Hey guys, Leslie Robbins here for Young Hollywood. It is that time of year again where celebrities take over the Hollywood Bowl stage. This year it is Monty Python's Spamalot, and I'm taking you behind the scenes.

What an honor it is to be speaking with you, and you're finally in the show. A that you created 10 years ago, won a Tony. 10 years since it debuted on Broadway, 14 Tony nominations, 40 years since the movie, 10 years since you started Monty Python. And now you're finally in the show?

Yes.

Song and dance man. Not many people know that about you. You started on Broadway in The Music Man.

Uh, I did. Yeah, yeah. I uh, was just talking about that. That was really like my first job traveling around the United States and uh, playing this Winthrop character. So it has been about 40 years since I've actually done uh, a musical and and this is definitely a it's a big musical. It's like one of those you you look at it and you see it all on the page and they give you the book of music and you're like, oh boy. You get through all that fear, you start working with this great team of people and it somehow comes together.

How do you work through the fear when you have basically a week to prepare an entire musical for the Hollywood Bowl?

You know, I think it's better to not have a lot of time to think about it.

Spamalot. It's a lot of singing, a lot of dancing. A lot of talking. A lot of fun. You have like two days to rehearse before you go in front of thousands of people.

Well, a little bit more than two, but it's yes, not a lot. So, um, we we we're working pretty hard here. We've actually got about, uh, about 10 days, but, uh, just over 10 days. And and it's a lot to do. I mean, this is a huge production, uh, and there's a lot going on. A lot of, uh, a lot of songs to learn, a lot of words to learn, and a lot of dancing to learn.

You are stellar out there. Well, how long did it take you to learn all that?

Well, we've only had like a just about, I don't know, three or four hours on that. So it's it's not much because there's so much to do. And as an actor, you know, my brain isn't quite wired up in the same way as a dancer's brain. So there's not really good connection between here and the feet. So trying to make them do what I see the choreographer doing is a challenge.

You've done this before. You're a veteran of the show back on Broadway.

Yeah. It's a kind of a dream to be able to revisit it, you know, because once it closed on Broadway, I was like, oh, you know, I really loved the role. I loved watching what everybody else brought to the show and and I missed that. I and I missed the kind of freedom that this show gives. So we can just get up there and have a good time and play. So it was a a a gift to be able to come back to this role again.

Tell me your day. Break it down for me rehearsal. What's it like?

Well, we come in and then it's like, okay, what are we going to do today? And we break. And you don't you know, you're in your individual rooms because we're trying to cover as much ground as we possibly can.

This guy, I mean, he's so hard to work with. He's so hard to work with.

You know what? We said we weren't going to do this in front of the cameras.

Hello? You gentlemen are doing it at the Hollywood Bowl, but you've been on Broadway, the tour. This is old hat for you.

Yes, we're bored out of our skulls. It's it'll be a nice challenge.

I don't know about you, but I find that a lot of the stuff that I thought would just be second nature and still in my, you know, muscle memory. No, it's really you got to relearn a lot.

Eric Idle finally in the production that he wrote. It's brilliant, you know.

10 years ago. Eric's a terrific guy and yeah, to see him stand up there and do the historian, the words that he wrote is fantastic. Also, though, it is quite daunting having him around when you're performing his material. Especially for me, I have to sing Bright Side, you see, so that's his song. And, uh, so yeah, you you you have that on your mind and see Eric out the corner of your eye and give it that extra little bit.

Everyone loves Spamalot. Everyone loves Monty Python. Your comedy still translates. What do you account for just the longevity of your humor? Because comedy come and go. You are here and everyone's still laughing.

It's actually extraordinary. It shouldn't be, you know, it should be like dated. I mean, it should be really old hat. But people, young people keep rediscovering it and I think it's gently subversive. I think that's the secret to it. So students and and kids, it's subversive of authority. And so and also there's something for kids when they see King Arthur pretending to ride an imaginary horse. Well, that's what they do at 10. So, um, it's it's adults behaving like children. And I think that's irresistible.

Do you know where Spamalot comes from, the name? I I feel like I do.

Well, I just invented a new question. Do you know where it comes from? Because I do. Spamalot. Well, it it comes from, um, the the product Spam. Yeah. And, um, and Camelot. You see, they took the two things and and and melted them together to produce this new word. I mean, that's it.

Yours, you're acting like you know something I don't here.

I do know something.

Well, tell me then. I feel like I know the movie verbatim, so I should know this. Remind me. Tell me.

We eat ham and jam and spam. A lot.

You're the first one to actually know that, by the way.

Oh, really?

Yes. So if you had to choose ham or jam or Spamalot, which would you choose?

Uh, uh, jam. I know it's surprising.

It's, I'm going to go with ham. Are you? Yeah, I love a good ham at Easter. Uh, but I would not choose spam. That's that's rough stuff.

Spam jam every time, jam.

I think I would probably choose the Spam-a-lot. Sure. I would eat spam. Why not? Mhm.

Okay. Well, I'm going to have to choose jam because I don't eat meat. So it's easy for me. It's a no-brainer. Christian said he was going to go for the spam because you were here. He's probably a meat eater. He's I think the fact that Eric's in the show, do you want to eat spam just for him or no?

No, I'm saying, he gets the spam. I get the ham. We split the jam. That's why I got cast because he's a smart.

King. I'm on this boat now. I got to get my key. Okay, you can look into the camera. Some things in life are bad. They can really make you mad. Other things just make you swear and curse. When you're chewing on life's gristle, don't grumble, give a whistle. And this will help things turn out for the best. And I'll leave you in suspense there.