Hating Top Gear

In Saturday's Guardian, the comedian Steve Coogan wrote a column attacking Top Gear's recycled clichés about Mexicans and he was absolutely spot-on with this observation of presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard 'The Hamster' Hammond and James May:

Richard has his tongue so far down the back of Jeremy's trousers he could forge a career as the back end of a pantomime horse. His attempt to foster some Clarkson-like maverick status with his "edgy" humour is truly tragic. He reminds you of the squirt at school as he hangs round Clarkson the bully, as if to say, "I'm with him". Meanwhile, James May stands at the back holding their coats as they beat up the boy with the stutter.

Exactly... although by far the most comprehensive demolition of Clarkson and his eager minions comes from Stewart Lee. I'm really pleased to see that Stewart will be at Stratford Circus on Sunday 19 June to talk about his excellent book How I Escaped My Certain Fate.

Here's the man once called "as funny as bubonic plague" by The Sun's deputy editor Fergus Shanahan, explaining his hatred of Top Gear: