Toast of Tinseltown Review

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Matt Berry’s alter ego, the halfwit failing thespian Steven Toast has returned to our TV screens after a just over six-year hiatus. Toast has moved his acting career from the cobbled streets of Soho to sunny, star-studded Hollywood. We see Toast get the acting job of a lifetime, landing a role for a very iconic sci-fi film franchise. Hopefully this time he’ll get the recognition he so desperately thinks he deserves.

The surrealist cult comedy has made a move from Channel 4 to BBC Two for the new series. Luckily for the devoted fans, this hasn’t hindered the features that made the original show as many of the primary characters have returned such as: the ditzy agent Jane Plough, Toast’s bizarre housemate Ed and most excitedly, the two iconic characters Clem Fandango and his old nemesis Ray “Bloody” Purchase.

It appears as if the BBC has given Berry and his co-writer Arthur Matthews more creative freedom as the Toast of London universe really comes to life in this series as the surrealist aspects of the show have been enhanced. It has become more blunt, unhinged and outlandish which makes the gags land flawlessly. The 70’s action film aesthetic despite it being set in the present day gives an unusual vibe that blends perfectly together with the show’s absurd nature.

The British and American worlds collide in a typical showbiz fashion with cameos from former Saturday Night Live actors such as Fred Armisen and Bill Hader and in the first episode, we see a special cameo from Larry David. Despite the American theme, the series has still followed the British deadpan punchline set up and this creates an interesting dynamic between the London and Tinseltown characters however they all come to the same conclusion… Steven Toast is a self-centred twat.

Berry seems to know his small but loyal fan base very well by leaving a few Easter eggs throughout the series and you’d have to be extremely well-versed in the Matt Berry universe to find them (or have loads of spare time to binge-watch his past projects and fall down the rabbit hole as I have).

Toast of Tinseltown is a refreshing addition to the BBC comedy hall of fame and hopefully, with this change a lot more people will come to love this grumpy narcissistic actor.