YOU cannot fail to Always look on the Bright Side of Life after a night of side-splitting laughter at Spamalot.

The show that is “lovingly ripped off” from Monty Python and the Holy Grail with references to other mad-cap Python material could not be in better hands with Joe Pasquale and Todd Carty back in the saddle.

Utterly daft and ridiculously funny, even squeaky-voiced comic Pasquale proclaims “Stop that, it’s silly!”, as anarchy prevails. The former King of the Jungle is cast as King Arthur who is visited by a vision of The Lady of the Lake (Sarah Earnshaw) and sets off on a quest to find the Knights of the Round Table and the Holy Grail, assisted by his squire Patsy – the brilliant Todd Carty.

The pair share a great onstage chemistry as they bounce off each other.

Comedy veteran Joe ad-libs and improvises at any given opportunity: last night it was an impromptu ramble about Janet Street Porter on a beaver that left the audience and the cast in stitches!

Todd Carty sings, dances, plays the coconuts, winning the laughs with his facial expressions.

At times the cast wandered off into the realms of panto with surreal send-ups of West End theatre and talent-search shows. Chaos abounds with prop malfunctions, outlandish campness and corpsing, yet the show is slick and fast-paced with one comic gag rolling into the next.

It’s an incredibly versatile cast too, with actors playing up to four roles each, even changing gender.

Sensational West End actress Sarah Earnshaw plays a central role as the show sends up musicals in general. Her performance of The Song that Goes Like This demonstrates some impressive vocal gymnastics and she proves an excellent comedy performer.

The audience was swept along by the mirth and mayhem of this potty, potted post-Roman history mixed with Arthurian legend.

With songs like He is Not Dead Yet, The Knights Who Say Ni, Find Your Grail and Eric Idle’s showstopping Always Look on the Bright Side of Life it’s no wonder we were all singing along – even after the curtain fell.