“Agent Elvis” Surprisingly Doesn’t Suck
Oh well, A-bless my soul, but what's wrong with me? I’m about to tell ya about an Elvis Cartoon that you gotta see.
Courtesy of Netflix
“Agent Elvis” on Netflix — I know what you’re thinking. How can this be any good? Well, first of all, it was co-created by Priscilla Presley herself, who is considerably cooler, smarter, and more business-savvy than Elvis ever was. And had the King been home once in a while, he might have noticed that for himself—a fact that she makes reference to as she voices herself on the show.
Evidence strongly suggests that Priscilla has a great and possibly dark and dirty sense of humor. The fact that she is a creator of (and not the plaintiff in the lawsuit against) the show makes me think she should be the President of Rock n’ Roll, as she understands that the absurdity of the truth, the myth, and the merchandising of the King (a moniker he did not care for according to the show) had long ago turned Elvis into a cartoon character.
The show is not for real Elvis fans from back in the day, as they are mostly dead, and I can assure you if my mother saw a cartoon featuring Elvis and the Manson Family that was dedicated to the late Lisa Marie, she would not approve, even if it didn't have a drug-loving monkey that has sex with human women… which it does.
Stylistically, think the Venture Brothers meet Archer with a splash of history starring Elvis. And believe it or not, with a lot more blood, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Agent Elvis lacks the musical genius of composer JG Thirilwell, who scored the former, but it makes up for that oversight by having Sony's music catalog behind its soundtrack, featuring songs by the likes of the Doors, David Bowie, and of course, the man himself.
The show has some star power as well besides Priscilla. The real star, Agent CeCe Ryder, is voiced by none other than “It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia's” Sweet Dee, Kaitlin Olson. Elvis is voiced by some guy named Matthew McConaughey, and a Jackass named Johnny Knoxville voices one of the King's sidekicks Bobby Ray. The other one is a coke-snorting compulsive gambling chimpanzee. The guest appearances alone are worth the watch. To name a few: Fred Armisen as Charles Manson, Chris Elliott as Timothy Leary, Jason Mantzoukas as Howard Hughes, Ed Helms as Robert Goulet, and George Clinton as himself.
The showrunners did an excellent job of taking the bits we know about Elvis' life, and combining them with real history and conspiracy theories, to put out a very funny and entertaining show. And In Spite of what the critics think (see what I did there?), I think it is worth a few bong hits and a binge-watch.
I won’t give too many spoilers but here are a couple of vague ones to entice you:
Elvis and Priscilla drop acid in the Jungle Room at Graceland.
Elvis tries to get into a Funkadelic concert but the woman with the clipboard informs him that he is not on the list, but if it was a list of white men who profit from stealing black culture he would surely be at the top. Elvis pulls out what he hopes is a hood pass or in this case a funk pass in the form of a 1957 Jet Magazine article that he claims clears his name.
I found the article, and I wouldn’t say it cleared up the whole thing—but I must say I found a little bit of new respect for Elvis. Oh, and the show is good, too.
