The Rutles

The Rutles (aka The pre-fab four) was a parody of the Beatles, jointly created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes. The fictional group is best known for the 1978 mockumentary film about them titled All You Need Is Cash (often referred to just as The Rutles . Tagline: The Musical Legend which will last a lunchtime.). The film was written by Idle and featured songs written by Innes.

The band

The Rutles members in All You Need Is Cash were:

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• Ron Nasty -- John Lennon - played by Neil Innes
• Dirk McQuickly -- Paul McCartney - played by Eric Idle (singing voice is primarily Ollie Halsall)
• Stig O'Hara -- George Harrison - played by Ricky Fataar
• Barry Wom (b. Barrington Womble) -- Ringo Starr - played by John Halsey
• (Hamburg only) "Leppo, the fifth Rutle" -- Stu Sutcliffe - seen only in a still photograph in the film - the photo showed Ollie Halsall - who actually played and sang on the soundtrack. (Halsall in real life was one of the four musicians who performed all the Rutles' music - the others being Innes, Halsey and Fataar. Idle did not actually play or sing on the soundtrack.)

The Rutles members seen in the original skit on Rutland Weekend Television subsequently aired on Saturday Night Live were

Related Topics:
Rutland Weekend Television - Saturday Night Live

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• Ron Nasty -- played by Neil Innes
• Dirk McQuickly -- played by Eric Idle
• Stig O'Hara -- played by David Battley
• Kevin -- Pete Best - played by John Halsey

There is some confusion over the names and actors; Kevin was supposedly the name of the drummer, yet the SNL version calls him Barry. Also, Eric Idle was labelled as Dirk in the SNL version, while his memoirs identify him as playing Stig. Also, on the Archaeology album, Neil, Barry, and Rikki used their real names. The late Ollie Halsall also appeared, as some songs were outtakes from the 1978 sessions.

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Over the years, the Rutles have evolved from a fictitious band into a true band in their own right, playing both Rutles and Beatles favourites and songs from Neil Innes' solo albums. The current touring line-up consists of

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• Neil Innes on piano, guitar and vocals
• John Halsey on drums
• Mark Griffiths on bass guitar and vocals
• Mickey Simmonds on keyboards and vocals
• Ken Thornton on lead guitar
• J.J. Jones on percussion