Editing Neil Innes (section)

===The Bonzo Dog (Doo-Dah) Band===
While still at Goldsmiths, Innes joined a semi-professional college band originally called the Bonzo Dog Dada Band (after [[Bonzo the dog]], an illustrated cartoon character from the 1920s, and the art movement [[Dada]]), which was later renamed the [[Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band]] after the group tired of constantly explaining the concept of Dada to confused onlookers (and later still the band name was officially shortened to the Bonzo Dog Band). At this point the band, which then had a revolving membership of anything up to a dozen players at a time, largely performed a dada-influenced, deliberately shambolic, comedic repertoire of trad-jazz cover versions at local public houses and college events, to the delight and occasional bemusement of audiences. 

Innes had met the band's co-founders [[Vivian Stanshall]] and [[Rodney Slater (musician)|Rodney Slater]] some time earlier when they and bandmate [["Legs" Larry Smith]] were studying at the [[Central School of Art]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5hosx1Dfe8kC&pg=PT10|title=The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - Jollity Farm|publisher=Coda Books Ltd|isbn=9781908538604|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name=walker>John Albert Walker (1994). [https://books.google.com/books?id=kmBFqLb_CUwC&pg=PA12 ''L'immagine pop. Musica e arti visive da Andy Warhol alla realtà virtuale''] (in Italian; translation of ''Cross-overs: Art into Pop, Pop into Art''). Torino: E.D.T. Edizioni. {{ISBN|88-7063-213-X}}. p. 12. Accessed August 2013.</ref>  but Innes' official entry into the band was actually facilitated by his then-landlord and college tutor, Vernon Dudley Bohay Nowell, who happened to be the band's bass guitarist at the time. Innes' induction into the band proved to be fundamental to their eventual success when he brought a more focused and disciplined musical direction to their efforts, with his talents as a composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist. At the band's creative peak in 1968 and 1969, Innes, alone and together with Stanshall, composed most of the band's original material, including his solo composition (and sole Bonzos hit) "[[I'm the Urban Spaceman]]",<ref name="BBCdies">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50948921|title=Monty Python songwriter Neil Innes dies aged 75|date=30 December 2019|publisher=BBC News}}</ref> (produced by Apollo C. Vermouth, a collective alias for [[Paul McCartney]] and [[Gus Dudgeon]]),{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=151}} and "[[Death Cab for Cutie (song)|Death Cab for Cutie]]" (with lyrics by Stanshall), which featured in [[the Beatles]]' film ''[[Magical Mystery Tour (film)|Magical Mystery Tour]]'' (1967).{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=132}} Innes won an [[Ivor Novello Award]] for Best Novel(ty) Song in 1968 for "I'm the Urban Spaceman".

During the same creatively-fertile 1968/69 period, Innes and the Bonzo Dog Band also appeared each week in both seasons of the British children's television series ''[[Do Not Adjust Your Set]]'' which also featured future [[Monty Python]] members [[Eric Idle]], [[Terry Jones]], [[Michael Palin]] and [[Terry Gilliam]].{{sfn|Reinsch|Whitfield|Weiner|2017|p=145}} Although initially intended to appeal solely to children, the show's surreal and absurdist nature soon also attracted a large adult following.

After the break-up of the Bonzo Dog Band in early 1970, Innes joined with former Dog Band bassist Dennis Cowan, drummer [[Ian Wallace (drummer)|Ian Wallace]] and guitarist Roger McKew to form The World, a band hoping for "more commercial" success with music ranging from rock to pure pop, yet still retaining some Doo-Dah style and even some of the humour. However, by the time their first and only album, ''Lucky Planet'', was released in late 1970 the members had already disbanded and were moving on to other projects.