This Is The Post That Goes Like This

After waiting for almost a year, we finally saw the traveling version of "Spamalot" last night. And while I wasn't surprised that the Python references (90 percent of which are from The Holy Grail) were cleverly and (mostly) hilariously executed, I was surprised by a different element of the show: the self-contained satire of Broadway itself, including:

- a discussion about how searching for the grail is really a metaphor for life ("After all, why would God care about a cup, and wouldn't He know where it was?") followed by a sublimely cheesy song called "Find Your Grail"; and

- a disgruntled diva character based on the "Lady of the Lake" from British mythology, who twice during the show sings a romantic duet with King Arthur called, "This Is The Song That Goes Like This."

This is the song that goes like this. Wow. Thank you, Eric Idle. I can't get over the genius of that concept. And the song was, of course, good--in the same way that the songs in "This Is Spinal Tap" are good. Recalling my pit orchestra days playing guitar for "Godspell" and "Once Upon a Mattress," I was reminded that there's a fine line between "good good" and "bad good." This reminded me how much I love "bad good." "Bad good," you might say, is the best good of all.

P.S. I am now the proud owner of a black "Fetchez la vache!" T-shirt and killer rabbit slippers, courtesy of my good friend, John Spencer, who introduced me to Monty Python sometime around the 6th grade and always reminds me that it's very good to be not dead yet.