Hard road ahead for Top Gear Aussies as Shane Jacobson has big shoes to fill

[csv8]

Hard road ahead for Top Gear Aussies as Shane Jacobson has big shoes to fill

Colin Vickery From: The Courier-Mail October 13, 2010 12:00AM

SHANE Jacobson has some mighty big shoes to fill. The comedian, best known for his starring role in movie Kenny, has become Australia's answer to Jeremy Clarkson.

Jacobson heads up the retooled version of Top Gear Australia. Race driver Steve Pizzati and Top Gear magazine editor Ewen Page round out the team.

The trio met their British counterparts -- Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond -- on the Top Gear Ashes Special.

Now Jacobson, Pizzati and Page will go it alone for four Aussie-only episodes.

Jacobson hopes Nine's Top Gear Australia is more successful than the SBS version, which debuted to 933,000 viewers in September 2008 but had about as much polish as a Leyland P76.

Pizzati has been retained from the SBS show, which also featured Charlie Cox, Warren Brown and James Morrison.

The solid ratings for the Ashes special -- more than 1.5 million viewers nationally -- suggests Nine's version will be more successful.

Jacobson, who has a CAMS race licence, originally thought Nine wanted him to appear as one of the celebrities in the Stars in Reasonably Priced Cars segment. He was shocked when executives said they wanted him as a host.

Jacobson is aware of the dangers of copying the UK Top Gear too slavishly.

"The biggest mistake would be going into it to be one of those (Clarkson/May/Hammond) individually," he says.

"I can't be Jeremy Clarkson. If I tried to be him instead of being myself we'd be shot.

"Their chemistry has built up over a long period of time. We can't be a tribute band."

Nine's Top Gear Australia will include many of the wild stunts that made the UK original so popular.

The trio will try to sail on Lake Eyre, attempt to rock a baby to sleep in a V8, hitch up cheap caravans for a "grey nomads" retirement motoring journey, and tackle some of New Zealand's most dangerous roads in a Race to the Sky-type challenge.

Cricket superstar and car buff Shane Warne will make a guest appearance road testing a British supercar at Silverstone.

Celebrity test drivers will include Lisa McCune (Sea Patrol), cricketer Michael Clarke, rocker Jimmy Barnes and The Chaser comedy team.

Jacobson dismisses talk that any Aussie Top Gear is redundant. He has a point -- this year's 15th season of the UK show had only six episodes. That has to leave fans wanting more -- and the Aussie version will fill the void.

"It (Top Gear Australia) doesn't replace the UK one -- we're an addition to it," Jacobson says.

He hopes Top Gear Australia will last for years and he'll happily be there for the ride.

"Working on this show is like getting paid to do your hobby," he says.

Top Gear Australia, Channel 9, Tuesday, 7.30pm

Only 4 episodes!!! Lets hope they are good !!!

[RedHotGT]

I hope for the sake of the show and their careers that they do get some positive response...

but its very hard when the bar has been set SO high by the BBC/UK mob...

[XYGTHO]

I think shane will do a great job. Hopefully it takes off. I understand they have more funding so can do more now. I reckon the three fella's they have at the moment are great. I've grown to like the young guy as a presenter, and to be honest didn;t like the oter two previous guys all that much.
One guy I think would be good it Luff, is it Warren Luff or something. He was on some of teh Street Fords DVD's I think it was. Great driver and knows what he is on about.

[Bearman]

Originally Posted by XYGTHO

I think shane will do a great job. Hopefully it takes off. I understand they have more funding so can do more now. I reckon the three fella's they have at the moment are great. I've grown to like the young guy as a presenter, and to be honest didn;t like the oter two previous guys all that much.
One guy I think would be good it Luff, is it Warren Luff or something. He was on some of teh Street Fords DVD's I think it was. Great driver and knows what he is on about.

Maybe Luff is our Stig!!!!!!!!!!

Looking forward to it, Shane Jacobsen is the right bloke for the job.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by Bearman

Maybe Luff is our Stig!!!!!!!!!!

Looking forward to it, Shane Jacobsen is the right bloke for the job.

I hear there is someone with a lot of experience in stigology out of worj at the moment....

[austyphoon]

Originally Posted by flappist

I hear there is someone with a lot of experience in stigology out of worj at the moment....

Nope, he has joined Fifth Gear.

Pity there is only 4 episodes but I guess it's too see whether it takes off without forking out for a full season.

Let's hope Australia get's behind it!

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by csv8

Jacobson is aware of the dangers of copying the UK Top Gear too slavishly.

"The biggest mistake would be going into it to be one of those (Clarkson/May/Hammond) individually," he says.

"I can't be Jeremy Clarkson. If I tried to be him instead of being myself we'd be shot.

That right there is one of the reasons the initial Top Gear Australia episodes were bagged so mercilessly. I'm glad he can see it too.

[REVto10]

When does it start? I saw the first ep the other day, but it's not back officially yet though

[TZENU]

Originally Posted by REVto10

When does it start? I saw the first ep the other day, but it's not back officially yet though

Next Tuesday is the first ep of the Aussie version...

From the snippets shown at the end of last nights UKTG, it does look promising

[ltd]

Originally Posted by TZENU

Next Tuesday is the first ep of the Aussie version...

From the snippets shown at the end of last nights UKTG, it does look promising

Off topic, but big props to channel 9 for showing all of the episode last night, including the news with Carla Bruni. When that episode was last on SBS, they cut the whole "I hate James May" song out. One of the funniest bits of television where James positively loses it.

[ltd]

I think with shane he's a funny enough bloke that most people already know and like, not an unheard of person. A lot of people will watch it just to see shane being funny, and I think this alone will give the show some much needed credibility. The original Australian Top Gear was too much of a rehash of the brits, and for that alone they polarised a lot of the viewership. I only ever watched about 30 minutes of the SBS version, it made me nauseous. On top of that, 9 has a much bigger budget and will probably do a much better job. Finally, introducing the new top gear australia team with the ashes; a blessing from the original three was a step in the right direction, and the possibility of follow ups with these Jeremy, James and Hampster is enticing enough to watch.

[cheek]

Starts this coming tuesday.

[TUF_302]

The new version of top gear aus does look alot better than the 1st, lets hope it goes well!

[Rodp]

I don't know if the shoes are that large given who he's replacing.

I loved him in Kenny and I'm genuinely interested in what he has to say about anything he plants his bum in. I thought he had a few good quips in the warmer and had a good presence on camera - looked natural, not trying too hard. I'm sure his appeal will be greater than the other 4 up to the current period.

[MOTORE]

As long as they are Top Gear Australia and not Top Gear UK replica it could end up being a good show.

I like pizzati, and Kenny is already well known, and Ewan page, well wasn't he the editor of Street Machine magazine a number of years ago?

[SteveJH]

Originally Posted by MOTORE

and Ewan page, well wasn't he the editor of Street Machine magazine a number of years ago?

Currently the editor of the Top Gear Australia magazine I believe.

[SteveJH]

Originally Posted by SteveJH

Currently the editor of the Top Gear Australia magazine I believe.

Just looked in the October Edition of TGA Magazine.

He's the "Editor in Chief"

[FPVSutto]

I didn't think he did a bad job during the Ashes Special.

Good luck to him and the rest of the boys.

[FPVF6X201]

I was at a taping of the show a while ago, when Jimmy Barnes came in we all sang "working class man" lol. Shane is genuinely funny, and Pizzanti has good sense of humour too. Page seems a little stiff but may get better next season.

[Eleanor]

We've waited all year for this through all of Ch9 advertising hype, repeats of the UK series and other BS and there's only 4 episodes???

Better than none I guess but Ch9 really sucks ***.

[351@GT]

thought he'd done a bit.

Ewen Page (right) is the editor-in-chief of Top Gear Australia magazine and the topgear.com website. In a media career spanning 28 years he has edited a variety of Australian car magazines, from Street Machine to Wheels, Motor and Auto Action. He has a passion for all things with wheels. Ewen has also been the sports editor of The Canberra Times, editor of FHM, and was the founding deputy editor of Zoo Weekly.

[XWGT]

I would imagine there will be no GT as filming finsihed awhile ago I would imagine.......a shame

I thought Jacobsoin did a good job in the Ashes special.