In my time as a blogger I have come in or some fairly serious criticism for being, of all things to accuse me of, “anti-American.” The irony is that here in the UK, due to my somewhat unusual accent in these parts, people often think I might be an American living here in the motherland for a while, lost on this little island searching for the safety of cable TV, fast food and somewhere to buy a pickup truck so I can… pick things up… because surely that is what one does with a pickup truck? My friends also enjoy making fun of me for being “so American” or worse than that, a “wannabe American.” It seems that I can’t ein either way.

I am, of course, not at all anti-American. For heavens sake I own a cowboy hat, a TiVO, and I love Starbucks! Well okay, I don’t love Starbucks, but the bit about the cowboy hat and TiVO were true. Heck TiVO even records NASCAR for me when it doesn’t clash with the seemingly unending amounts of CSI it constantly records.

With all that in mind then, perhaps you Americans will forgive me for laughing until there were tears in my eyes, at an episode of a popular British motoring TV show called ‘Top Gear’ that I have just finished watching.

The episode was actually shown on British TV last month. It followed the three presenters, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May, as they took a low budget road trip from Florida to Louisiana in September 2006.

The road trip episode is available, probably illegally, on YouTube. However, before any American watches this it is only fair to warn them that the presenting trio are famous for being somewhat snobby and gloriously un-pc. The humor (spelled without a U in the interest of anglo-American relations) is therefore, shall we say, “edgy” in parts, even perhaps NSFA (not safe for Americans).

Presented on YouTube in 7 parts (below) you will quickly find out that the trio had to buy a car each in Miami with just $1000 budget for each vehicle. They then put the vehicles to a series of amusing tests before embarking on the road trip itself.

In Alabama they’re instructed to decorate one another’s vehicles in such a way as to invite trouble. With the cars decorated with slogans like “Hillary for President”, “Country and Western is Rubbish”, and “Man love rules OK” the trio do indeed find themselves in trouble very quickly. In fact, I have to say that I was surprised how badly the production team underestimated what kind of trouble that might cause in an Alabama hick town.

There is also an amusing task of eating only roadkill. This leads to an entertaining moment where the trio ponder how to “peel” a cow which Jeremy Clarkson has found dead on the roadside.

All in all the program was, in this humble Englishman’s opinion, fantastically funny. Several times I laughed out loud. The road-trip comes to an end in New Orleans where they were supposed to sell their cars. However they decided to give them away because of the devastation that was still everywhere a year after Katrina.

As they drove through New Orleans looking at the vast scale of utter destruction still very much evident Clarkson asked. “How can the rest of America sleep at night knowing that this is here.” It was a question that I had asked myself some 6 months earlier when I spent time in Katrina ravaged Mississippi.

I’m not sure if there is any network in the States that shows ‘Top Gear’. But I’m interested in finding out what Americans make of this episode of the program that pokes a little fun at the big country.

Would Americans be offended or could they see the funny side? They surprised us by loving Borat, so perhaps I’m doing our American friends a disservice in even suggesting that this show would leave them hot under the collar. Maybe the British accent and playful pompous snobbery could raise a laugh. I just don’t know. But thanks to the wonder of YouTube, you Americans can watch it for yourself and share your opinions here.

Top Gear : Road Trip USA