The Rutles, a spoof of the massively popular and influential 60's band The Beatles, were the brainchild of former member of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band Neil Innes and ex-Monty Python member Eric Idle. The four official members of the Rutles were Dirk McQuickly (Eric Idle), Ron Nasty (Neil Innes), Stig O'Hara (Ricky Fataar) and Barry Wom (John Halsey), parodies of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, respectively. However, Eric Idle did not contribute to the actual musical recordings. The "Paul" vocals were performed by Ollie Halsall, who was glimpsed shortly in the mockumentary "The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash" as "Leppo", the fourth Rutle. Idle lipsynced to the music skits featured in the film.

The Rutles originated as a sketch filmed for Idle's Rutland Weekend Television (it premiered, however, on Saturday Night Live) in the mid-70's. SNL producer, Lorne Michaels, enjoyed the sketch so much that he produced a TV movie that became known as "The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash", a mockumentary which could be seen as the precursor to such films as "This Is Spinal Tap". The film parodied all aspects of the Beatles' career, such as the Yellow Submarine animated movie and the 'Paul is dead' rumours.

Neil Innes, under the pseudonym Nasty/McQuickly (a parody of Lennon/McCartney, whom most Beatles compositions are attributed to), wrote all the Rutles' songs, borrowing heavily from Beatles riffs, chord formations, and lyrics. The Rutles was released in 1978 along with the first film. Because of lawsuits from Apple Corps, 6 of the songs were removed from the first LP release, and the Rutles' song catalogue became property of Apple Corps. In 1996, Innes, Fataar, Halsey and John Haber (the replacement for Halsall, who had passed away) released Archaeology, a spoof of the Beatles' "Anthology" series, featuring old demo recordings for The Rutles's first album and some unreleased songs. In 2002, the sequel to "All You Need Is Cash", called "The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch", aired on selected TV channels, but as of yet, it is unreleased in the UK.

Ex-Beatle George Harrison, a fan of Monty Python (and later executive producer for Monty Python's Life of Brian) appeared in "All You Need Is Cash" as a reporter interviewing the press manager for the Rutles.