Best. Earl. Ever.

Not sure if anyone caught the all new episode of My Name is Earl last night, but if you didn't, and you're a fan of the show, you'd better check the rerun schedule. Or buy Season 2 when it comes out on DVD.

Because last night the comedic gods came together and formed the perfect fusion of two shows that were always meant to be joined together:

Earl meets C*O*P*S*

In a stroke of creative brilliance the writers decided to mate reformed redneck hooligan Earl, his lovable half-wit brother Randy, his trampy, trailer-trash ex-wife Joy and the rest of the sleazy inhabitants of Camden County with the show that has been busting losers like them for nearly two decades.

I've said in earlier posts that I thought the sophomore effort of this silly little show had lost some of its oomph after a "nowhere to go but down" debut season. My feelings were formed after the 2-part season opener about Joy stealing a box truck. Yawn.

But in the last few weeks the show has come roaring back, first with the hilarious claymation stoner episode featuring Christian Slater, then the three-part "Randy loves Catalina" arc. That series of eps began with Earl attempting to teach Gay Kenny how to be macho but he actually turns him into a gambling addict and ends with the brothers travelling to Mexico to find Catalina so Randy can tell her he loves her. The third installment had a great cameo by John Leguizamo as Catalina's slimy Uncle Diego.

But this latest episode blows all the others out of the water. The residents of Camden are sitting around the Crab Shack on a boring Sunday afternoon when an episode of COPS, shot three years earlier, comes on the tube. As everyone gathers around to re-enjoy their 15 minutes of fame the show dissolves into what looks like an actual episode of the show that made shirtless rednecks en vogue.

Some of the highlights include:

*Earl stealing one of the police cruisers and giving it to Joy as a present; she would later pull over an innocent driver and threaten top "shoot her in the face" if she failed a sobriety test.

*Joy throwing a bowling ball off her trailer roof onto a Def Leppard mirror and a shard of glass piercing the postman's eye (you had to see the lead up)

*Randy being shot out of a tree with a tranquilizer dart after trying to flee the fuzz and landing on a trampoline like the bear in that infamous clip.

*Gay Kenny cruising repeatedly by a man dressed in nothing by a giant python while standing in his yard. Why was it so funny? Kenny was driving a LeCar and cranking "Wishing Well" by Terence Trent D'Arby.

*Crab Man's grandmother getting him busted for pot possession when she calls the cops to their house because of a noisy neighbor.

If none of this sounds funny, well then you're not a fan of the show so foget about it. But if you love the show because of its offbeat, bawdy humor then this is one episode you won't want to miss.

Especially the part where Earl skins his pecker. "Oh, that's a lot of gravel."