Why people rave about this is a complete mystery.
Toast of Tinseltown review: Matt Berry is an accomplished actor especially when delivering other writers lines, such as Jemaine Clement’s in What We Do In The Shadows or Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley’s Year of the Rabbit, but this drivel written by him and Arthur Mathews is more suited to Cbeebies (minus the unnecessary expletives).
There is nothing wrong with the basic character of Toast but at least fifty percent of what are supposed to be jokes involve giving people ludicrous surnames and then mis-remembering them.
His agent (Doon Mackichan) arranges an audition for Toast and his arch rival Ray Purchase (Harry Peacock), with an unseen film producer by the unlikely name of Doubledecker, pronounced Dooblahdecker by her but like the Routemaster bus by Toast (chuckle nope). He doesn’t get the part because of his anger issues so he is advised by several people, including his doctor, Harold Shitman (really!) to go to a retreat run by Des Wigwam (that’s supposed to be funny I guess). During the following scenes he refers to Wigwam as Des Marquee, Des Teepee and Des Scout Hut (remember this infantile stuff airs at 10pm).
Nothing remotely funny happens at the retreat.
Back home Toast meets up with Ray Purchase in a bar and they have a fight of which Adam West and Burt Ward would have been proud (1960s Batman and Robin). All that was missing was the cartoon Splat, Wham and Biff word flashes.
Finally Toast is offered a part in a new Star Wars movie and jets off to Tinseltown sitting next to an American called Russ Nightlife
I’m sure Berry and Mathews had more fun dreaming up the Christmas cracker surnames than viewers will have by watching the end result. With such a wide choice of excellent TV to watch, not only comedy but superb dramas, why anyone, but the most ardent fan, would add to the pressure with this nonsense, heaven only knows.
Yes while Toast himself is always quite funny, especially when dealing with Clem, all the ‘surrealism’ and general nonsense is deeply boring. Obviously Larry David is a fan, which is surprising. That useless Fred Armisen is in it as well is less of a shock