend most of this review on what makes people lift Top Gear UK onto Everest but waffle over TGA; chemistry.
Not lets-put-drano-in-a-glass-with-those-bath-salts-and-drink-it chemistry. I’m talking about the hosts. Adam, Matt, John and Dan just have it. They’re funny, quick-witted, they follow each other’s lead, they have comedic timing, and whether they’re in agreement or not watching them talk is captivating. For example, at a field taping last week, Matt and Adam were discussing two cars. The banter between them was so good, so funny, and such a perfect game of verbal tennis that halfway through I asked a producer, “Did they write this whole segment?”
No they did not. Off the cuff. Out of nowhere. Improv. And it wasn’t just good the way Discovery probably films a speckled tree frog breathing for 20 seconds and says “Ok! We got it. Let’s move on.” It was bent over, bite-your-hand-because-they’re filming outright hilarious. I have probably watched and listened to thousands of hours of stand-up comedy in my life. I watch TV and movies with a different intent than the normal person. I’m constantly judging the writing and jokes of anything that comes through my ears. Basically, I’m kind of snob. So if the jokes sucked, or were old or too simple or too obvious, I wouldn’t be saying this. These weren’t cheesy Motor Week jokes that are safe for children 2 and up. It’s Adam being Adam, Matt being Matt, guys being unscripted, un-censored guys. They are funny.
And it’s not just Matt and Adam. Dan Neil, as proper/educated/professional/orthodontist-looking he may be, he’s great to watch. He doesn’t pile on the jokes with a snow-blower like Adam, but rather inserts moments of smart, snarky levity in between knowledgeable expositions that have everyone leaning in. I watch him as if if I look hard enough and listen intently enough, I will possess his power of knowledge. He’s an award winning writer, but he knows how to formulate and condense thoughts in his mind at lightening speed, and deliver them in a manner that is anything but dry. He is the yin to Matt and Adam’s sarcastic, shit-talking, comically-infused but still informative yang.
Then there’s John Salley. When I learned he was on the cast, my eyebrows furrowed. I said, “Does he know anything about cars?” The response was, “No, not really.” “Hm. So why is he on the show?” I thought the panel needed to be saturated with knowledge, like a group of automotive Wikipedia-i. I was wrong, he’s great. He may not know cars, but he adds a balance to the show you don’t think you need but quickly realize is essential. He’s a Garmin GPS; you got along fine without one for years, but now that you see it you know it’s essential.
John Salley is funny, he’s sharp, and even though he’s often the target of Carolla’s scathing wit, he adds something to the show I didn’t think it needed; normalcy. If you don’t click your mouse button to Zonda renderings, you can look at John having fun, and see that this show isn’t only for guys with SCCA Championship trophies.
The show will really be for everyone. I’ve seen some of the car footage, and it looks great. It will keep all of us youtube-drift-footage hunters happy. And after attending the studio taping yesterday, I know it will have mass appeal. Adam’s jokes are just common analogies, and in this arena they’re just fed by car topics. But as Matt has said, he’s king of tangents. So if they’re discussing cylinder heads from 1992 Le Baron (they didn’t) and you don’t know what that means, wait 5 seconds. The punchline will be as close to the topic as Matt is to buying a smart car.
What this all adds up to is a connection and repoire that other TV shows will envy. All the guys work great together. Hour after hour went by yesterday with the audience, crew, and even security guards busting up in raucous laughter. No one got bored, no one got tired, and everyone left charged up and excited, wanting to see more. “The Car Show” will not be Top Gear, and it’s not trying to be. In fact, it’s not trying to be anything. What it is is a bunch of smart, clever, really funny guys who know cars. You know how you and your friends sit for hours talking about new models, discontinued loves or the next hyper-car from Tanzania? This is that. It’s like a porno with dialogue by Louis CK. I think it’s going to be great, and I can’t wait til everyone else gets to see it. I love Top Gear, but it never made me laugh like The Car Show.
-Zack K
