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Toast of Tinseltown

Started by paruses, December 14, 2021, 01:40:21 PM

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the science eel


Lfbarfe

Quote from: SteveDave on January 06, 2022, 10:27:38 AMWhat's up with Doon Mackichan's eye? Her left one looks all puffy and inflamed.


One eye is made up, the other one isn't. I'm guessing it's just a semi-hidden gag.

Lfbarfe

Quote from: Thosworth on January 08, 2022, 12:17:38 PMSimilarly, footage of Richard Ayoade with a more unaffected voice and mannerisms. It genuinely seems they both let their Darkplace characters inform their actual personalities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNJXC9n0prs

Do you mean personas? I've met Matt and he doesn't talk like the 'Matt Berry' character.

Tony Tony Tony

Quote from: KennyMonster on January 07, 2022, 10:50:02 PMHow come it's moved from C4 to BBC?

Anyone know?


Reckon it is down to how TV works in the 'free market' age. BBC was actually forced, a few years ago , as part of the terms of its licence renewal to outsource a good percentage of its programme making hence giving outside production companies a chance to get on the hallowed Beeb airwaves.

Also I am sure I recall that when C4 was initially set up it was simply buying in output from production houses so to make things more equitable i.e.fairer competition, the BBC was brought into line to a certain extent with that model.

This means that production companies can hawk their output round to the highest bidder. You might recall things went in entirely the opposite direction when the Great British Bake Off went from BBC to C4. It does seem rather odd to change horses mid stream but the guys making Toast probably got a better offer from the Beeb or maybe got fed up with waiting for C4 to commission series 4.   

All the above is guesswork from half remembered articles so may well be complete bollocks.

Virgo76

Quote from: Thosworth on January 08, 2022, 12:17:38 PMSimilarly, footage of Richard Ayoade with a more unaffected voice and mannerisms. It genuinely seems they both let their Darkplace characters inform their actual personalities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNJXC9n0prs
A bit unfair in Berry's case.
The comedy projected voice he uses for most of his roles is clearly different from the everyday voice he uses normally and in interviews. He's quieter and has a less posh voice in reality. He's not changed his personality.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Exactly. Berry doesn't actually talk like that in real life.

Virgo76

I don't think Roy Hudd was ever in Toast of London. Michael Ball and John Simm appeared and a few others. Rashida Jones is fairly well known from Parks and Recreation and The Office amongst other things.
I enjoyed the new series although felt like it fizzled out a bit. A few of the episodes ended very suddenly.
 I also really liked the title sequence. I know it's nothing new (and others have commented on it) but I also really like the weird sense of timelessness. The roman numeral at the start says 1974, Orson Welles is still alive and some of the characters are dressed in 1970s fashion. But clearly it's not really supposed to be in the 1970s.
Was expecting more about his inability to scream.

Johnny Yesno

Quote from: Thosworth on January 08, 2022, 12:17:38 PMSimilarly, footage of Richard Ayoade with a more unaffected voice and mannerisms. It genuinely seems they both let their Darkplace characters inform their actual personalities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNJXC9n0prs

I remember years ago someone here describing Ayoade in Darkplace as (paraphrasing) 'a man who is so bad at acting that he is unable to convincingly play the part of a man who is bad at acting'. Still makes me laugh.

Virgo76

I'm not sure he's such a bad actor. His timing is often very good on The It Crowd.

What was wrong with Daniel Peacock? Was he very ill?

Jumblegraws

Quote from: the science eel on January 07, 2022, 09:24:21 AMEnjoyable but few laughs.

Love the opening credit sequence
Looks like it might be an homage to the title sequence of 1970s spooky anthology series Shadows: https://youtu.be/cLtD21kjRDU

poodlefaker

I've had a couple of goes at Toast and can't see the appeal. There's no pace, no rythym, and what few laughs there are are ploughed into the ground.

- You should call her, pronto.
- Hello Pronto.
- Why are you calling me Pronto?
- I don't know, I was told to call you Pronto.
- Well don't call me Pronto.

Real George & Mildred-level stuff; it would sit nicely at 8pm on a Tuesday on ITV in 1982.

dr beat

Quote from: Lfbarfe on January 08, 2022, 09:47:06 PMDo you mean personas? I've met Matt and he doesn't talk like the 'Matt Berry' character.

He did a great Adam Buxton podcast where he came across really well. He's got a softly spoken Essex(?) accent.

Virgo76

Quote from: poodlefaker on January 09, 2022, 03:35:18 PMI've had a couple of goes at Toast and can't see the appeal. There's no pace, no rythym, and what few laughs there are are ploughed into the ground.

- You should call her, pronto.
- Hello Pronto.
- Why are you calling me Pronto?
- I don't know, I was told to call you Pronto.
- Well don't call me Pronto.

Real George & Mildred-level stuff; it would sit nicely at 8pm on a Tuesday on ITV in 1982.

It's not actually much like George & Mildred is it?

I binged all three series of Toast of London since Christmas having never seen it before, and loved it.

But I'm halfway through Tinseltown and I'm finding it a real slog. The third episode with the sexologist was a real low point. As others have said, it's become almost totally laugh-free.

I miss Soho, Ray Purchase, Mrs Purchase, Ed, the flat... This series feels like it exists in a completely different universe, which I suppose is the point - but this universe isn't half as much fun. It's as jarring as season 4 of Arrested Development.

Oh well. Are the last three episodes any better?

MrsWarboysLover

Enjoying this but as others have said, not many laughs. I like the visual design of everything and the nightmarish atmosphere though.

Johnny Yesno

Quote from: poodlefaker on January 09, 2022, 03:35:18 PMwhat few laughs there are are ploughed into the ground.

It's pronounced 'pluff', btw.

chrispmartha

I've finished them all now and I've loved it, but in a different way to the other series, I agree it hasn't had as many laugh out loud moments but i find I have a constant smile on my face, I just like spending half an hour in Toast's world

ASFTSN

Quote from: Virgo76 on January 09, 2022, 02:44:45 PMI'm not sure he's such a bad actor. His timing is often very good on The It Crowd.

What was wrong with Daniel Peacock? Was he very ill?

Harry Peacock? He suffers from lupus, which most recently meant that he wasn't able to star in the Brian and Roger play.

Virgo76


Rolf Lundgren

Quote from: poodlefaker on January 09, 2022, 03:35:18 PMI've had a couple of goes at Toast and can't see the appeal. There's no pace, no rythym, and what few laughs there are are ploughed into the ground.

I've had the same experience. All the ingredients are there for me, I really like Matt Berry, the premise, Arthur Mathews, the music, the surrealness of it but it often fails to make me laugh and I've never quite understood why. Gave Toast of Tinseltown a go and same thing, just can't get into it.

Johnny Yesno

Quote from: Rolf Lundgren on January 11, 2022, 11:50:04 PMI've had the same experience. All the ingredients are there for me, I really like Matt Berry, the premise, Arthur Mathews, the music, the surrealness of it but it often fails to make me laugh and I've never quite understood why. Gave Toast of Tinseltown a go and same thing, just can't get into it.

That's funny because I had the opposite experience. I never liked Matt Berry nor any of his previous work, I didn't realise that Matthews was the good one out of Father Ted, I'm not bothered about the music, and I'm extremely sceptical about comedy shows that are described as surreal. However, I saw the Kikini Bamalam / Bruce Forsythe episode first and was immediately sold on it.

Johnny Yesno


Doon's bad eye is the result of a real injury - a taxi she was in slammed its brakes on and she flew head-first into the card reader.

Anyway I've bailed on this after four episodes. Completely laugh-free, and all the ingredients that made London great just aren't there. I can see what they've tried to do with it, but it's just not for me. I had to watch an episode of London afterwards to remind myself that it's a great comedy.

rue the polywhirl

First couple of episodes were pretty promising but then it petered out quite drastically. 3rd episode had most of the low points. Picked up a little bit for the final episode. I like the series a lot but if you remove its odd surreal moments,  lightly amusing mispronunciations and two of its catchphrases nearly all much of the show is completely jokeless.

I thought the first four were pretty funny - maybe I'm just easily amused. However, I think the only thing I really laughed it in the fifth one was
Spoiler alert
the tiny canteen of water Toast was given for his trip into the desert.
[close]

The series wasn't Toast at its best, but it did reinvigorate it in a superficial sort of way, as it is, as others have noted, reliant on variations on similar gags, and the different settings at least gave them something new to play with.

jobotic

The fifth one was a bit Mighty Boosh I thought.

Mind you I loved the first series of that.

I've really enjoyed this.

Janie Jones

Quote from: Jumblegraws on January 09, 2022, 03:04:49 PMLooks like it might be an homage to the title sequence of 1970s spooky anthology series Shadows: https://youtu.be/cLtD21kjRDU

This is amazing, thank you for posting this link.

JamesTC

I liked Laredo appearing in Episode 5 (although then sad to hear it burned down not long after they recorded there).

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Hey, that terrestially broadcast second episode was clearly meant to be the first episode, wasn't it?

superthunderstingcar

I really enjoyed the first two and the fifth episode, but the others, while containing the usual weird and implausible situations of Toast, were at the same time being pretty light on anything actually funny happening. The last episode was particularly disappointing in that regard.

I, for one, miss Toast's fourth wall-breaking singing, and as a result he seems more like a typical obnoxious loser sitcom protagonist (that we have seen many, many, many times before), lacking any of the sympathetic depth the songs gave him in previous seasons. I suspect that if  any of this season had been my first exposure to Toast (instead of the magnificent John Hamm episode from season 3), I would not have been inspired to seek out the rest of the series.