Toast of London

One of the most hilarious comedies of recent past. Each episode is about 23 minutes long, and probably 15 minutes of that duration you'll ask yourself why you are watching this show, but somewhere in there there will be one routine, one joke or one moment where you will suddenly burst out laughing at jokes that you might have so far told yourself that you would never laugh at.

It's over the top, it's crazy but it has a lot of heart. A gem in Britain's comedy collection.

"Hello Stephen, this is Clem Fandango. Can you hear me?" :-D

I was already a fan of Matt Berry after seeing him in The IT Crowd, even though he wasn't a major character. But he really gets to shine in Toast of London, where he is both the writer and the star. His character, Steven Toast, is unsuccessful actor on the fringes of the profession. He is always finding himself in absurd situations and surrounded by silly characters, some of whom only last an episode. His agent Jane is a riot because she is always screwing up his bookings and putting him in humiliating situations. His arch-nemesis, Ray "bloody" Purchase, is also lots of fun, and since he's an actor Toast ends up seeing him all the time. But my absolute favorite scenes are when Toast is in the studio doing voice-overs. The 2 studio guys, including Clem Fandango, are outrageously funny. I look forward to these scenes every episode. I should also mention that each episode has a brief musical number, which seems to be the trend in absurd British comedies (Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy, The Mighty Boosh, etc). If you like absurd comedy, I suggest giving Toast of London a chance. From the pilot episode, it just gets better and better. And it was renewed for Season 2 which is just as brilliant as the first!

This needs a series 4 this year. It really does. I first saw Matt Berry on the house of fools show, and saw him in the BAFTA's for this show.

Now, the absolute brilliance of this show. ALL of the characters fit in perfectly. What I think I like about this show is that the entire cast consists of secondary characters, all made to revolve around the single main character: Steven Toast.

It seems that the true comedy from Toast comes from his reaction to all the manic events around him.

For example, in certain scenes, Steven Toast wouldn't be half as funny if the secondary characters were replaced.

I think it is just the way Steven Toast deals with things with his incredibly out of place and eccentric personality makes it all the better. He treats it almost as if it is just normal. And his unpredictability always takes you by surprise, and always gets you laughing.

The humour is so outrageous and insane (similar to an earlier series which Matt Berry was involved with The Mighty Boosh) that you can't help but laugh. Every week you get another 30 minute long helping of Steven Toast's failing acting career which has a minute possibility of working out, but this is the same show that featured a book publisher spontaneously com busting so anything can happen. One of the best and funniest comedy series from the last 5 years, Toast of London is brilliant entertainment. And much better than the hugely overrated BBC series Mrs Browns Boys which seems to be the only comedy show which gets good viewing figures nowadays.

In an era of comedies that are over-hyped and undercooked Toast of London has, with hardly anyone noticing, delivered the goods. The travails of stage actor and frequent voice over artist Steven Toast are, in the hands of lead actor Matt berry (who also wrote the theme music) and writer Arthur (Father Ted) Mathews a clever mix of parody and pratfall with musical interludes which reveal Toasts world to be populated by colourful grotesques and passing fools. The situations that develop are delightfully eccentric and frankly not easy to describe as so much is down to pure timing, a hand gesture and a thrown look. Suffice to say if you enjoyed the more lunatic, surreal outer reaches of Father Ted you should be ready to try a slice of Toast.