Clarkson And Company Show Will Be Called Gear Knobs

Top Gear (Credit: BBC)

Ever since Clarkson and his partners in crime left BBC’s Top Gear, speculation has been running wild about what’s going to happen next. Now, the next piece of juicy news (alright, it’s a rumor that a lot of people are taking as fact) is that Amazon will be calling the boys’ new series Gear Knobs.

While the name is perfectly innocent, the 13 year-old in every man will at least internally laugh upon first reading it. It’s a natural reaction, and one can’t help but wonder if one of two things are going on here.

One, this rumor is total B.S. Someone has decided to “leak” this name to see the press run wild with it, all in good-natured fun. If so, bravo to whomever pulled this off, because it’s actually pretty funny.

Two, Clarkson and company has decided to use the name Gear Knobs to thumb their nose (or other bodily appendages) at the BBC. I shouldn’t have to explain that in England “knob” is commonly used to refer to something that’s definitely not family friendly, and it seems like such a Clarkson thing to do. This one is backed up by trademark filings done for the show, which also includes and alternative spelling of “nobs” and the term “speedbird.” People have been guessing that the new Stig could be called the Speedbird, and hopefully that’s completely false for obvious and boring reasons.

If either theory turns out to be true, this is good news for old Top Gear fans. It means the boys will be every bit as rowdy and entertaining as before, maybe even more-so as they don’t have the BBC babysitters watching over them constantly. After all, how many times did the show’s hosts get chastised for supposedly creating international incidents?