John O'Hurley, wearing his King Arthur costume from "Spamalot," and his wife, Lisa, are the proud parents of 3-month-old William.

A little prince has become the center of attention in the "Spamalot" family.

Three-month-old William O'Hurley, son of John O'Hurley, who plays King Arthur in "Monty Python's Spamalot," got a royal reception the other day.

During a People magazine photo shoot at Wynn Las Vegas last week, William was dressed in a baby version of his father's King Arthur costume.

The proud papa told me that nothing compares to fatherhood.

"I've held little puppies, I've held the hands of people as they passed away. This is the most profound sense of innocence I've ever had."

Meanwhile, the show, which has been in previews for two weeks, has been bringing down the house, O'Hurley said.

O'Hurley sees a scary similarity between King Arthur and J. Peterman, Elaine's lovably pompous boss on "Seinfeld."

"I think King Arthur and J. Peterman are basically the same person -- it's just that I think he was the predecessor to J. Peterman. He's a lunatic. He's really prancing around with coconuts following him."

BUTT HEAD

Hugh Hefner left little doubt in an interview over the weekend that John Lennon narrowly escaped a thrashing at the Playboy Mansion West.

The incident occurred during the Beatle's boozy year-plus separation from Yoko Ono, when he was in Southern California to get his stuff together.

Lennon showed up at the Playboy Club and "misbehaved a little bit, and a couple of my friends took exception to it," Hefner told me.

"I didn't witness it. I was elsewhere in the Mansion. He put a cigarette out on a Matisse (painting), and one of my friends was gonna ...," Hefner said, without finishing.

"But he had been drinking. I was a huge fan. He was under a tremendous amount of pressure, very inappropriate pressure, you know, from the government. It was strange times."

The full interview is at www.normclarke.com.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Big announcement coming today from the new owners of the Hard Rock Hotel: The Killers are booked for a June 1 concert at The Joint. ...

A sure sign that something's up with Prince and his still-unconfirmed departure from the Rio: A Prince fan tells me the Purple One's 3121 Web site changed Saturday. It now features a scrambled TV signal with Prince standing over a globe. The only words: "Planet Earth," before the screen goes blank, and then "Coming Summer 2007." Fans are interpreting that to mean the "World Planet Earth Concert," in conjunction with Al Gore's campaign against global warming. ...

Miss Nevada USA Helen Salas, who replaced the dethroned Katie Rees, finished fourth runner-up in the Miss USA pageant Friday. But there are rumblings within the Nevada organization that she would have been more prepared had she not rejected a coaching team. The winner was Miss Tennessee USA Rachel Smith.

SIGHTINGS

Paris and Nicky Hilton, actor Edward Norton, David Hasselhoff, comedians Jeff Ross and Joel McHale, NFL quarterback Jeff Garcia, David Copperfield, Stephan Lessard of the Dave Matthews Band, Jon Lovitz and Donna D'Errico, celebrating Hefner's birthday at Moon nightclub Saturday at the Palms. ... At Picasso (Bellagio) on Saturday: John Stamos, entertaining a group that included Paul Shaffer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy and Maura Tierney. ... The Hilton sisters, taking in the WEC mixed martial arts fights at the Hard Rock Hotel on Saturday. Later, Paris, with new beau Josh Henderson of "Desperate Housewives," danced up a storm at Moon. ... MTV's "The Hills" star Brody Jenner, son of Olympic decathlon champ Bruce Jenner, bowling with friends at Lucky Strike (Rio) on Saturday. ... Kevin Federline, actress Shar Jackson, ex-UNLV basketball star/New Mexico State coach Reggie Theus and Copperfield at Pure (Caesars Palace) on Saturday.

THE PUNCH LINE

"Tara Reid is starting her own fast-food restaurant. Great news for anyone who likes their food cheap and soaked in vodka." -- Craig Ferguson

Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.