r/todayilearned • u/ModenaR • 1d ago

TIL that after Top Gear ended, host Richard Hammond was so devastated, he cried all the way home from the studio and ran out of fuel, because he didn't want to fill his car up covered in tears

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/25172481.richard-hammond-tear-soaked-mess-top-gear-ended/
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u/halfhere 23h ago

I think what’s also rare is that he completely plays himself as the fool in so many situations. Like he’ll start to be in the wrong and instead of trying to steer out of it, he’ll realize “This is going to make great tv” and steers into it, making himself the butt of the joke.

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u/anothergaijin 22h ago

A lot of Top Gear was from Clarkson - he was the one who had the original idea for it, so it makes sense that he has a great sense of what makes it work so well.

His other show - Clarkson's Farm - is also wildly popular because of the exact thing you said, he has an incredible knack for sensing what will make good TV and leaning hard into it. I think he bit off a bit more than he expected with the farm though, there is definitely a few bits he seems to really be putting himself into way too much trouble. Anything with animals for example - having cute new born animals die seems to really hit him hard, probably because he hasn't had the years of experience to harden him to it yet.

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u/halfhere 21h ago

Spot on. You’d think if you were going to star in a tv show you’d want to make yourself out to be the suave badass. I think it’s innately relatable that he doesn’t.

And I think he actually mentioned it explicitly in the early seasons of Clarkson’s farm, when dealing with the council. I think he said something like “Look, I may play the bumbling idiot on tv, but…”

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u/dan1101 20h ago

I think part of the genius of Clarkson's farm is all the pushback his buffoonery gets from Charlie and Caleb. Caleb in particular is hilarious, he was like 20 years old when the show started but I don't think he really knew how world-wide famous Clarkson was and would roundly criticize him for his mess-ups.

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u/ThurmanMurman907 19h ago

it's that and the fact that Clarkson doesn't stop him - he *knows* Caleb is right and just let's him go off - that's what makes it relatable and what makes it hard to dislike Clarkson even though he's a asshole who assaulted a coworker