Years after their Top Gear glory days, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May, show no signs of slowing down, and continue to go strong with their other car show, The Grand Tour. No matter the show they’re on, the presenter trio is still living dangerously, throwing themselves into all sorts of wild and dangerous stunts that have seen more than a few cars crashed.
Over the years, the experts on the great car repair show have gladly participated in several dangerous stunts. Still, even though their driving skills are unmatched, the endless laughter they bring is what sets them apart from other car show presenters. Whether through dialogue or comical moments, Clarkson, May, and Hammond have dragged the humor with them wherever they have gone. And while every episode delivers a few laughs, there are some particularly funny highlights over the show’s 33-season run.
25 Season 15, Episode 1
Guest Star: Nick Robinson
In the Top Gear season 15 premiere, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, and The Stig all get together to look at the Bentley Continental GT. However, this all leads to the introduction of the Reliant Robin. This is the episode where Jeremy rolls his Reliant Robin car over and over again, and it just keeps on running, showing it might be one of the most reliable and dependable cars ever made. What is even more reliable is Jeremy himself, as his commentary as he rolls the car is hilarious.
Jeremy made so many deadpan and offhanded comments during the accidents (“Ok, this is comfortable“) that it made each and every time he rolled the car even funnier than the one that came before. There is even a moment in the episode where Jeremy rolls the car into a parking lot that is full of similar cars, and everyone just stares in awe, which pays off the joke perfectly. This is one episode that relied almost exclusively on comedy to deliver the story, and it worked perfectly.
24 Season 20, Episode 5
Guest Star: Steven Tyler
In season 20, Jeremy and James decide they want to find which crossover vehicles would be the best for a caravan holiday. The two then head out to test the different cars, and this is where the big joke in the episode comes into play. The episode even goes for the low-hanging branches when Jeremy and James are in a car park at night and mention people “dogging” there, which obviously refers to one of the show’s slightly dirtier references.
What makes the joke work so well is the immediately horrified expressions from both James and Jeremy when they realize they are right. However, the funniest moment was when James and Jeremy went to the hardware store to shop, which had to be seen and believed. What made it even better was when they kept taking many of the things they had acquired to the dumpster and throwing random things away at “the tip.”
23 Season 14, Episode 6
Bolivia Special
Considered one of the best Top Gear specials of all time, the 14th season trip to Bolivia was also one of the scariest — and funniest. The episode saw Clarkson, Hammond, and May go to Bolivia with £3,500 to buy locally used cars. They then have to use the cars to travel through the coast of Chile. As they move into the Amazon vegetation, the episode offers some of the most breathtaking scenery of the entire series. However, it also features one of the deadliest moments.
They have to travel across a 40-mile mountain road known as El Camino de la Muerte (Death Road), which offers some of the most terrifying moments of the entire franchise. With so many people dying there over the years, the guys know the danger, but the episode is smart enough to offset the terror with some sharp humor. The jokes start from the beginning, when each of their cars requires serious work, to the end, when Richard sends his car tumbling down the hill because he was too scared to do it.
22 Season 3, Episode 13
Mongolia Special
This Top Gear episode is another one of the show’s best specials, as the team heads to Mongolia. In the special, nicknamed “Survival of the Fattest,” the production dropped Clarkson, Hammond, and May in the wilderness and set up their mission in a similar format as reality TV shows like Survivor. The guys only had limited rations and flat packs full of parts. The rations were to give them sustenance, and they had to use the parts to build their own vehicles.
The goal is to build a vehicle to help them escape the wilderness and return to civilization before their rations run out. The humor here doesn’t come from the unnecessary stunts but rather the chemistry between the guys and their ability to invent and create things while also allowing them to make jokes and poke at each other as their frustration rises. There is even a running joke about Richard not driving since he always wrecks his cars.
21 Season 7, Episode 4
Guest Star: Ellen MacArthur
Top Gear season 7, episode 4 remains a fan favorite, with beautiful Italian supercars and guest star Ellen MacArthur, a renowned yachtswoman. In this adrenaline rush-inducing episode, Clarkson, Hammond, and May are each allotted £20,000 to find and purchase a mid-engined Italian supercar. Hammond meets up with the men riding in a 1979 Ferrari 308 GT4 Dino, Clarkson with a 1974 Maserati Merak SS, and May hilariously tailing the pair with a 1975 Lamborghini Urraco hooked up to a tow truck.
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As the group takes their new rides out for test drives around a 20-mile track from Bristol to Castle Combe, May immediately “pays the price” of purchasing a Lamborghini £3,000 under budget. Throughout the episode, May can be seen repairing the car in every trial and circuit, with electrical issues just the beginning of his troubles. The men can hardly contain their amusement with the myriad of uses they each contend with. By the very end, Clarkson offers: “Yes, you can buy a supercar for less than £10,000, but for the love of God, don’t!”
20 Season 11, Episode 1
Guest Star: Alan Carr
The challenge of making a better police car ranks high on the best Top Gear episodes. In it, the gearheads are given £1,500 to buy any used car and turn it into an epic police cruiser superior to the Vauxhall Astra diesel that the UK police use. Hammond and the crew had their work cut out for them, but there were entertaining results.
The episode’s comedy germinates from the presenter’s decision to go the James Bond gadget route instead of making realistic police cars. May places a rear-mounted paint gun on his Lexus LS400, which is unlikely to help catch criminals, while Hammond fixes a self-deploying spike strip on his Suzuki Vitara, which doesn’t work as he hoped. Plus, there’s a more amusing moment where the trio goes after a “most wanted” criminal who turns out to be none other than the show’s test driver, Stig.
19 Season 14, Episode 2
Guest Star: Michael Sheen
Season 14, episode 2, is definitely one of the funniest Top Gear episodes, featuring the hosts building their own electric car. Feeling that the G-Whiz was not a good enough electric car, the presenters decided to build their own, which they first named Geoff before renaming it the Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust. The presenters can always be expected to botch such an attempt for comical purposes, and as such, they build a box-like car that could be considered one of the world’s ugliest.
Instead of leather seats, there are plastic garden chairs, and to troll Hammond, a transparent roof box is included to accommodate his “big head.” To further prove that they are not serious, the presenters cheat through the EU road legality test and even use Stig’s weird-looking cousin, who prefers to have solar panels on his helmet, as a test driver. An Auto Magazine review of the car at the end of the episode gives it a 0.5 out of 5 rating.
18 Season 11, Episode 3
Guest Star(s): James Corden vs. Rob Brydon
In another absurd challenge, the team is required to purchase an Alfa Romeo with their own money. There’s a catch though. Nobody can spend more than £1000. Hammond, Clarkson, and May, hoping to prove their car collection prowess, carefully select their test vehicles. Clarkson returned with an Alfa Romeo 75 3.0 V6, bought for a mere £450. Hammond purchases an Alfa Romeo Spider 2.0i and May returns with an Alfa Romeo GTV 2.0 Twin Spark. Unsurprisingly, their £1000 Italian luxury cars don’t fare well during the challenge.
The team eagerly meets on the racetrack with their new purchases and are paired against other competitors, primarily driving Porsche 911s. In a hilarious display of engine power, or lack thereof, the team endures myriad mechanical errors. The immediate car troubles, desperate attempts at preserving dignity, and friendly competition earned this highly regarded episode the title of one of the funniest in Top Gear history.
17 Season 18, Episode 1
India Special
The Top Gear season 18 special, which sees the gearheads in India, gets a lot of flack for seeming more scripted than other episodes, there’s no denying that the humor is on full display. In the episode, then-United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron instructs the hosts to “stay away from India“, as they wish to travel there to improve trade relations between the two countries. Of course, the guys ignore the PM’s orders.
On their trade mission, the gearheads all choose British luxury cars — May with a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow Mk1, Clarkson with an XJ-S Celebration, and Hammond with a Classic Rover Mini Cooper. Unsurprisingly, all three cars end up wrecked in typical hilarious Top Gear fashion. The episode is worth a watch alone for the humorous cricket game, played off Clarkson’s car with cans.
16 Season 8, Episode 6
Guest Star: Brian Cox
When the trio goes vacationing in a caravan, everything goes wrong, but it’s one of the most entertaining Top Gear episodes. It marked the end of a hiatus due to the World Cup. Clarkson, Hammond, May, and The Stig hosted the show with guest star Brian Cox. The episode kicked off with Clarkson showcasing the 3-litre V6 version of the Ford Mondeo, urging viewers not to overlook this “underrated” car.
From the dog getting ill to Clarkson accidentally setting fire to the caravan while making French fries, there is no shortage of crazy moments.
The humor in the episode feels inspired by some of the best Rowan Atkinson movies, given how events play out. From the dog getting ill to Clarkson accidentally setting fire to the caravan while making French fries, there is no shortage of zany moments. And as if getting sick wasn’t stressful enough for the dog, he and Hammond get kidnapped by a female fan, leading to a rather amateurish rescue mission.
15 Season 17, Episode 4
Guest Star: Rowan Atkinson
The episode where the trio made trains was highly entertaining. Clarkson and company believe there is a need to make cheaper trains, so they attach caravan carriages to cars and put train wheels on them. The work done on the cars is impressive, but what comes after is what triggers all the chuckles. First, the trio decided to go through endless shady burns at each other as they argued whether better between May’s “traditional” train (an Audi S8 attached to four caravan carriages) or Clarkson’s “Sports Train” (a Jaguar XJ-S Convertible attached to an open-top carriage).
Some of Jeremy Clarkson’s best quotes in Top Gear happened in this episode, and since the superiority contests never end, they decided to race it out. This leads to disastrous consequences for the test passengers, who include members of the railway inspection authority. It became the most popular episode of the season.
14 Season 8, Episode 1
Guest Stars: James Hewitt, Alan Davies, Trevor Eve, Jimmy Carr, Justin Hawkins, Rick Wakeman & Les Ferdinand
The Renault Espace Convertible was a chaotic and fun episode. Events revolve around the trio attempting to make a convertible people carrier by turning a Renault Espace into one. It’s all mayhem for the presenters once again. Despite their best efforts, everything that could go wrong does indeed go wrong, but viewers are always here for such moments. A trip to a safari park to see if the Espace could serve as a tour van only results in the roof getting blown off and being destroyed by a monkey.
Even better is when the tattered roof gets jammed into car wash machines, leading to a fire that forces Clarkson, Hammond, and May to run for their lives. The season’s first road test features the Nissan Micra convertible, labeled by Richard as potentially the most embarrassing car in human history. Clarkson decides to introduce a new addition to the show’s lineup: the Top Gear Dog, affectionately called TeeGee, a Labradoodle described as a “hybrid.” TeeGee, hilariously, is not a big fan of cars or May.
13 Season 9, Episode 4
Guest Star: Simon Pegg
In what can be compared to one of the cheesiest moments in Fast 9, Hammond and May attempt to modify a 1992 Reliant Robin into a Space Shuttle. It went surprisingly well for what could’ve been a disastrous mission. In this episode, Clarkson starts with a contentious argument, dividing petrolheads into two categories: those who adore the Porsche 911 (like Richard and James) and those, like himself, who prefer Ferraris to the point of fearing for their safety due to potential damage. Richard counters, asserting the 911’s superiority as a car over a Ferrari, leading into the first segment.
The Porsche 911 and Ferrari are comparable brands and personal preference usually dictates which is better.
Even the ever-skeptical Clarkson is surprised by how well the whole process goes. Hammond and May have endless clownish moments as they attempt to become space engineers, but in the end, they build something that takes off. Could it go all the way? It doesn’t, with the crash allowing Clarkson to break into his infectious laughter again.
12 Season 3, Episode 13
Guest Star: Roy Scheider
The Mongolian Special, the fourth special episode on the show, proves one of the most popular among fans for its spectacular visuals and provocative premise. The episode follows the men over the course of 6 days traversing the Mongolian Steppe in a homemade off-road vehicle. The incredible landscape, high stakes, and well-plotted-out challenge make this episode one of the best.
Hammond, Clarkson, and May are given small rations of food and supplies and are initially tasked with the construction of their vehicle. This is one of the very few episodes in which they all share a car, making the group dynamics during dire times even more fascinating. Once constructed, they must travel to Mörön, the nearest civilization with only a map. With sparse food sources and tight quarters, the episode is suitably titled “Survival of the Fattest.”
11 Season 19, Episode 1
Guest Star: Damian Lewis
Undoubtedly, season 19, episode 1, is one of the funniest installments. In the season premiere, Clarkson attempts to build something smaller than one of the world’s tiniest cars, the Peel P50. The fact that Clarkson thinks of the tiny P50 as “too big” sums up just how fun a presenter he is. Driving the P45 through Britain’s streets and highways proves dangerous, but the daredevil does it anyway.
The fact that Clarkson thinks of the tiny P50 as “too big” sums up just how fun a presenter he is.
The golden moment comes when he goes as far as to pitch his invention to the panel of one of the best business reality shows, Dragons’ Den. Clarkson lets his delusional side get the better of him, and the fact that he seriously thinks of the P45 as revolutionary cracks everyone up. As expected, no one invested in the P45.
In the same episode, Hammond puts the Pagani Huayra to the test, with The Stig setting a record lap time on the track, lasting for over 1,200 days. Actor Damian Lewis from Homeland takes on the Kia Cee’d as the star in a reasonably priced car, setting the slowest time (he was driving in snow). However, it’s the P45 that takes the cake for entertainment value.
10 Season 10, Episode 7
Guest Star: Jennifer Saunders
In celebration of British Leyland’s 40th Anniversary, the presenters purchase three different models from the company, each trying to prove that they made the best choice. This challenge ultimately produced one of the best Top Gear episodes. Despite the producers’ dismissal of the company’s legacy due to its notorious unreliability and poor build quality, the hosts enjoyed honoring the vehicle. Nonetheless, the trio insists that despite these shortcomings, some of British Leyland’s designs were still worthy of recognition and admiration.
The episode’s brilliance lies in the creativity of the challenges meant to test each car’s performance. From filling them with water to see how waterproof they were to driving with eggs to see how many would break (a test for comfort), the trio sorts jokes and laughs at their misfortunes. Best moment? Hammond’s car fails the handbrake test and rolls down a hill.
9 Season 22, Episode 3
Guest Star: Daniel Ricciardo
Another one of the best Top Gear episodes happened in season 22, episode 3 when the hosts built ambulances and raced to get nuclear waste explosion dummies to A&E. Additionally, the episode featured Richard testing a van, Jeremy driving an old brown Porsche, and James using a telephone. Outside the ambulance building, guest star in a reasonably priced car, Daniel Ricciardo, set the fastest Formula 1 time ever on the show’s leaderboard in a Suzuki Liana.
The episode where the presenters are tasked with making their ambulances on a £5,000 budget is a creative test for the team. The trio engages in a challenge to see how each of their ambulances can deliver a “patient” to a hospital. As expected, none of the ambulances is better than what is already being used. The casualties are plenty, but luckily, they are all dummies.
8 Season 12, Episode 8
The Vietnam Special
Also known as the Vietnam Special, in this episode, Clarkson, Hammond, and May are tasked with conquering the entire country in eight days. This challenge pokes fun at the Vietnam War’s 10-year military involvement. But before they hit the road, there’s a twist: they each get 15 million Vietnamese Dong (roughly $1,000) to buy their own vehicles. Naturally, the gearheads don’t make conventional choices.
Navigating the unique Vietnamese car market proves to be an adventure in itself, leading them to some rather unusual and unreliable modes of transportation, including motorbikes. The episode is the perfect blend of the show’s signature elements: a road trip challenge, hilarious car banter, and a dash of friendly competition. Furthermore, it’s set against Vietnam’s stunning landscapes, from bustling cities to gorgeous nature scenes. It also has thought-provoking commentary on the nature of the car market in developing countries.
7 Season 13, Episode 2
Guest Star: Stephen Fry
One of the funniest Top Gear episodes is when the presenters pretend to be 17-year-olds buying their first cars. After purchasing the cars, the presenters engage in dangerous teenage-related activities to see how much the vehicles can endure. Naturally, the gearheads are more interested in finding cars that are fun and speedy rather than safe and reliable, similar to the thousands of teenagers who obtain licenses each year.
The humor in the Top Gear episode stems not from the challenges but from the dialogue, notably Clarkson’s hilarious conversation with an insurance representative after discovering that teenage girls have to pay less than teenage boys. Watching the presenters get into endless teenage-like arguments about which car has the most excellent girlfriend-attracting features is a head-nodding experience, too. It’s fascinating how certain teenage tendencies never go away, especially when it comes to car aficionados.
6 Season 8, Episode 3
Guest Star: Philip Glenister
The “amphibious car” episode never fails to amuse. The group takes it upon themselves, after starting the episode by acknowledging that it’s never been accomplished, to build their own vehicles for land and water. The challenge presented is to construct amphibious cars capable of taking the drivers across a two-mile-wide reservoir.
Hammond takes a Volkswagen camper van and reimagines it as an aerodynamic boat, fondly referring to it as the “damper van.” Clarkson adds a Honda brand boat’s motor to a Toyota Hilux pickup truck aka “Toybota.” May gets especially creative, adding the mast of a Mirror dinghy to a Triumph Herald. This makeshift sailboat is, surprisingly, the only formidable vehicle of the episode. In this gut-busting episode, the men combat nature’s most valuable resource in an attempt to defy physics. They are all quickly brought back to reality as their makeshift “boats” struggle with the task at hand.
