John O'Hurley -

By: Karla Casillas

John O'Hurley is widely recognized as J. Peterman on the hit show Seinfeld¯ and as the host of Family Feud. Those are two facets to his talent. He is currently playing King Arthur on Monty Python's Spamalot, and working on an energy company he co-founded.

John recently spoke with TheCelebrityCafe.com's Karla Casillas to discuss his role as the king, his new energy company, and his busy schedule.

Karla Casillas: For those out there not familiar with Spamalot, how would you describe the show?

John O'Hurley: It is based on the Monty Python movie Search for the Holy Grail and it's basically a kind of funny and twisted look at the legend of King Arthur and his knights at the round table and their search for the Holy Grail. The film came out in '74, but this is something that was done on Broadway in 2005 and won Tony Awards. It's pretty spectacular.

KC: How would you describe your character, King Arthur?

JO: King Arthur…well…he's the king (laughs). He is a lot like J. Peterman on Seinfeld. He's sometimes a little bit clueless.

KC: What do you enjoy the most about playing him?

JO: I think it's a very funny script and the fact that I know that the audience is going to be in hysterics from the moment that we come on stage until the moment that we step off. It's two and a half hours of non-stop laughing and if you laugh too long, you'll miss the next joke.

KC: You've also been quoted as saying that this is one of your favorite shows. Why is that?

JO: It's because it's the funniest show that I've ever seen. I first saw this when I was doing the Broadway play Chicago. When I saw Spamalot, I never recall laughing as hard as I did in the theater.

KC: How is acting on stage different from acting for a TV show or from hosting the Family Feud?

JO: Well, they're all different. They have their own demands and their own peculiarities. What I like about acting on stage is that you get one shot. You take a show and a story and character from beginning to end. There are no retakes—you're not putting it together in an editing room. It's all live and anything can happen. It's because of that that it is more of an organic thing. It's living and breathing. It's not done post production, it's live.

KC: How do you like hosting Family Feud? What do you enjoy the most about it?

JO: What I love about Family Feud is that you don't have any writers, so everything that's funny on the show is funny because it's spontaneous and it comes from the fact that we just process the information right there. Either the family says something funny or I say something funny and it's always entertaining. It's easy to go along with. It's easy television to watch. You know, I'm not a big fan of reality television because I think it's mostly social voyeurism—people peeking at other people's windows. I love Family Feud because it's a very simple, easy game that everyone can play, and its fun and it's funny at the same time.

KC: What is one of your craziest memories on the show?

JO: I had two brothers recently that I asked in the segment of fast money. The first one came out and I asked him to name something that was built to collapse. He says, "A building." And then that got zero points. Then the other brother comes out and I ask him the same question in the second round and he says, "A building."

KC: Something many people may not know about you is that you co-founded Energy-Inc. Can you tell me about it?

JO: I'm a co-founder of Energy-Inc. It's a company that basically has a technology that can take any form of waste and turn it into usable energy. It can do it with near zero emissions. Municipalities and towns can use this instead of turning their garbage into landfills. Corporations can use this to power their companies and hospitals can use it to relieve themselves of their medical waste. Basically, all waste—we can take care of all environmental issues with this technology.

KC: How did you become involved with this technology?

JO: I'm a venture capitalist, which means that I put money into things and this was something that came to me about a year and a half ago. I licensed it. It has been overseas and we're bringing it to the U.S. for the first time.

KC: What has the response been so far?

JO: In two months we have over 150 projects. This is something that everybody is going to have to turn to. It's a zero landfill culture, which is what everything is moving toward. It sees waste as a commodity as opposed to liability.

KC: Is that the company's ultimate goal?

JO: It's a zero landfill company. It's a technology that not only does that [turn waste into energy], but it can take care of a landfill and turn that into energy.

KC: Is this something that you've brought up to the government?

JO: I have been speaking with government officials and on Capitol Hill and other government agencies. It's gotten some extraordinary responses.

It's a brand new technology that's never been available in this country before. It's going to be something you're going to be hearing a lot about very quickly.

KC: With everything you do, how do you find time to balance your life with your shows, music, and family?

JO: It's very difficult. I live on a plane. I work every day of the week. I don't have a day off. My day off is basically spent working in a television studio. It's very difficult and in between I have three companies, two in addition to the energy company. So I'm very busy—extremely busy.

KC: Does your family go with you?

JO: My family goes everywhere and travels everywhere with me. I'm a father first and an actor second.

KC: Your biography online said that your childhood idol was Lloyd Bridges of Sea Hunt and that you used to dress like him and imitate him. Then, you knew acting was in your blood. How did you know acting was for you? What do you enjoy the most about it?

JO: I don't know why I wanted to be an actor. It's just what my imagination always told me I was supposed to do. So consequently that's what I've done. I've always directed myself and identified myself as an actor. I enjoy it because it feels good to be able to communicate certain things that are put on paper. Basically, you take a script and communicate those words and I like that.

KC: What about your music? You just released a CD in January.

JO: It's another side of me and I enjoy music and my work as an actor is the same thing using a different medium to communicate. I hear melodies in my head, so the best way to communicate them is on a CD.

I spent a lot of time on it. The first one was very successful, and the second one came out a short time ago. I wrote the second one with my son on my lap. It has a deeper feeling.

KC: How do you like being a father?

JO: It is the most amazing role I've ever played and it's a completion of me as a human being. It's something that I wish for every man and I never realized that it's possible to love someone as much as I love my son.

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