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Spamalot at the Wynn

If you haven’t caught Spamalot at the Venetian in Las Vegas, make sure you put this on your must-see list as it is one of he funniest and most successful Broadway shows to hit our town in a long time. The star for the past six months has been John O’Hurley, previously best-known for his recurring role on Seinfeld as Mr. Peterman and his winning moves on Dancing With the Stars a few seasons ago. Space restricts me from running my whole interview, but here are a few highlights.

I caught up to O’Hurley in his dressing room just before the show, finding him relaxed in shirt and jeans before he had to don his costume for his role as King Arthur. There was also a baby’s playpen present, meaning that his wife and 8-monthold son must be nearby.

I started off by asking him how tough a role it was to do physically.

“This is a tough show to do as I’m 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.”

As to his long-running role on Seinfeld, he said, “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 gave me a sense of legitimacy within the industry. 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.” (O’Hurley also gets residuals from Seinfeld every time it shows anywhere in the world and it is broadcast to 85 countries.)

What was the experience like on Dancing With the Stars, as dance wasn’t in your background?

“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 and people got to know you because the cameras never stopped. “Physically and mentally, it was the most demanding thing I’ve ever done in my life. It was nine parts Marine boot camp and one part cocktail party. You have no idea how difficult that dance is. You can’t miss a step if you take it to the highest level that you can, which I did.

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

At this stage in your life, how has becoming a husband and a father changed your life?

“Well, I had two scenarios in my life. I was either going to live the life of George Clooney, a dear friend, or find somebody and settle down. I was okay with either one.

But when I met my wife Lisa, it’s very rare that you meet a beautiful blonde scratch golfer who loves the Boston Red Sox. I want nothing more in life. The joy of having a child late in life is this. It’s better for me because I wouldn’t have been as good a father in my younger years because I was so distracted by aspirations as an actor. Your family has to be your priority if it’s going to be happy and succeed.

“It changed my whole life in such a good, positive way that it’s kind of the beginning chapter of the next 20 years of our lives.”

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