CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

HOW DID ROB CORDDRY MAKE THE JOURNEY FROM FUNNYMAN TO AUTOMATIVE HOOLIGAN? WE GO BEHIND THE SCENES

- DEREK POWELL

To hear Rob Corddry tell it, his first day of shooting Top Gear America was almost his last. As he was hustling a decommissioned Police Interceptor through an abandoned neighborhood with the Stig hot on his tail, the reality of what he signed up for truly sank in.

“Oh, God. What have I gotten myself into?” Corddry says. A year later, he can still remember the thoughts running through his head: “I’m afraid of danger. I have a low tolerance for pain. I’m not a daredevil. What am I doing? There are so many ways I could die.”

Watch this segment on Episode 5, and you see this interior monologue unfold in real-time during the height of the chase. Full of fear, his eyes flick between the road and the rearview mirror—and finally glaze over in defeat as he’s jostled from behind. He was convinced the Stig had smashed into him and at any second his car would roll or explode. Probably both.

In reality, Corddry’s right rear wheel had kissed a curb, and the car hopped sideways. The Stig, though looming close, was at a safe distance. But to the co-host, that point of impact served as a metaphor that reflected his state of mind. “I was beside myself,” he says. “That first day, I remember just spending it sort of terrified. I embarrassed myself in the race. I was a DNF.” He smacks the table with his hands for emphasis. “Did. Not. Finish.” Taking stock of the situation, he wondered if somehow he was miscast as a daredevil alter ego.