I never thought that one day I'd say this, but right now, I have a Collector's Edition can of Spam on my desk. Yes, the real Spam from the Hormel Food company. It cost $2.69. No tax, it being a food product (according to some interpretations).

My museum-quality Spam was produced in conjunction with Monty Python's Spamalot, a current Broadway musical for which you can get a ticket if you agree to go alone to a Tuesday afternoon matinee in April 2009 and sit in the rafters with the lighting guys.

The back of the can proclaims, "What is your quest? To wonder at the marvel of a brilliant new musical with lots of singing, dancing and fake swordplay? Or is your quest simply to enjoy the perfect sandwich? To find something better to have with your eggs whilst in the morning shade of your finest shrubbery? Well, noble crusader, look ye no further. This golden honey and premium pork treat will fulfill your every want, you peckish, nibbly avatar!"

There are certain marketing partnerships that years ago would have seemed more improbable than Pauly Shore playing Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company. (I would have said Keanu Reeves doing "Much Ado About Nothing," but that nightmare came true.) The pork-treat-filled alignment of Monty Python and the Hormel Company is one of those unlikely partnerships.

But I'll skip the temptation to make snarky comments about British food tastes and just clear a spot of honor on the corner of my desk for my new piece of artwork.

TES