# Eric Idle owes me $11 (or, The Rutles 2 sucked) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2005, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-idle-owes-me-11-or-the-rutles-2-sucked/299637 "2005-04-16T15:04:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-idle-owes-me-11-or-the-rutles-2-sucked/299637/1 "2005-04-16T15:04:13Z")
Back in 1978, Eric Idle and Neil Innes (of Bonzo Dog Band fame) created _The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash_, a brilliant mockumentary skewering the Beatles. It was quite hilarious and the songs were brilliant. So well written were some of the songs, that one or two actually ended up on some Beatles’ bootleg recordings in the 80’s. Well, Mr. Idle, you should have stopped right there. Instead you decided to dig up the corpse of this masterpiece and anally violate it by releasing _The Rutles 2: Can’t Buy Me Lunch_. Did you give us anything new about the Pre-fab Four? Nope. All you did was record (on video, no less) “new” host segments were were pretty much rehashes of the ones you did in 1978 interspersed with clips from the original. You added a few new interviews (shame on you, Steve Martin, Robin Williams, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, David Bowie, Conan O’Brien, and Jewel) that basically parroted the comments made in the original. At least Billy Connelly was mean (in a scripted way, of course). And why the f\*ck did you think it would be funny for Jimmy “No Trick Pony” Fallon to appear as your long lost son trying to imitate your presenter character? Mr. Idle, you shame us all by this fetid pile of crap. I’ll be expecting you to pop an $11 cheque in the post post haste. Don’t ever do this again. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-idle-owes-me-11-or-the-rutles-2-sucked/299637/2 "2005-04-16T16:45:44Z")
Thanks for the consumer report. Not _all_ Python merchandise is worth having. Then again, he does call himself a “greedy bastard”. Eric Idle’s recent U.S. comedy revue tour was called the “Greedy Bastard Tour”. FWIW, his memoir of that experience is a very good read – observant, frank, funny, and surprisingly poignant. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-idle-owes-me-11-or-the-rutles-2-sucked/299637/3 "2005-04-16T16:49:48Z")
So, basically, you’re asking him to buy you lunch? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-idle-owes-me-11-or-the-rutles-2-sucked/299637/4 "2005-04-16T17:10:24Z")
I had the feeling this one was going to be a disappointment. Do I infer correctly that this purported sequel doesn’t even include any new Neil Innes songs??? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-idle-owes-me-11-or-the-rutles-2-sucked/299637/5 "2005-04-16T17:11:47Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > So, basically, you’re asking him to buy you lunch? That and he should be forced to watch Manos (un-MSTied) for pennance. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-idle-owes-me-11-or-the-rutles-2-sucked/299637/6 "2005-04-16T17:15:27Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > I had the feeling this one was going to be a disappointment. Do I infer correctly that this purported sequel doesn’t even include any new Neil Innes songs??? There’s a few snippets from the almost-as-disappointing _Archaeology_ CD that came out in 1996. There is one bit of new video: Ron Nasty’s “appearance” on Saturday Night Live, but it’s so short that is really isn’t worth mentioning. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-idle-owes-me-11-or-the-rutles-2-sucked/299637/7 "2005-04-16T20:18:33Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > There’s a few snippets from the almost-as-disappointing _Archaeology_ CD that came out in 1996. Hmm. I did find _Archaeology_ disappointing at first, but when I came back to it a few years later, it really started to grow on me. Now I think it’s splendid. It doesn’t sound like this new DVD has a similar potential, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eric-idle-owes-me-11-or-the-rutles-2-sucked/299637/8 "2005-04-16T20:27:23Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > It doesn’t sound like this new DVD has a similar potential, though. Definitely not. Idle seems to be doing a parody of himself. Not funny.