• by January 12, 2005

MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY E-MAIL -- The marketing team at Yahoo! has always seemed to us to be very creative, imaginative, and at times, quite hilarious. But based on a conversation we recently overheard, we have to question their historical grasp on what would seem to be an especially important aspect of their business these days: spam. Specifically, the historical context of spam and how exactly it fits into its latest promotional foray, the sponsorship of a new Broadway musical entitled "Spamelot."

Surely, Yahoo! has done as much as anyone to curb unwanted commercial e-mails, but that doesn't explain why the portal is seeking to associate its brand with the new Broadway show, a musical adaptation of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Why would Yahoo! want to be connected to anything associated with spam? Could it be Yahoo!'s marketing department didn't make the connection between Monty Python and its contribution to the cursed e-mail communications? It seems so. At least, that's all we could determine based on a recent conversation between a member of Yahoo!'s marketing team and a company press representative.

Marketing guy: "For this 'Spamelot' thing, do you want to come in for it? Do you want to invite some press to it?"

Press Person: "I don't even know what it is yet. All I know is we are sponsoring it."

MG: "'Spamelot' is a new musical comedy opening on Broadway. It is the musical adaptation of 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail.' As a sponsor of the show, we happen to be written into the show. There is a group of military men who will be singing and dancing and doing press and PR and whatnot for the show so that they are not tied to the star. This group is called the Spam Guard. Isn't that cool? There are little Yahoo! logos on their flag."

PP: "Now why do they call it 'Spamelot'?"

MG: "Because Eric Idle, one of the Monty Python guys, thought it was a very funny thing. It's just as simple as that. You know, Camelot, Spamelot? It is literally 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' on Broadway. Singing, dancing, killer rabbits. The whole nine yards."

Actually, students of Monty Python's sketch comedy know there is a far more explicit connection between the comedy troupe and spam that gives the name of the new Broadway show, and Yahoo!'s sponsorship of it, a double meaning, not to mention a bit of irony.

Spam, the term for unsolicited commercial e-mails, isn't an acronym and isn't derived from the Hormel canned meat product, at least not directly. It was inspired by a classic episode of "Monty Python's Flying Circus," in which a group of Vikings are chowing down in a dining hall when they break out into an incessant chorus of, "spam, spam, spam, spam" over and over and over again.

The bit is hilarious because there doesn't appear to be a logical motivation for it. It's simply a non sequitur. Like much of Python's funniest humor, it's simply silly for silly's sake. But the bit, which itself has been played over and over and over again on American television - initially via PBS and these days on BBC America - came to symbolize the incessant nature of online spam. At least, that's what we've been told.