The Rutles were a Beatles parody group dreamed up in 1977 by Eric Idle (of "Monty Python's Flying Circus") and Neil Innes (of "The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band"). Both Idle and Innes had worked together before on various "Monty Python" films. In "Monty Python And The Holy Grail" in 1973, for example, Idle played "Sir Robin" and Innes played opposite as "Sir Robin's Minstrel". Idle was a close friend of the late Ex-Beatle George Harrison and was able to get Harrison's endorsement of "The Rutles" , even getting Beatle George to make an appearance in the film as a stuffy BBC-TV reporter. Innes' ties to the Beatles went back to 1967 when, as a member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, he made a musical appearance in the nightclub sequence of the Beatles film "Magical Mystery Tour" with the song "Death Cab For Cutie".

The Rutles were dreamed up as a television special to be aired on NBC-TV as a late night special. The finished TV film, "All You Need Is Cash", so impressed NBC-TV, that they moved The Rutles film into prime-time. In the Rutles film, Eric Idle played "Dirk McQuickly" (the Paul McCartney character) and Neil Innes played "Ron Nasty" (the John Lennon character). Playing the part of "Stig O'Hara" (the George Harrison character) was musician Rikki Fataar, a native of India and a member of The Beach Boys around the time of their "Holland" album in 1972. And, last but not least, playing the part of "Barry Wom" (the Ringo Starr character) was drummer John Halsey.  

To coincide with the TV airing of "All You Need Is Cash", an album of beatle parody songs from the Rutles film was released on Warner Brothers Records. The songs, written by Neil Innes, showed the influences of various Beatle songs. Some examples: "Ouch!" was a take-off of "Help!", "Doubleback Alley" was a take-off of "Penny Lane", "Piggy In The Middle" was a take-off of "I Am The Walrus", "Get Up And Go" was a take-off of "Get Back", etc. In addition, Innes, Fataar, and Halsey played the instruments and sang on the tracks.  Ollie Halsall, who passed away in 1992, played bass guitar and sang the Paul McCartney parts that Eric Idle lip-synched to in the film. Halsall also had a bit part in the Rutles film as "Leppo, the fifth Rutle". There were numerous notable cameos in the film from such stars as the late John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, the late Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Paul Simon, Mick Jagger and Ron Wood of The Rolling Stones, fellow "Monty Python" member Michael Palin, etc. The Rutles also got top 40 radio airplay during the summer of 1977 with a single from the Rutles LP titled "I Must Be In Love".

In 1996, Innes, Fataar and Halsey regrouped as The Rutles (with the blessing of Eric Idle) and released a new collection titled "The Rutles Archaelogy" to coincide with the release of "The Beatles Anthology 3" in late 1996. The late Ollie Halsall was also featured on some of the tracks. The "Archaeology" CD was full of more catchy Beatle parody songs. They even made a video for one song titled "Shangri-La", that was released as a single.  Around the same time of the release of "The Beatles Archaeology", Eric Idle compiled and directed a Rutles film sequel to "All You Need Is Cash" titled "The Rutles 2 - Can't Buy Me Lunch".  The sequel features outakes and other footage not used from the first Rutles film. "Can't Buy Me Lunch" also features new interviews from such celebrities as Conan O'Brien, Tom Hanks and Bonnie Raitt. The sequel also featured appearances from David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Jewel, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Robin Williams and many more. More recently in April 2002, The Rutles film "All You Need Is Cash" was re-released on DVD and VHS. The DVD version features a running commentary by Eric Idle as well as Idle's written memoir telling how The Rutles project together. It also includes the complete and uncut 1977 interviews that were done with Paul Simon and Mick Jagger for the film. Likewise, "Can't Buy Me Lunch" was also released on DVD in 2005.

Rutle (and Beatle) fans all over the world continue to hope that we haven't heard the last of Dirk, Nasty, Stig and Barry - "The Fabulous Rutles"!!  A living legend that will live long after other living legends have died!!  

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