Clarkson was the big man flicking the towel in the televisual locker room, but they were undoubtedly his enablers, willing henchmen chortling obligingly at everything he said and did.
In keeping with my vision of him, I pictured him chortling with amused sophistication over my playlists at his club while swirling an amber sherry in a large glass.
What they do not support is its present reality... ......Tory MPs cheered, chortling with delight at the once-ardently Europhile Mr Blair's repentance.
Like the British government, facing similar questions over the radar station at Fylingdales in northern England, the Danish government wants to postpone the awkward decision until a formal request comes from the Bush administration.The Greenlanders, eager to have their say, are chortling with delight over a message from Mr Bush to their premier, Jonathan Motzfeldt.
In lieu of plot and character development, Mr Warchus fills the running time with spontaneous choral sing-alongs, rabble-rousing speeches, and repetitive montages of buttoned-up miners and their chortling wives touring London's gay clubs.
Crowds of chortling Tories surged through the conference hall in his wake, enjoying his slapstick jokes, and then endlessly repeating them.
This week Republicans were chortling that a single dinner on June 16th has netted advance promises of around $10m; the previous record for this kind of event, set in 1996, was $7.3m.
Just when the viewer has finished chortling, a second Muto pops up, requiring another Oscar-nominee, Ken Watanabe, to frown solemnly as he announces, "If the Mutos have spawned, they'll be building a nest".
"The situation is not rosy, but there is no reason for panic-buying," says Abdolreza Abbassian at the FAO.Russian, Canadian and Ukrainian farmers had a tough year in 2010, but other farmers are chortling.
Only last month Mr Piëch was chortling at his success in outbidding his rival BMW in the auction of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars by its owner, Vickers.
Brussels Euro-types think they know how the joke ends, and are chortling already.
