Most critics like Toast of London, and the praise gathers almost entirely around Matt Berry. Reviewers describe his Steven Toast, a pompous and failing actor, as the engine of the show, and note the pathos he finds under the egotism. The surreal humour is the other constant: the silly voices, the visual gags, the voiceover sessions and the running jokes that reward a second viewing. Those who follow it into the second series find it sillier and more assured, and two treat it as a cult sitcom that too few people have seen.
The spread is wide but lopsided. The lone dissent comes from The Telegraph, which finds the opening episode starts promisingly and then tips into overblown surreality that stops being funny. Radio Times, though positive, has a milder version of the same worry, calling the humour scattergun at times. Everyone else lands between good and very good, with reservations about pitch rather than about the central performance.