The Grand Tour star Jeremy Clarkson's 'Buttons' joke about Richard Hammond explained

The Grand Tour: One For The Road - Official trailer

The Grand Tour: One for the Road saw Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May reunite one more time for their last epic road trip together on the Amazon Prime show. The former Top Gear stars have enjoyed plenty of laughs along the way - and they’re certainly not prone to pulling any punches with one another.

At one point in the finale episode, 64-year-old Jeremy made a bizarre joke about Richard Hammond, 54, appearing in a Swindon pantomime. In the episode that aired on September 13, which was shot in Zimbabwe, a joke about Swindon escalated until the pals had come up with a full cast list for the supposed pantomime.

The elaborate joke even saw fans going on Google to search for the name “Buttons” following Jeremy’s quip about Richard. During the show, we see Richard’s car pulled over with fuel leaking out of the pipe. This gave his co-stars James and Jeremy an opportunity to poke fun, making another joke about their seemingly fictional Swindon pantomime.

“Why are you helping him,” Jeremy asks James, who responds: “I want him to survive otherwise we can’t see him as Buttons in the pantomime.”

In the world of pantomime, Buttons typically appears in Cinderella as the male servant of the household who helps Cinderella and who has an unrequited love for her. He is usually portrayed as a very comical character, in contrast to the more charismatic Prince Charming.


Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May star in The Grand Tour (Image: GETTY)

Seemingly annoyed by being cast in the role, Richard tells his co-stars: “Oh please! Stop it with the Buttons.”

“Oh no we won’t,” James responds, suggesting it could only be a year until his appearance at the Wyvern.

However, Jeremy disagrees, reasoning: “No, I think he’s got enough pride to make him last two years. I think it’ll be 2025.”

Other celebs to grace The Grand Tour crew’s imaginary line-up include Ainsley Harriott, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Julian Clary. They also spoke of a matinee carvery special at Premier Inn.


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Buttons is a comical character in Cinderalla pantomimes (Image: GETTY) SUBSCRIBE Invalid email

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Promising to go every night, James adds: “I hate panto but I’m going to that one.”

There actually is a Cinderella pantomime in Swindon running at the Wyvern Theatre from Saturday, December 7 to Sunday, January 5.

The cast includes Coronation Street’s Lisa George as the Fairy Godmother, Artemis Fowl’s Ben Goffe as Buttons and David Ashley as Dame Molly Miggins.

The Grand Tour: One For The Road is available to stream now, exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.




The Grand Tour star Jeremy Clarkson's 'Buttons' joke about Richard Hammond explained

The Grand Tour star Jeremy Clarkson's 'Buttons' joke about Richard Hammond explained

The Grand Tour star Jeremy Clarkson's 'Buttons' joke about Richard Hammond explained

The Grand Tour star Jeremy Clarkson's 'Buttons' joke about Richard Hammond explained
The Grand Tour star Jeremy Clarkson's 'Buttons' joke about Richard Hammond explained
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