HE has played jokes on the Beatles and had jokes played on him by the Pythons.

Nicknamed the seventh Python, Neil Innes met them when he was asked as a member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band to write songs for a new show called Do Not Adjust Your Set.

“I was working with the Pythons way before they became the Pythons,” he recalled.

“Do Not Adjust Your Set was put together by a young producer called Humphrey Barclay. He got in touch with Eric (Idle), who had worked with Michael (Palin) and Terry (Jones) on the Frost Report.

“Even Terry Gilliam did the animations for the show, so it was a real forerunner for what would become Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

“One of the things the Pythons learned from the Bonzos was that you didn’t have to have an ending. All that ‘And now for something completely different’ came from that show.”

One of Neil’s highlights was appearing with the Pythons at the legendary Hollywood Bowl concert in 1982.

“There was always a lot of teasing going on within the group,” he said.

“I remember at the Hollywood Bowl, which was an incredible thing to be involved with, I used to go out and do the Protest Song and all the lights would go on so the audience was all lit up.

“When I came off stage, I said ‘What the hell happened there?’ and someone told me it was just an accident and that it wouldn’t happen again.

“Except every single night it did. I mean, I got the joke, but it was a pretty naughty thing to do.”

Neil knows all about playing jokes on people.

Just ask the Beatles.

“The Bonzos and the Beatles were very close,” he said. “They were very funny as well and we used to get up to all kinds of silliness, play jokes on each other, that kind of thing. We were all playing the same game, except we were sending it all up. That was the bond.”

Neil went one step further when he formed Beatles parody the Rutles with Eric Idle. The band started life as a sketch, but went on to release many songs and tour.

“Eric and I were very good friends with George Harrison,” said Neil. “It was very much with his blessing that we did the film. In that respect, it became an almost semi-official biography of the Beatles.

“I know John loved it, but Paul wasn’t a big fan and that’s really because Eric was pretty brutal in his portrayal of his character.”

An Evening With Neil Innes is at Brightlingsea community centre, Lower Park Road, tomorrow at 8pm. Tickets cost £15 on 01206 302055.