James Monroe Iglehart, Spamalot’s King Arthur, on What the World Needs Now

James Monroe Iglehart first encountered the story of King Arthur and Excalibur through the Disney animated feature The Sword in the Stone. “You’ve heard this all your life,” Iglehart told The Broadway Show’s Tamsen Fadal. “And then to actually be able to hold Excalibur and play this role.”

Of course, Iglehart isn’t playing regular old King Arthur. He’s playing King Arthur in Spamalot, a nutty take on the Arthurian legend by way of British comedy royalty Monty Python. With its plea to look on the bright side of life, the show is an antidote to the “realness” of current events, said Iglehart. “You need a bunch of really silly guys searching for the Holy Grail… being attacked by a giant killer rabbit. That is what this world needs right now.”

Iglehart calls his fellow cast members—Christopher Fitzgerald, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Nik Walker, Michael Urie, Ethan Slater, Taran Killam and Jimmy Smagula—”some of the most amazing performers in the world.” (Alex Brightman will take over the roles played by Killam from January 8.) “Everybody individually is funny on their own, but all of us together collectively…. I always look at Josh [Rhodes], our director, and I go, ‘Are you sure you want to get inside this bathtub with us? We are all insane.’”

"A good insane?" asked Fadal.

“Yeah. Oh my god, it's one of those fun insanes.”