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Monty Python Spamalot

If you’re a fan of Monty Python, or even if you aren’t, don’t miss Spamalot (see listings) at Wynn Las Vegas. The whole cast is excellent, but John O’Hurley as King Arthur is a standout. I talked with O’Hurley the other night in his dressing room before the show.

On getting the role, O’Hurley said, “I would say I cut my eye teeth, my sense of humor on Monty Python as everybody else who’s about my age (53). I was on Broadway last year doing Billy Flynn in Chicago and while there, went around to see all the other shows I liked and thought what might be right for me. There was Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Spamalot. They offered me leads in both, but unfortunately, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels closed before I got a chance to kill it, but the offer stood for Spamalot.”

The show, he said, is tough to do because he’s on stage almost the whole time. “My costume weighs about 20 pounds so it’s like a 90-minute aerobic class. And I’m singing and dancing, so physically it’s tough, but in a good way, because it keeps me in shape. I’ve dropped 13 pounds. But I love it, because it’s great physical activity.” Like so many actors, O’Hurley, probably best known by many for his recurring role in Seinfeld as J. Peterman, says he loves performing on the stage. “Live is wonderful because of the immediacy of it, the contact of it, the feedback.”

And speaking of Seinfeld, I asked how that role affected his life. “I had been in a number of soaps and on series of my own, so people did recognize me, but Seinfeld was the show the industry watched, so it gaveme a sense of legitimacy within the industry which was very nice. But what it did rob me of was my name and I became known as Peterman. The p.s. to that story is that I bought the J. Peterman company in 1999, so I’m fine with that.

“But it was phenomenal to get caught up in that swirl of success that Seinfeld was. It was a phenomenon, and not only in America, but all over the world.”

Another show that brought O’Hurley national exposure was the first year of Dancing with the Stars.

“I came away from it with several things. Professionally, I got my name back. I was no longer Peterman. I was John O’Hurley because there was nothing to hide behind. You were really out there on your own. You had no character to play. And people got to know you because the cameras never stopped. They were rolling seven hours a day while you were rehearsing so they got a good slice of who you really were.

“No-one was thinking of marketing themselves. They were just concerned about not falling down. We were all told it was going to be only two or three hours of rehearsal a week, rather than seven hours a day, seven days a week. Physically and mentally, it was the most demanding thing I’ve ever done inmy life. It was nine parts Marine boot camp and one part cocktail party.

“I put my life on hold for 13 weeks. Barely saw my wife. I’d leave in the morning at 9, get home at 6 or 7, dead to world. No time off. And what was so mentally draining, is that we’d have the show Wednesday night and know immediately whether you would go on to the next round. All that meant was that Thursday morning you started off at the studio again with a brand new dance step, or maybe two, that you’d never done before, or heard of before in my case, because I’d never danced before.”

As for his role as host of Family Feud, O’Hurley says, “I love Family Feud because it has no script and I like working that way. I enjoy leaping off the tower and trusting that the net will appear. It’s a lot of fun to do that as an entertainer. Trusting that the humor that’s out there, you’ll find. That’s the joy of doing the show.” He has reason to be happy about the show as ratings are up 45 percent since O’Hurley assumed hosting duties last September.

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