I have mentioned a few times over the years that I am really out of the loop when it comes to productions made in the UK. I don't really hear about them until someone mentions them to me, and even then I hold an incredibly stubborn nature regarding watching them; for some reason it takes an incredible marketer to get my attention when the British branding is attached. I have seen a few productions over the years, some have been great, but often enough I feel modern releases just don't really appeal to me. My review of Naked was a good example of how the film industry in the UK often seems strangled by its limited stories and locations, often relying instead on either displaying the economic despair and reality, or leaning far too much on the fantasy side of things in which we all supposedly are upper class and thriving in London. Due to this, I mostly just steer clear from the things made here, knowing it results in missing out or admittedly I'm just being stupidly stubborn.
Sometimes I remember a show I did watch and enjoy, or even feel like showing to another person. It's a bit of a rare event, but it does happen! Having been waiting for the next season of What We Do In The Shadows, Matt Berry's Toast of London came to mind; his character is a little similar in both shows, which had me remembering its total weirdness. An odd sort of humour that really goes unmatched. I love these sorts of shows that manage to be odd and stand out without being overly obnoxious, as in the Adult Swim tier of annoying. For there to be something of this nature from the English in this more modern era, it's a bit of a rarity. Our sketch shows and sitcoms are a thing of the past, even the panel shows we were once famous for seem replaced with something that just doesn't capture the soul it once had. Fortunately, there have been hints at an upcoming fourth season of Toast of London, and it might help contribute to some of the motivation that's needed to get the few companies here moving, making something light, silly, and ultimately meaningless for the sake of it.
After all, Toast of London's appeal is that it's made on a very low budget for the most part. Episodes seem thin, intentionally cheap. But it never feels like the cheapness ruins the show due to the entire lack of seriousness it presents itself with. Revisiting it, it's certainly interesting. A strange experience, but I can't help but keep watching.
Toast of London
Toast of London is a show ultimately made for the British. It's full of references to various actors, presenters, general celebrities of British history that I can barely understand. One of the first things to notice is this, and I can't imagine how lost a younger audience would be watching this. Though I can't help but feel it adds to the charm. It's not a timeless show, and it's riddled with references to an era now gone. Thriving with references and stereotypes of the British. The eccentric upper class army career man, the well-spoken theatre actors that think too much of themselves in the artistic realm. Even the stereotypical cockney accent finds its way into the episodes. In essence, it's a mockery of all things incredibly British. But things we don't really notice so much these days, and even for the time of release for the show's first season, these ideas were already on their way out. Another thing to notice here is that this all makes finding out who the target demographic is quite difficult. Younger people would feel alienated, and the humour certainly doesn't attract an older group. In a way this makes me appreciate it more, knowing it doesn't seem to be trying to pander itself to any specific group like most modern shows would.
Toast of London doesn't even really have much of a narrative to it, either. Toast is the name of our protagonist, a middle-aged actor that has never really managed to make it, but still gets the occasional work here and there from a terrible agent that just doesn't seem to care. This dynamic is interesting, Toast isn't a good actor, but is a fairly solid voice actor. He can't seem to catch a break and is even nominated for the worst actor award. The world seems against Toast, which adds to the comedy given Toast doesn't actually seem like he does much wrong. He's a fool, running, quite literally, from one place to another in London's streets. Getting into all kinds of weird scenarios to which he escapes deep into his mind where the show takes a musical change: singing and performing his struggles away. These songs are pretty creative, and give us a deeper look into the character that is otherwise mistaken. Even we fall victim to the idea that Toast is an utter idiot destined to fail, but beneath the surface is someone trying to make it and get by. In a way it makes the real world Toast interacts with look even stranger, as Toast seeks escapism within through song to deal with the utter chaos of those around him. Which is easy to notice based on the really odd characters we find Toasts comes across.
There's the typical arch nemesis, his agent, potential lovers that seem utterly delusional and strange themselves. There's the roommate who is a retired former actor who himself seems to live in his own strange bubble that we don't quite get to see, but know is full of oddities. It is as if Toast is actually the normal one, and it would be easy to think this if not for his inability to interact with the world, being an actor that wants to make it but can't even name any actual actors. Cemented into the world with a strange characterisation in his appearance. Most notable is the strange discolouration if his hair, to which he claims he fell off a horse, leading to this strange streak. Nothing within this world really seems real, it's incredibly cartoonish, in a way. Almost void of rules and structure, despite the few scenes we see of regular London. With the low budget, much of these locations are repeated. And it keeps Toast within his small acting world that he can't seem to escape. This allows for jokes to repeat, and a big favourite comes from Toast's attempts at work, where voice acting seems to be an absolute failure despite the recordings actually being fine. The back and forth interactions with the recordists that take the show's stupidity to new heights as we actually see Toast snap eventually.
Even so, with all of this I still can't really tell you what Toast of London is really about. It's a bloody weird show that just makes no sense sometimes. As if Matt Berry was given a bit go cash and told to go mad, to which he very well did. Exploiting the strangeness of his own mind, seeing what he can get away with. It almost holds a very improvised style to it through this, but I have no idea whether there's any truth to that. Either way, this weird show generates some good laughs here and there with that strange nature it has, and I can't seem to find faults in it. A rare instance of a British show existing just to be weird and have fun, not really trying to be anything more.
