Kirill Bichutsky/Getty Images Add Jalopnik on Google: Google Discover Four years after it was put on indefinite hiatus and just before the revamped version of rival motoring show The Grand Tour is set to drop, there are rumblings that the BBC wants to revive Top Gear once again. According to The Sun, British comedian Jimmy Carr is "in talks" to host a new era of the iconic car show that could debut next year. Per an unnamed source, "production have their sights set on Jimmy," and are "considering a woman and online celebrities to complement [him]." When asked for comment, the BBC declined to comment on speculation. If Carr is really the frontrunner to head up what is still arguably the world's most recognizable name in car TV, that just tells us that the people in charge still have not learned a thing about what made the original Clarkson-Hammond-May iteration so beloved, 11 years post-fracas. We've seen this show before Top Gear It almost goes without saying at this point that, yes, a lot of the humor in those old episodes has aged terribly. But for most car people in particular, a huge part of why Top Gear was so influential is because it was clearly helmed by three car journalists who happened to be entertaining, not career entertainers who happened to be into cars. This pattern holds up when you look at how most of the successors to that original trio were received. Automotive journalist and YouTuber Chris Harris? A genuine highlight in the post-Clarkson era. BBC Radio 1 host and Ferrari collector Chris Evans? Unwatchably bad and lasted just one season. Late race car driver and Nurburgring sherpa Sabine Schmitz? Iconic. Matt LeBlanc from Friends? Serviceable, but often felt like a professional actor playing the part of a successful motoring show presenter instead of actually being one. Please bro just one more Top Gear remake, just give it a chance bro please Kirill Bichutsky/Getty Images For context, Jimmy Carr is a stand-up comedian who's made a career hosting British panel shows — you know the ones: those TV shows they clip into Instagram Reels where the premise is seemingly just "three to six British B-list celebrities sit behind desks and take turns being witty." His flavor of stand-up can be described as controversial and "edgy," which can either be hilarious, unpleasant, or mildly exhausting depending on where you've landed on the "comedian who's 'willing to say what others won't' despite every other comedian having a joke about the same thing" trope. Carr first appeared on Top Gear as a celebrity guest in 2004 and set the fastest lap time as a Star In a Reasonably Priced Car, driving the Suzuki Liana at the time. He's said to be a "real car buff" and took delivery of an EV-swapped Aston Martin DB6 last year. In other words, he is textbook "career entertainer who just so happens to be into cars and being vaguely offensive." And on vibes alone, something tells me that's about as much thought the BBC put into his alleged casting. In any case, here's the trailer for the upcoming season of The Grand Tour, which, in all honesty and sincerity, looks like it could be great. Maybe that's 'cause they didn't get *checks notes* Tom Segura to be in it.
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