Not Dead Fred

"Not Dead" Fred is a fictional character in the Broadway musical "Spamalot", initially played by Christian Borle.

The role is based on a scene in the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". King Arthur and his entourage are in a medieval English village; the Black Death has ravaged the land, and a civic cleaner is traveling through the town shouting "Bring out yer dead", calling for the villagers to place any plague-dead bodies on a wagon he is pulling, to be carted away. Another villager comes out dragging an old man, saying "here's one." The old man responds by saying "I'm not dead!". The villager insists that the unnamed old man hasn't long to live, despite the protests of the old fellow and the cart driver. Desperate to be rid of the old man, the villager asks the cart driver for help and the cart driver whacks the old man over the head with a small metal Shovel, knocking him unconscious, and takes him in the cart.

In a similar scene in "Spamalot", Not Dead Fred is the man who is being carried out to the cart. He is younger than the man in the film, and less frail; in fact, he begins singing the rousing "I Am Not Dead Yet", joined in with the other "corpses" on the cart. He is supposedly killed midway through the song by Sir Lancelot, however he gets back up as the song progresses and continues to sing. Not Dead Fred's name is only mentioned once, during the end of the song; he is seen saying "I am coming too ... my name will be Sir Fred, I'll be ya' musician 'cos I'm not yet dead!" Not Dead Fred may become Robin's leading Minstrel, as the parts are usually played by the same actor.