Toast of London (TV Series) Addictive Personality (2013) User Reviews

Addictive Personality

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 2 January 2022]

What a bonkers first episode. Broadcast in 2013, it shares DNA with Vic & Bob's House of Fools which was shown in 2014.

Matt Berry and Morgana Robinson appeared in the latter comedy as well.

Matt plays failed actor Steven Toast who in the first episode thinks he has won a prestigious award.

He is also being pursued by a woman convicted of an attempted murder of her boyfriend. An ankle tag puts Toast from having sex with her.

Later Toast pursues a journalist who is a recovering alcoholic and is an extreme hoarder.

The funniest part was Toast's landlord whose Nigerian girlfriend had plastic surgery that made her look like Bruce Forsyth. She even had a moustache. She really did do well.

Toast is Buttery Smooth

[tom-2979 · 8/10 · 2 April 2018]

Before I begin. I can completely see why this would go over people's heads. Why it wouldn't be seen as funny. This is a very eclectic and acquired sense of humour - there are no straight up jokes or punchlines, its absurdist humour in a black world of awkwardness and fantasy strangeness.

So - 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 this particular episode to use as a sort of overall snapshot of the series as a whole. This one 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.

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. 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.. Hell yes.

Absolutely Bonkers

[injury-65447 · 9/10 · 16 June 2020]

After I watched "The Unspeakable Play" episode I was worried that this show wasn't as funny as I remembered. Thankfully I was wrong!

This is so funny and absurd.

We've got beak-Keeping, electronic tags, attempted murder, canal dumping, extreme hoarding, alcoholism & a Nigerian Bruce Forsyth lookalike.

So mad. So fun. Delightful.