I've binged the first series of Toast and I'd forgotten just how out there Matt Berry comedy can be. He appears in the IT Crowd, but the part was written for him - when Berry is let loose with a script, all hell breaks loose. Snuff Box being the last Berry 'comedy' I caught. I mean, I hesitate to use the word comedy, because while it is funny, its main focus seems to be on a strange parallel dimension where anything is possible.It deserves recognition because this isn't run of the mill. A lot of time and effort has gone into this series.There are SO many little touches to Toast of London that make it really special. The names or the characters, so well chosen they are comedy in and of themselves. The streak of white hair, the camera work, the catchphrases, the visual background jokes.. I couldn't name everything and it would require repeat viewings to catch them all. Toast is jam packed!I wanted to write a review on one particular episode to use as a sort of overall snapshot of the series as a whole - one which takes the Berry brand of humour to the extreme. If you can handle this particular episode, you can handle anything. The awkwardness is on another level. The episode in question is called: "Addictive Personality"Basic plot - A black African woman has plastic surgery done by Steven Toast's arch nemesis, Ray Purchase, and made to look like Bruce Forsyth just to annoy Toast. And in his own words 'I'm not even that pissed off'. Pointless. Yet, it weaves its way into the plot of the episode in the strangest way.Toast's flatmate starts a love affair with the Bruce look-alike. Some extremely disgusting imagery is placed in your head about them having sex. It's so weird, so obscure and so uncomfortable I almost had to look away - this episode will haunt me for months.Do I like it - Short answer.. Yes.Do I think there is a fine line between madness, genius and pushing the limits of weird.. Oh, hell yes.

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, believe it or not, has become a familiar catch-phrase, uttered (nearly) each episode by fictional actor and voice-over artist, Steven Toast, to an incidental but regular irritant at the sound studio.Providence blessed Toast with a fine baritone voice, one fit for a heroic leading man. Unfortunately after this it drew a line in nearly every other department - looks and brains (in particular). A front runner, in his view at least, to be the next James Bond, Toast calculates that the clincher at his audition will be his white tuxedo - and a starting pistol. Just seconds later it is unclear who has been more chastened by the experience - the deafened and terrified audition panel hiding behind furniture - or Toast himself, already retreating quickly down the corridor, cursing his evident misjudgement. How to describe Toast? Perhaps his long suffering agent, following the Bond debacle, put it best: "You F***ing Idiot!". But is he downhearted? Not for long, his natural grumpiness, randiness and over-optimism is irrepressible, for which audiences should be truly grateful.

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.