Spamalot’s John O’Hurley visits Borders
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
On Monday night, over fifty SPAMALOT fans gathered at the Borders in Westwood to hear their King, John O’Hurley, star of SPAMALOT, pontificate about the musical, his two bestselling books, his dogs, his son, his brothers, his father, his teachers, his wife, his aversion to reality television (despite having performed quite successfully on Dancing with the Stars), and his career on stage and on the small screen.
One thing I learned about John O’Hurley on Monday was that the man is a pro. That morning he had woken up at 6 am to tape an interview with KTLA. He then went into a studio and shot six back-to-back episodes of Family Feud (which he hosts concurrently with his role in SPAMALOT) and, refusing the car service CTG had offered to him, drove himself to Westwood where for over ninety minutes he spoke about his life, answered many questions from fans ranging on all topics, and autographed books, CDs, and T shirts. He even took pictures with fans, including two guys who arrived at the Borders ten minutes after the event had ended! John O’Hurley is truly a class act.
The Westwood Borders was under a bit of renovation so we had practically the entire back half of the second floor to ourselves. The stage was in front of huge western-facing windows, so as John spoke we could glimpse a magnificent sunset behind him (we also had a clear view of the takeout Thai place across the street).
Around 6:45 pm the fans started rolling in. Though one could imagine in one’s mind what the stereotypical SPAMALOT fan would look like, these patrons did not conform to any predetermined look or category. They were young and old, small and large, male and female; people with no interest in the show but loved John’s books, or his role as Peterman on Seinfeld; a few people who were just in the Borders buying books or getting coffee and decided to see what the fuss was all about. Some were wearing SPAMALOT gear, and many came bearing O’Hurley’s books and the SPAMALOT cast recording CD; two men even came wearing bejeweled armor, in case the King was besieged in Westwood.
After some initial silliness involving a piano bench, the Marketing Team was able to set up a station with an Enter to Win box for T shirts and a grand prize of a pair of tickets to the show. We ultimately gave out seven shirts, and the tickets went to a lovely couple named the Algots who had yet to see the show. Gooooooo Algots!
John’s speech was great - humorous, intelligent, inspiring, and best of all, promotional. Highlights included an imitation of his father’s laugh (silent, with occasional snorting); a story from his ragtag youth in which he spelled Columbus “Columbum” in a public art project; and the tale of how he found out that his first book had made the New York Times’s Bestseller list on the same day that his son was born. He also read an excerpt from his latest book, Before Your Dog Can Eat Your Homework, First You Have to Do It, which was hilarious and which everyone reading this should buy if they haven’t already. (And if you’ve already bought it, buy another copy! What, like you won’t want to read it again?)
All in all, the event was a major success on multiple levels, and we thank our good friends at Borders as well as King Arthur himself, John O’Hurley, for putting together such a fantastic evening of fun.
