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Matt LeBlanc Makes History in New 'Top Gear' Role

The popular "Top Gear" show airs on BBC.

ByABC News
May 23, 2016, 8:40 AM

— -- Matt LeBlanc is known for being one of the six “Friends” in the U.S., but across the pond, in the U.K., the actor is making history.

LeBlanc is the first non-British host of “Top Gear,” the popular, high-octane, adrenaline-pumping car show that airs on BBC America.

“I would watch the show before and say, ‘That looks so fun and I’d love to be a part of that,’ and here I am now,” LeBlanc told ABC News’ Lama Hasan. “It’s a car show for petrol heads, obviously, but it’s also got a bit of travel in it. You’ve got a bit of culture in it. It’s got a bit of comedy in it.”

“Top Gear” pairs LeBlanc with British TV and radio star Chris Evans, who compared his partnership with LeBlanc to another famous TV duo.

“I think we’re like Ernie and Bert from ‘Sesame Street,’” Evans joked.

Another star of the show is The Stig, an enigmatic race car driver whose identity is a closely-guarded secret and whose skills make him seem almost super-human.

“I kind of get lured into this, you know, his world,” LeBlanc said of The Stig. “There’ve been a couple of times during the shooting of these things I’ve been like, ‘Okay that’s, er, dangerous.”

Filming “Top Gear” has already taken LeBlanc and Evans to South Africa, Morocco, northern England, France, Kazakhstan, Italy and Cuba.

“It just keeps getting better and better and better,” LeBlanc said.

The new season of "Top Gear" premieres on BBC America on May 30.