By Ashley MacQuarrie

What's the point of living in L.A. if you're not going to bother the celebrities that cover the landscape? That's what we do here. We find movie stars and other pop culture icons and ask them silly questions for your amusement.

This week, we turn our attention to

Eric Idle and the Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch

On Saturday, August 16, Jim "Rantman" MacQuarrie (my dad) and I attended the world premiere of Eric Idle's The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch at the Arclight Theater in Hollywood.

The Rutles: All You Need is Cash was a parody of the many documentaries made about the Beatles, produced for NBC in 1978. Written and directed by Eric Idle, it follows the rise to fame of the pre-fab four: Dirk, Stig, Nasty, and Barry and features some really brilliant parodies of Beatles songs by Neil Innes, interviews with Mick Jagger and Paul Simon, and appearances by SNL cast members John Belushi, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Gilda Radner.

Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch takes place 25 years later and features interviews with David Bowie, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, Carrie Fisher, Steve Martin, Jewel, Salman Rushdie, and Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone, among others, as well as deleted scenes from the first one including appearances by Mick Jagger and George Harrison. New songs from Neil Innes' Rutles Archaeology album are used throughout.

The film was completed in 2001, but has not yet been released. In Idle's words, it is locked securely in the Warner Brothers vault. This screening (part of the "Don't Knock the Rock" festival of movies with a rock music theme) was in part an attempt to demonstrate to them that there is a market for the movie.

I really enjoyed Can't Buy me Lunch. It's short, only an hour long, and I missed the beginning (curse you Dan Apodaca!), although I think my dad made record time driving from Pasadena to Hollywood during rush hour. The songs are good in their own right and are even funnier when performed by the Rutles on-screen. One of the best bits in the movie is Billy Connelly's interview; he talks about how much he hated the Rutles, "Their breakup was brilliant! The best thing they ever did!"

After the film, there was a short question-and-answer period with Eric Idle, Kevin Nealon and Jim Piddock (A Mighty Wind, Best in Show), both of whom had parts in the film. Idle revealed that there will be a lot of deleted footage on the dvd if it's ever released, including Tom Hanks crying about the breakup of the Rutles. He also talked about how much the Beatles enjoyed the Rutles and about the making of the film, while Nealon kept dragging the conversation back to Jewel's tooth.

Following the Q&A we had the opportunity to speak briefly with Eric Idle. He signed our ticket stubs (per his request dad's is made out "to Ebay") and we asked him a few questions:

A Very Brief Interview with Eric Idle

Monkey Spit: Obligatory Monty Python question: If you were in a plane crash in the Andes with Monty Python, who would you kill and eat first?

Idle stops in mid-autograph and looks at me, surprised.

Idle: How did you know about that? Did you read it somewhere?

Monkey Spit: No. I made it up.

Idle: See, I made up that game. We used to play when on tours. We'd spend hours discussing in which order we would eat each other, and the answer was always Graham, 'cause he was the most useless. But he got a by, because he was a doctor and would know how to cut us up. So the next to go would be John. Because if you kill John, you could eat for a long time and not have to kill anybody else for a while.

Monkey Spit: When you did Liverdance, did you feel Michael Flatley had it coming?
Liverdance was part of 1999's "Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python" Tour, described by PythonLine as "a rather stupid evening of skits and songs in cities across the United States." In addition to Liverdance ("a cross between [a] live organ removal and Riverdance"), the show featured the Rutland Sympathy Orchestra under the baton of John Du Prez, Sir Dirk McQuickly of the semi-legendary Rutles, The Bruces (an all-Australian Drinking Quartet) and Dolly Taylor, the great transvestite Country and Western singer, as well as favorite Python skits, some previously unseen Python footage, lumberjacks, sheep and a surprise guest appearance by the Spanish Inquisition.

Idle: Absolutely! Didn't you? Do you know anybody who has made more money on less talent?

Monkey Spit: I know somebody who is obsessed with him. She says he's healed people with his dancing. I think she's stalking him.

Idle: Sort of a 'laying on of feet,' eh?

Monkey Spit: Do you have any stalkers?

Random bystander: Do you want one?

Idle: (looks slightly frightened) No. Comedy's better that way.

Since the screening, at least one petition has appeared on the internet urging Warner to release The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch. You can sign it and maybe we can get them to hurry up and release it already....

If you haven't seen the first Rutles film, you really ought to. Video rental stores don't have it, so we made it easy for you; you can buy it here.

The songs from All You Need is Cash are hilarious and they sound just like Beatles songs. Buy the soundtrack and play it when you have company. See if they notice it's not the Beatles.

Released in 1996, several of the songs from The Rutles Archaeology were used in Can't Buy Me Lunch. It's really good.

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E-mail Ashley MacQuarrie.

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