All You Need is Cash

One of the funniest mockumentaries--indeed, one of the very first--is the brilliant Beatles sendup called The Rutles: All You Need is Cash, which I discovered, with my friend Scott Gates, in 2001. It's absolutely hilarious, and it debuted on the BBC 28 years ago today.

If you're a Beatles fan, a Monty Python fan, a Spinal Tap fan or just a weirdo who laughs at odd things, you'll love The Rutles. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the Rutles (click here for an exhaustive entry on the band):

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 prominently featured 20 songs written by Innes.

The cool thing about the Rutles (as Scott and I discovered) is that the songs are actually really, really good. They sound just enough like Beatles originals to make them familiar, but they're done very well, and Neil Innes' genius shows through in each track. Take a listen to the song on Wikipedia, and rent All You Need is Cash (George Harrison makes a cameo in the film, along with John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Mick Jagger, among other folks). You'll laugh. Trust me.

Trivia note that won't mean anything to any of you but here it is anyway: The Rutles' 1978 LP was the very first thing I bought on eBay.