Taran Killam Finds Use for His Deep Monty Python Knowledge in Spamalot

Taran Killiam has been a fan of the British comedy troupe Monty Python his whole life. “Holy Grail in particular I could quote start to finish,” he tells Tamsen Fadal on The Broadway Show. “So learning lines was a little bit easier for me.”

In Spamalot, the joyfully silly stage musical reworking of the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Killam plays Sir Lancelot, the role played by John Cleese in the movie. Killam also plays a Knight who says “Ni,” an unnecessarily rude Frenchman and a mysterious and powerful enchanter (named… Tim).

After six seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live—a show very much inspired by the Monty Python’s Flying Circus television show—Killam played King George in Hamilton, starting in 2017. “I've been spoiled in my very short Broadway resume,” he says. But five years since his Hamilton stint, “I was feeling a little rusty,” he admits. “A little ‘Do I remember how to do this?’”

The comedic support of a bunch of stellar castmates has made him feel right at home, though. “Monty Python was an ensemble comedy troupe, and I do feel that we are capturing some of that. Everybody wants everyone to win. Everybody's willing to pass the ball.”

He adds, “I am in such a stacked cast, with James Monroe Iglehart, Leslie Kritzer… I mean, come for the Kritzer, stay for the Kritzer, leave thinking about the Kritzer, return for the Kritzer. Rinse, repeat.”

For Killam, it's been especially fun performing for fellow Monty Python obsessives, who preempt catch phrases or raucously applaud at the mere appearance of familiar characters. “I didn't really look into the audience much until curtain call,” he says, speaking about the show’s first preview performance on Halloween night. “And when I did, there were swords and rabbits and Knights of Ni. It was amazing. It felt like a party.”

If that all sounds like absolute nonsense, maybe some joyful absurdity is precisely what Broadway audiences are craving right now. “I think the world could use a laugh,” says Killam. “I hope that we fill that spot on Broadway.”