Blast From the Past

Beware of American drivers!

Everybody's heard my opinion of American drivers. Whether swigging coffee or chatting on their mobile phones, they're always threatening to cut across your bows or come crashing into the back of your car.

That's why I drive a rugged old '86 Town Car. Nobody wants to drive into 4400lbs of Detroit steel. But the Town Car actually acquits itself by being more than a luxurious tank on wheels. The damn thing can move!

Just the other day, while avoiding blithely oncoming traffic, I put the pedal-to-the-metal and out-accelerated a late nineties Ford Mustang. The driver watched me tear off, astonished.

I shouldn't be surprised. With a five litre V8 under the bonnet, the Town Car follows the Bentley and Rolls Royce philosophy - of providing 'adequate' power that can propel you out of trouble at a hefty rate of knots.

Further evidence of the Town Car's virility was provided last night, when one of my favourite movies was showing on cable.

Out for Justice was the breakthrough 1990 hit that launched the career of Steven Seagal. Playing a tough cop out to nail his old neighbourhood pal, Seagal's never looked better and the film is miles above the standard cops and robbers fare of the time.

One of the best scenes is a blistering car chase through the streets of Brooklyn - and damned if the bad guys aren't behind the wheel of a first generation Lincoln Town Car, just like mine.

Even with six Italian hoodlums crammed inside, the Town Car easily evades Seagal's hot pursuit - something that's NEVER meant to happen in this sort of movie.

I watched with a certain measure of pride. That's MY car, I smiled.

Of course, it was the bad guy's car. Lincoln Town Cars are always driven by mafia hoods or corrupt CEO's. But that's the beauty of being a bad guy. You might get your comeuppance in the end - but right up until that time, you get to be bad in style.

Crown of Comedy

When it comes to comedy, we Brits tend to think we're number #1.

And with good reason. The UK has a solid comedy heritage that no other nation can match. From the Goon Show to Monty Python, from The Office to Shaun of the Dead, there's something wonderfully offbeat and subversive about British comedy that gives it a timeless quality.

But coming to America made me realise something. We Brits are resting on our laurels. There is some hilarious stuff being produced stateside.

Top of the Totem Pole has to be the magnificent Colbert Report - a spoof political commentary show presented by the blustering Steven Colbert.

The Report (the T is silent, like Colbert's last name, so the show is pronounced The Coal Bear Re Pour) is a spin off from hit comedy The Daily Show. That's Comedy Central's leading political commentary program, hosted by sardonic comedian Jon Stewart.

But while The Daily Show attacked the crazy political climate with wry, liberal, sarcasm, The Colbert Report goes one step further, which shifts Funny to Hilarious.

We're in on the joke as Steven Colbert portrays himself as a pompous, right wing egotist, inviting his guests to "take a spin in the no fact zone." It's a dead-on mockery of 'personality pundits' like Bill O'Reilly, who seem to think facts play second fiddle to dogma and 'liberal' is a dirty word.
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And it's this persona Colbert invents that makes his comedy so brilliant - because Colbert can invite guests onto his show and mock them with abandon. The Daily Show is limited by it's liberal bias. The Colbert Report wallows in it's pretend conservatism.

For example, the Report had socialist documentary maker Michael Moore on the other night. Throughout the interview, Steven Colbert portrayed himself as an opinionated, laughable buffoon - spoofing all the comments real right wing opponents of Moore's work might make.

However those very same comments, which Michael Moore took in smug good humour, were actually sharp stabs at the real flaws and hypocrisy in Moore's 'documentary' film making techniques.

A straight interviewer would never have got away with hurling the insulting questions at the famously touchy Moore. On the Colbert Report, however, the pie-loving documentary maker thought he was in on the joke, when he was actually it's target. It made for exceptional television that satisfied on many levels.

Movies like Hot Fuzz show we Brits can still make 'em better than anybody else... But we'd better keep on the ball, or American Comedy will steal our crown.