I grew up in a very large, very Catholic family, pre-pedophilic priest scandal, back when members of the faith did not question what they were told, and really embraced that whole sheep thing. At least my father did. He was a convert—they say these are the worst—and he marched us up to the front pew of our little parish church, where I’m sure the congregation seated behind us had a field day counting our heads (ELEVEN!) in astonishment. Besides being reminded regularly that God was punishing us for this or that—for instance, let’s say I punched my brother and then turned around a stubbed my toe, that would be God punishing me—we were also regularly reminded that we were going to hell. Very relaxing childhood, I’m telling yo more ›

Spamalot is "lovingly ripped off" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Many fans of the movie, ourselves included, know its dialog so well that we can hear even the subtlest variances in line reading—not just the words, but the cadence and rhythm. In several spots, Spamalot is directly lifted from Holy Grail, and curiously enough that's where the show is weakest. We expected some repetition of the original—a musician with a blockbuster hit can hardly skip performing the song in concert—and we enjoyed the taunting Frenchman, the not-dead-yet plague victim, and the black knight. However, we laughed most either when the actors chose a notably different take on a line, or when the script took off in another direction altogether. more ›