Why Jay Leno Should Be The New Co-Host Of 'Top Gear'

Within moments of the news that the BBC had officially dropped Jeremy Clarkson from his co-hosting role on the global automotive TV juggernaut TOP GEAR, people were already lining up to pitch themselves as his replacement. Most notably Piers Morgan, who at least is in the early running for the title of the person I'd least like to see on the show.

At this point, the BBC has two problems. They need to figure out a way to finish off the episodes of the current season without Clarkson. Then they also need to think about the future of the show and the challenge of finding a long-term replacement for the gruff and sometimes controversial presenter.

If the network is a looking for a short-term fix as they search for the future Clarkson replacement, they can't do much better than a well-known car enthusiast who happens to already be available.

Comic and former TONIGHT SHOW host Jay Leno.

Leno is a well-known automotive junkie and his collection of vehicles speaks to his love of cars. Thanks to reruns of his talk show in the U.K., Leno already has a bit of name recognition there and he has previously appeared on the show driving that "reasonably-priced car." In fact, in that appearance Jeremy Clarkson introduced him as the "world's biggest petro-head."

And as it turns out, this isn't the first time that Leno's name has come up in connection with TOP GEAR. In 2008, NBC tried to get him to agree to host an Americanized version of the show. He not only rejected the idea, but wrote an op-ed in the Daily Mail explaining why he said no. Basically, he was concerned that he wouldn't have the time to properly do the show as well as his talk show duties. He was also concerned that any American version of the show wouldn't be as free-spirited and irreverent as the original.

Hosting the "real" TOP GEAR takes care of the latter problem. And Leno certainly has the spare time to devote to the show now that he's semi-retired from the TV business. Given his age, Leno is not a long-term solution for the show. But in the interim, he's one of the few candidates who has the automotive industry credibility and talk show chops to pull off the job.

So what do you think of the idea? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.