Two sides of Alonzo Bodden: Car guy, comic

It's a hot and humid day along Florida's gulf coast, but Alonzo Bodden, with his shaved head and dark shades, is the picture of cool.

He climbs out of an idling Hummer H1, looks into the camera and proclaims with a drill-sergeant's delivery: "This is man's truck."

Bodden is the host of "101 Cars You Must Drive," a new show on Speed Channel (9:30 p.m. EDT Mondays) that has been filming in Los Angeles and the Tampa Bay area. Bodden, 46, is a quick study, preferring to memorize -- and even improvise -- the script rather than reading cue cards. Credit his standup training -- he won Season 3 of NBC's "Last Comic Standing."

Later, as Bodden pulls away in the H1, he delivers a parting shot to the nation's most famous Hummer owner ("Bye, Arnold"), whom he already had dissed while ad-libbing his lines.

"101 Cars" is a collaboration between producers and longtime friends Stan Rarden and Robert Eisenstaedt. (Rarden, the writer, may be best known to gearheads for his "The American Muscle Car" series.) "Stan has a frighteningly encyclopedic knowledge of cars," Eisenstaedt says. So when it came time to cast the host for their venture and its 10-episode first season, the producers wanted someone car-savvy and funny.

Once you get past Jay Leno, it's a short list.

Enter Bodden, who worked for 12 years as an "A and P" (airframe and powerplant) mechanic on jets at Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas.

In between a shoot that featured the Hummer and one of its predecessors -- the Willys Overland ("the first SUV") -- the affable Bodden sat in a small RV crammed with equipment to chat about cars. One thing became clear: Bodden is a funny guy, but he's serious about cars. (At one point, he leans in to a tape recorder to remind his producers: "For the record, no Lamborghini yet").

Q: Why you for this show?

A: I was working at the Tampa Improv and Stan's agent was at the show and he liked me. They knew I liked cars and they asked would I be interested and I was like, "Hell, yeah, I'd be interested." We talked some and sent my stuff to Speed. Speed liked it. We did a test show. When Stan was telling me about the show, he mentioned Ferraris and Lamborghinis and there was talk of Shelby Cobras and he brought me the Fiat 500, which ... actually makes a Mini Cooper look big. And he said, "All right, we're going to squeeze you into this and make television." That was what sold it to Speed.

Q: What's stood out so far?

A: My favorite car has been the Dino Ferrari. The most surprising car. A car that I liked, that I never would have guessed I would've liked -- the DeLorean. I loved it. It was cool. It was very comfortable, very modern for the time it was built. The only problem the DeLorean had was an underpowered engine.

Q: How about current cars?

A: I think American cars are making a resurgence. We've had a couple on the show. We had the new GTO, the new Mustang. We had the most incredible Pratt & Miller (LeMans racing) Corvette ... American cars are making a great comeback, but the big problem is reputation. You have a whole generation of kids who never considered an American car. We do an example of a modern "hot rod" -- one of the great cars we drove and a personal favorite that I loved was the Mitsubishi Evo. Turbocharged. All-wheel-drive. Three-hundred horsepower. Just amazing, how fast, how well it handled.

Q: You own a Hummer and a Mini?

A: I drove the H2 and what surprised me about it is how comfortable it was. I thought it'd be like a giant Jeep -- but it was really comfortable. And here's another thing: If you're buying a Hummer, the discount is unbelievable. They're like, "Really, you're going to buy a Hummer? Of course it's zero-percent interest. What else can we give you?" And now everyone is like, "Why don't you sell your Hummer?" I'm like, "Gas is four bucks a gallon. You can't sell a used Hummer." So rather than take a $20,000 loss on trading it in, I'll just buy gas for it. And the Mini Cooper is one of the most fun cars I've ever driven. It is like a go-kart. It's amazing how much room is in it for two people.

Q: What about hybrids?

A: The car you can't get in L.A. is the Prius. The Prius might be the hottest seller in L.A. Because it's trendy. All the stars want 'em. Because they get in their Prius and they save gas on their way to their private jet.

Q: You must carry heavy insurance.

A: Yeah, I'm sure Stan does. I think the most expensive car we've driven: 1927 "Blower" Bentley, worth a million dollars. And the owner of the car drove it from Orange County to L.A. for us to shoot it. Just drove it in regular traffic. He drives the cars on a regular basis on the streets. And very cool guy.

Q: You've been on "The Tonight Show" and Jay Leno will appear on "101 Cars." Have you seen his collection?

A: I haven't been to the garage. I've been to the Web site, "Jay's Garage." Jay is super-cool, and he's such a car nut. He has more fun talking cars than show business. Show business is a job he does to support his car habit.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service www.scrippsnews.com)