Modern Toss (TV series)
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''Modern Toss'' is a partly
animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
British
comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
programme based on characters from ''
Modern Toss ''Modern Toss'' is a British comic by Jon Link and Mick Bunnage. Renowned for their scurrilous humour and highly stylised animation, it was created in 2004, initially as a website publishing single panel jokes and then as series of irregularly ...
'', the creation of British comedy writers and cartoonists Jon Link and
Mick Bunnage Mick Bunnage (born 21 December 1958) is a cartoonist, journalist, and comedy writer and was formerly the bass guitarist of The Deep Freeze Mice. He is the co-creator of the ''Modern Toss'' comic, which was also turned into a TV series by Channel ...
. Renowned for their scurrilous humour and highly stylised animation, it was created in 2004, initially as a website publishing single panel jokes and then as series of irregularly released comics. The initial pilot programme was commissioned by Channel 4 as part of their ''
Comedy Lab ''Comedy Lab'' is a British television series which showcases pilots of experimental comedy shows. Series have been aired irregularly on Channel 4 and E4 since 1998. Several pilots first shown on ''Comedy Lab'' have gone on to spawn full serie ...
'' series and broadcast on 10 May 2005. Series one was first broadcast between 11 July to 15 August 2006. Following the
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
release of the first series in November 2007, a second series was shown between 23 January and 27 February 2008. The show features the voices of Lee Kern,
Mackenzie Crook Paul James "Mackenzie" Crook (born 29 September 1971) is an English actor, comedian, director and writer. He played Gareth Keenan in ''The Office'', Ragetti in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films, Orell in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'', ...
,
Simon Greenall Simon James Greenall (born 3 January 1958) is an English actor, producer, writer and voice artist. He has portrayed Michael in the BBC television series '' I'm Alan Partridge'', as well as in '' Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa,'' the Caretaker in ...
,
Paul Kaye Paul Kaye (born 15 December 1964) is an English comedian and actor. He is known for his portrayals of shock interviewer Dennis Pennis on ''The Sunday Show'', New York lawyer Mike Strutter on MTV's ''Strutter'', Thoros of Myr in HBO's ''Game of ...
,
Doon Mackichan Sarah Doon Mackichan (; born August 1962) is a British actress, comedian and writer. She co-created, wrote and performed in the double Emmy award winning ''Smack the Pony''. She frequently collaborates with Armando Iannucci and Steve Coogan, ha ...
,
Lucy Scott Lucy Scott (born 19 January 1971) is a British actress. She is known for playing Pride and Prejudice#Charlotte Lucas, Charlotte Lucas in the 1995 BBC production ''Pride and Prejudice (1995 TV series), Pride and Prejudice''. Career Lucy Scott ha ...
,
Anthony Davis Anthony Marshon Davis Jr. (born March 11, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays the power forward and center positions. Davis is an eight-time NB ...
, David Schall and
Ralph Brown Ralph William John Brown (born 18 June 1957) is an English actor and writer, known for playing Danny the drug dealer in ''Withnail and I'', the security guard Aaron (a.k.a. "85") in ''Alien 3'', DJ Bob Silver in ''The Boat That Rocked'' aka ' ...
. The show was aired on the
Independent Film Channel IFC (formerly known as the Independent Film Channel) is an American basic cable channel owned by AMC Networks, originally launching in 1994 as a TV channel devoted to independent films. The Independent Film Channel originally operated as a com ...
(IFC) in the United States and in 30+ territories including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Poland, Finland, Ukraine, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia Herzegovina, Macedonia, Philippines, Bulgaria, Iceland and the African territories reached by MNet. The series last played in the United Kingdom on
4Music 4Music is a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. The original incarnation was launched on 15 August 2008, and until 29 June 2022, showed a mix of music and entertainment programming. It ...
in 2011 and the pilot episode received an airing on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
in August 2012.


Characters

The following recurring cartoons appear regularly in the programme: *Alan: the figurehead of ''Modern Toss'', Alan is a cartoon scrawl who repeatedly sabotages his middle-class friends' get-togethers, resulting in his fleeing, pursued by "Roger", shouting, ''"Come back, Alan, you wanker!"'' *Accident & Emergency/Citizens Advice/Customer Services: members of the public ask a patient woman at a help-desk bizarre and often ridiculous questions. Contains the recurring theme of an angry Texan yelling into the phone, complaining profanely about a recently purchased cheeseburger, and who appears in every segment, regardless of the topic. *Barney: a man who periodically turns into a red Incredible Hulk-like monster at the mention of
Alan Titchmarsh Alan Fred Titchmarsh HonFSE (born 2 May 1949) is an English gardener, broadcaster, TV presenter, poet, and novelist. After working as a professional gardener and a gardening journalist, he established himself as a media personality through a ...
, and causes destruction in a mad rage, followed by embarrassment at what he has done. *Drive-By Abuser: a blunt moped-rider who "considers" various things before hurling profane abuse at them. *Cheese and Wine: a person at a party asks someone a question, and the other replies in a coarse and aggressive manner. *Fly Talk: a pair of flies discuss goings-on, often involving being trapped in a celebrity's car/house/hat and witnessing unexpected behaviour (such as
David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
urinating on his open fire). *Gnat Burglar: a giant gnat which sucks the entire contents out of things and injects it into other things. *I Live 'Ere: a West Country farmer recounts his violent assaults on trespassing (English) members of the public. *Illegal Alphabet: a large number of human-sized letters that congregate in a field to form rude words (including odd portmanteaus such as "pipecock"); they are then ambushed by truncheon-wielding police. These scenes end with a Radio 4-style voiceover announcement, for example: ''"That was Illegal Alphabet in 'illegal piss meeting' followed by 'unauthorised shitcasket'"''. *Mr Tourette - Master Signwriter: a gruff Frenchman who creates inappropriate signs (more often than not, with a sexual leaning) for bewildered customers. *Peace & Quiet: a man who seeks peace and quiet in his garden, but is plagued by noise from neighbours and others nearby. *Planet Chat: a
Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician. He hosted the tabloid talk show ''Jerry Springer'' between September 30, 1991 and July 26, 2018, an ...
-style talk show in which the
Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
and several other celestial bodies argue, usually turning on the
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
in the end. *Prince Edward, Royal Entrepreneur: rarely seen in the programme, Prince Edward tries to profit from (often tasteless) Royalty-related merchandise. *Seawalker: another infrequent feature of series - a man with very long legs walks out of the sea onto the beach, whereupon a leg is severed by people playing frisbee. *Sneezeman: a little man with a huge nose who experiences uncontrollable sneezing fits, usually injuring himself and causing extensive damage to property. *Space Argument: two inept astronauts who disagree while carrying out routine space-related tasks. *Underground Wolf Gobbler: a giant semi-human monster that pops up out of the ground and eats things, i.e. trains or oncoming traffic. *Work: an unenthusiastic employee expresses his unwillingness to come in, or do any work. The theme music is the brindisi, "
Libiamo ne' lieti calici "" (; "Let's drink from the joyful cups") is a famous duet with chorus from Giuseppe Verdi's ''La traviata'' (1853), one of the best-known opera melodies and a popular performance choice (as is this opera itself) for many great tenors and sopranos ...
", from ''
La Traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...
'' by
Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
.


Broadcast history

*UK **
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
(2005 pilot, S1 2006, S2 2008) ** Adult Swim segment on
Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels *Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...
(2006–09) **
Paramount Comedy 2 Comedy Central Extra is a European pay television channel that launched in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2003. Followed by the Netherlands in 2011 were it was visible till 31 december 2022. Between 2012 and 2020 it was also available in par ...
(2008–10) **
4Music 4Music is a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. The original incarnation was launched on 15 August 2008, and until 29 June 2022, showed a mix of music and entertainment programming. It ...
(2010–11) *Australia **
ABC2 ABC TV Plus (formerly ABC2 and ABC Comedy) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of general entertainment progra ...
(2008, 2009, 2010) *Russia ** 2x2 (2008) *USA ** IFC (2009) *Finland ** SubTV (2010) *Mexico **
Once TV Once (Eleven; formerly Once TV México and Canal Once) is a Mexican educational broadcast television network owned by National Polytechnic Institute. The network's flagship station is XEIPN-TDT channel 11 in Mexico City. It broadcasts across ...
(2010)


External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0828867, title=Modern Toss 2000s British television sketch shows 2006 British television series debuts 2008 British television series endings British adult animated comedy television series English-language television shows British television series with live action and animation Channel 4 sketch shows