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The Rutles
The Rutles () were a rock band that performed visual and aural pastiches and parodies of the Beatles. This originally fictional band, created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes for a sketch in Idle's mid-1970s BBC television comedy series '' Rutland Weekend Television'', later toured and recorded, releasing two studio albums and garnering two UK chart hits. The band toured again from 2002 until Innes's death in 2019. Encouraged by the positive public reaction to the sketch, Idle wrote the mockumentary television film '' All You Need Is Cash'' (1978, ''The Rutles''). Idle co-directed the film with Gary Weis; it features 20 Beatles' music pastiches written by Innes, which he performed with three musicians as the Rutles. A soundtrack album in 1978 was followed in 1996 by ''Archaeology'', which spoofed the then-recent '' Beatles Anthology'' series. A second film, '' The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch'' (modelled on the 2000 TV special ''The Beatles Revolution''), was made in 2002 and relea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Idle
Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, songwriter, musician, screenwriter and playwright. He was a member of the British comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band the Rutles. Idle studied English at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and joined Cambridge University Footlights. He has received a Grammy Award as well as nominations for two Tony Awards. Idle reached stardom in the 1970s when he co-created and acted in the Python sketch comedy series '' Flying Circus'' (1969–1974) and the films '' Holy Grail'' (1975), '' Life of Brian'', (1979) and '' The Meaning of Life'' (1983) with Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Known for his elaborate wordplay and musical numbers, Idle composed and performed many of the songs featured in Python projects, including " Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". After ''Flying Circus'' ended, Idle created another sketch show '' Rutland Weekend Television'' (1975–1976), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Flames
The Flames were a South African musical group formed in 1962, with their best-known lineup consisting of guitarists and vocalists Steve Fataar and Blondie Chaplin, bassist Edries "Brother" Fataar, and drummer Ricky Fataar. Considered one of the most influential and unique bands of 1960s South Africa, they stood out with their blend of soul and rock music, Indian background, and material that was centered around albums and covers rather than singles and original songs. Their 1968 cover of The Impressions' " For Your Precious Love" reached #1 on the domestic charts and is their most popular song. They performed across London in the late 1960s, where they met Brian Jones, Keith Moon, Keith Richards, Jerry Garcia, Miles Davis and Carl Wilson. They later traveled to Los Angeles to record an album for The Beach Boys' record label Brother Records in 1970, for which they changed their name to The Flame. The group disbanded shortly afterward, with Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sketch Comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in music hall in Britain and vaudeville in North America, today it is used widely in variety shows, as well as in late night talk shows and even some sitcoms. While sketch comedy is now associated mostly with adult entertainment, certain children's television series such have used it, too. The sketches may be improvised live by the performers, developed through improvisation before public performance, or scripted and rehearsed in advance like a play. History Sketch comedy has its origins in music hall and vaudeville, where many brief humorous acts were strung together to form a larger programme. In the 1890s, music hall impresario Fred Karno developed a form of sketch comedy without dialogue, and in 1904 he produced a sketch called ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Can't Buy Me Lunch
''The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch'' (also known as ''The Rutles: Evolution'') is a re-telling of the 1978 mockumentary ''All You Need Is Cash'', in a modern setting. It premiered at the Don't Knock the Rock film festival on August 16, 2003. Plot Twenty-four years after the original, documentarist Melvin Hall (Eric Idle) interviews musicians, actors, and other entertainment figures about the days of the popular band The Rutles. Cast Reception ''The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch'' received mainly negative reviews, with many complaining that it was simply an update for modern audiences. Idle did not ask for the participation of Fataar, Halsey, Weis or Innes for the making of the film, viewing it as a solo project. The film contained no new footage with the Rutles; Rutle footage consisted of outtakes and unused film produced for the original 1978 mockumentary. Though he had declined to participate in the 1996 release of ''Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beatles Anthology
''The Beatles Anthology'' is a multimedia retrospective project consisting of a television documentary, a three-volume set of double albums, and a book describing the history of the Beatles. Beatles members Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr participated in the making of the works, which are sometimes referred to collectively as the ''Anthology'' project, while John Lennon appears in archival interviews. The documentary series was first broadcast in November 1995, with expanded versions released on VHS and LaserDisc in 1996 and on DVD in 2003. The documentary used interviews with the Beatles and their associates to narrate the history of the band as seen through archival footage and performances. The ''Anthology'' book, released in 2000, paralleled the documentary in presenting the group's history through quotes from interviews. The initial volume of the album set (''Anthology 1'') was released the same week of the documentary's airdate, with the subsequent two vo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archaeology (album)
''Archaeology'' is the second album by parody band The Rutles. Like their previous release, the album contains pastiches of Beatles songs. Three of the four musicians who had created the soundtrack for the 1978 film—Neil Innes, John Halsey, and Ricky Fataar—reunited in 1996 and recorded a second album, ''Archaeology'', an affectionate send-up of ''The Beatles Anthology'' albums (although its original cover design rather parodied that of The Beatles' singles compilation '' Past Masters: Volume One''). The fourth 'real' Rutle, Ollie Halsall, died in Spain in 1992. Eric Idle was invited to participate, but declined. Like the ''Anthology'' project that it lampooned, it featured tracks ostensibly from all periods of the Rutles' career, sequenced to reflect the fictional band's chronology. Several of the songs were actually older Innes songs that were dusted off and given the 'Rutles' treatment. The reunion was blessed by George Harrison, who encouraged The Pre-Fab Four to pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gary Weis
Gary Weis (b. 1942 or 1943) is an American filmmaker. He is known for creating multiple short films that aired on ''Saturday Night Live'' in the late 1970s. He co-produced and provided visual effects for the documentary ''Jimi Hendrix'' (1973); he co-directed the Beatlemania spoof '' All You Need Is Cash'' (1978) with the film's star, Eric Idle; he directed the comedy film '' Diary of a Young Comic'' (1979) starring Richard Lewis, as well as '' 80 Blocks from Tiffany's'' (1979), a documentary about gangs in the South Bronx. He also directed several music videos in the 1980s, including the video for Paul Simon's single "You Can Call Me Al" and for George Harrison's version of the song "Got My Mind Set on You#George Harrison version, Got My Mind Set on You". Career Weis worked as a cameraman for the 1970 The Rolling Stones, Rolling Stones tour documentary ''Gimme Shelter (1970 film), Gimme Shelter'' that culminated with footage of the infamous Altamont Free Concert. Weis told ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All You Need Is Cash
''All You Need Is Cash'' (also known as ''The Rutles'') is a 1978 television film that traces (in mockumentary style) the career of a fictitious English rock group called the Rutles. As ''TV Guide'' described it, the group's resemblance to the Beatles is "purely – and satirically – intentional". The film was co-produced by the production companies of Eric Idle and Lorne Michaels, and it was directed by Idle and Gary Weis. It was first broadcast on 22 March 1978 on NBC, earning the lowest ratings of any show on American prime time network television that week, though those who did watch it gave almost unanimously good reviews. It did much better in the ratings when it premiered in the UK on BBC2 on 27 March 1978. Premise ''All You Need Is Cash'' is a series of skits and gags that illustrate the fictional Rutles story, closely following the chronology of the Beatles' career. Cast * Eric Idle as: ** Dirk McQuickly, a parody of Paul McCartney ** The Narrator, a parody of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mockumentary
A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues in a satirical way by using a fictional setting, or to parody the documentary form itself. The term originated in the 1960s but was popularized in the mid-1990s when ''This Is Spinal Tap'' director Rob Reiner used it in interviews to describe that film. While mockumentaries are comedy, comedic, pseudo-documentary, pseudo-documentaries are their dramatic equivalents. However, pseudo-documentary should not be confused with docudrama, a fictional genre in which dramatic techniques are combined with documentary elements to depict real events. Nor should either of those be confused with docufiction, a genre in which documentaries are contaminated with fictional elements. Mockumentaries are often presented as historical documenta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rutland Weekend Television
''Rutland Weekend Television'' (''RWT'') is a television sketch show written by Eric Idle with music by Neil Innes. Two series were broadcast on BBC2, the first consisting of six episodes in 1975, and the second series of seven episodes in 1976. A Christmas special was broadcast on Boxing Day 1975. It was Idle's first television project after ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which had ended the previous year, and was the catalyst for The Rutles. ''Rutland Weekend Television'' ostensibly centred on "Britain's smallest television network", situated in England's smallest (and mainly rural) county, Rutland. Rutland had been abolished as a county in April 1974 so, supposedly, there were tax advantages to broadcasting from somewhere that did not legally exist. This framework allowed for a range of sketches and material to be presented, all as part of the fictional network's hosted programming. Nevertheless, even this very loose concept was frequently ignored, and material was prese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band in Western popular music and were integral to the development of Counterculture of the 1960s, 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as an art form. Rooted in skiffle, beat music, beat and 1950s rock and roll, rock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging from Folk music, folk and Music of India, Indian music to Psychedelic music, psychedelia and hard rock. As Recording practices of the Beatles, pioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionised many aspects of the music industry and were often publicised as leaders of the Baby boomers, era's youth and soc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pastiche
A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it. The word is the French borrowing of the Italian noun , which is a pâté or pie-filling mixed from diverse ingredients. Its first recorded use in this sense was in 1878. Metaphorically, and describe works that are either composed by several authors, or that incorporate stylistic elements of other artists' work. Pastiche is an example of eclecticism in art. Allusion is not pastiche. A literary allusion may refer to another work, but it does not reiterate it. Allusion requires the audience to share in the author's cultural knowledge. Allusion and pastiche are both mechanisms of intertextuality. By art Literature In literary usage, the term denotes a literary technique employing a generally light-hearted tongue-in-cheek imit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
