Based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the musical offers a highly irreverent parody of Arthurian legend, with the title being a portmanteau of Spam and Camelot.

The original 2005 Broadway production directed by Mike Nichols received 14 Tony Award nominations, winning in three categories, including Best Musical.

To settle the issue, Arthur asks the Lady of the Lake and her Laker Girls (named after the cheerleading squad) to appear before Dennis, which they promptly do ("Come with Me").

Defeated, they leave in a hurry when the French soldiers begin taunting them again, sending cancan dancers after them and throwing barnyard animals at them ("Run Away!").

Robin proves his point in a wild production number filled with Ashkenazi Jewish cultural references, a list of Jewish celebrities known for their work on Broadway (including Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand, Stephen Sondheim, and as a joke in the 2023 revival, George Santos), and a Fiddler on the Roof parody involving a bottle dance with Grails instead of bottles.

A North American tour commenced in spring 2006, and the cast included Michael Siberry as King Arthur (replaced by Gary Beach in 2008), Jeff Dumas as Patsy, Richard Holmes as Lancelot, Bradley Dean as Galahad and Tom Deckman as The Historian.

As with other Las Vegas transfers of Broadway musicals, including The Phantom of the Opera, Spamalot was condensed to run in ninety minutes without an intermission.

The theme of the song has been changed from poking fun at the need for Jewish input into Broadway productions and instead mocks the cross over of celebrities in musicals and reality television competitions such as The X Factor.

It notably pokes fun at reality TV celebrities including Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and Susan Boyle (who is shot by Sir Robin when she begins to sing).

[26] After the West End revival (2012-14), the production toured again from April 2015 starring Joe Pasquale, Todd Carty and Sarah Earnshaw.

[30] Marcus Brigstocke shared the role of King Arthur with Jon Culshaw for those seven weeks, with Bonnie Langford playing Lady of the Lake.

[35] A three evening performance at the Hollywood Bowl was undertaken in 2015, with Eric Idle appearing in the role of The Historian, and other cast members including Christian Slater, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Craig Robinson, Merle Dandridge, Warwick Davis, Kevin Chamberlin and Rick Holmes.

It was announced on August 2, 2023, that the Kennedy Center production would transfer to Broadway at the St. James Theatre, with previews scheduled to begin October 31 before a November 16 opening.

Iglehart, Kritzer, Urie, Smagula, and Walker reprised their roles from the Kennedy Center, joined by Christopher Fitzgerald as Patsy and Ethan Slater as The Historian/Prince Herbert.

Directed by Catalan Comedy Group Tricicle and choreographed by Francesc Abós, the cast included Jordi Bosch as King Arthur and Marta Ribera as the Lady of the Lake.

The production featured Yūsuke Santamaria as King Arthur, Aya Hirano as the Lady of the Lake, Magy as Patsy, Yuya Matsushita as Sir Galahad and Tsuyoshi Muro as Prince Herbert.

"[57] However, when asked whether he liked Spamalot during an interview with Dennis Daniel on 98.5 WBON-FM The Bone shortly after the musical's opening on Broadway, Jones said, "Well, I thought it was terrific good fun.

For instance, when they do the Andrew Lloyd Webber take-off and this girl comes in and sings 'Whatever Happened to My Part' since she hasn’t appeared since the opening number and she's really furious!

"[59] When asked by a Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter in 2008 if he had to be persuaded to provide the recorded voice of God in the musical, John Cleese said, "Yeah, that's right.

Another reference is actually part of the Playbill of the show; there are several gag pages about a musical entitled "Dik Od Triaanenen Fol (Finns Ain't What They Used To Be)".

Spamalot makes various references to other musicals and musical theatre in general, such as: "The Song That Goes Like This" (a spoof of Andrew Lloyd Webber productions and many other Broadway power ballads); "Whatever Happened To My Part" reminiscent of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls, the knights doing a dance reminiscent of Fiddler on the Roof, and another reminiscent of West Side Story (including the music); Sir Lancelot's mimicking of Peter Allen in "His Name Is Lancelot"; the character of Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Show being Man of La Mancha's Don Quixote; a member of the French "army" dressed as Éponine from Les Misérables; and a line pulled from "Another Hundred People" from Stephen Sondheim's Company by the "damsel" Herbert.

In Slate, Sam Anderson wrote, "Python was formed in reaction to exactly the kind of lazy comedy represented by Spamalot — what Michael Palin once described as the 'easy, catch-phrase reaction' the members had all been forced to pander in their previous writing jobs... Spamalot is the gaudy climax of a long, unfunny tradition of post-Python exploitation – books, actions figures, video games – that treats the old material as a series of slogans to be referenced without doing any of the work that made the lines so original in the first place.

"[62] About the West End version, Charles Spencer wrote in the Daily Telegraph that "It's a wonderful night, and I fart in the general direction of anyone who says otherwise" (echoing a joke from the show).

[63] According to Paul Taylor in the Independent, "it leaves you that high and weak with laughter, thanks not just to the Python provenance of the basic material but to the phenomenal speed, wit, cheek and showbiz knowingness of the direction, which is by the great veteran, Mike Nichols".

This record was broken by 5,877 people in Trafalgar Square at 7 pm on 23 April 2007,[66] led by the cast from the London production, along with Jones and Gilliam, with the coconuts used in place of the whistles in "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".

This formed part of London's St George's Day celebrations that year and was followed by a screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

In July 2007 it was announced that the London production would solve the problem of replacing Hannah Waddingham as the Lady of the Lake through a TV talent show in Sweden.

It features numerous segments with Eric Idle and John Du Prez explaining the process of writing the songs, plus interviews with UK and US cast members.

[72] The next month it was reported that the studio was looking to cast Benedict Cumberbatch as King Arthur, Peter Dinklage as his servant Patsy and Tiffany Haddish as the Lady of the Lake.

[76] On 6 January 2021, it was announced that the project would move to Paramount Pictures and that it was set to begin pre-production, with Nicholaw officially confirmed to direct from Idle's script and Dan Jinks joining as a producer.