Now for something only slightly different

SPAMALOT, Palace, Manchester
I COULDN’T swear to it but I’m pretty sure that none of the Pythons have written an original line of comedy since some time in the early Seventies.

Since then they have simply rearranged key scenes from their earlier works in a boggling multiplicity of ways.

But the thing is that during the surprisingly few years the Pythons were writing their gloriously silly — and gloriously inconsistent — TV show, they managed to create some of the silliest sketches and ideas ever committed to video.

The brilliantly anarchic result has been adored by people of a certain age, and exploited by team members of a certain name — Eric Idle, you know who I mean — ever since.

Idle it was who took the bare bones of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, mixed in famous lines from the more famous sketches, went off on wild tangents when scenes had run their course (thus introducing local and topical references, Las Vegas, a musical about musicals, non-sequiturs in abundance), and much more.

Then he added lyrics to tunes by John Du Prez and is happy to take your money to watch the result.

Spamalot was in Manchester last year with Marcus Brigstocke as Arthur, and returns with stand-up and part-time actor Phill Jupitus in the role (and, last night, Jessica Martin replacing the injured Jodie Prenger as the Lady of the Lake), plus full-timer Todd Carty as Patsy, the king’s horse impersonator.

All three are fine — Carty dirty; Martin well up to speed, since she and Prenger share the role at various venues, and Jupitus his usual mix of assertive twit and astonished authoritarian. But let us also mark for a moment the remarkable contribution of the nine supporting cast members as knights, villagers, French taunters, Las Vegas showgirls, damsels in distress and Knights Who Say Ni, on stilts.

Some musicals send you out of the theatre humming the songs; some manage to make you smile and some — and I include this one — have you grinning from ear to ear in a mad mixture of nostalgia and surreal comedy.

So Idle’s still got it, whatever it is.