Agent Elvis

Elvis 1968 to 1971 was about the coolest man on the planet. As cool or cooler than Elvis 1954 to 1958? Who cares!? This cartoon is late 60s, early 70s Elvis, reinvented in cartoon form as a Matt Helm/ Our Man Flint / Archer/ Johnny Bravo character. And ... it's cool! It's fun! It's stupid ... fun, cool stupid. The sort of Elvis fan who genuflects at his name will consider this toon romp as unforgiveable blasphemy, and will be most likely want to dump on the cartoon. I'm a fan of Elvis and have been for decades ... got a tattoo, everything he's recorded (bad and superb), etc. You don't have to be an Elvis fan to enjoy this series, but the silliness, stupid violence and general irreverence should give this wider appeal.

Some nice, subtle satire too.

As an Elvis fan, I knew about Agent Elvis for some time, watched the whole first season the day it came out and really enjoyed it overall. It is definitely not for everyone, though. It's a pretty insane show reminiscent of Tarantino movies with lots of violence and raunchy humor. I'm not really sure what the target audience for this type of adult animated series surrounding a fictionalized Elvis Presley really is, and the fact that it was even made is surely surprising. Kudos to Netflix and the makers for being bold!

I appreciate that there is original Elvis music in virtually all episodes! The series covers a timeframe from shortly before the '68 Comeback special to the day of the Aloha from Hawaii concert. It's cool to see and hear all the references-major and minor-to the Elvis world. I think many of the references will only be noticed or understood by Elvis fans but they are in most cases not relevant to the plot. There are other pop-cultural references as well, for instance to Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now, Stanley Kubrick and 2001, The Doors and Jim Morrison, George Clinton, and Little Richard, to name a few. The plot surrounding Elvis "Agent King" Presley and an obscure organization named TCB mostly parodies Mission Impossible/James Bond type spy movies, with a bit of Manchurian Candidate vibes mixed in, and adds over-the-top violence. "Austin Powers meets Quentin Tarantino" describes Agent Elvis quite well I would say.

The animation of Agent Elvis looks great and modern, and in the lead role we have the appealing voice of Matthew McConaughey, who talks in his signature Southern drawl but does not imitate Elvis' voice. Then there is Johnny Knoxville as Elvis' sidekick Bobby Ray and Don Cheadle as the agent boss man. Even show co-creator Priscilla Presley has a couple of cameo scenes throughout the series. The voice actor standout for me, though, is Kaitlin Olson as Elvis' agent colleague CeCe Ryder. She has some of the funniest lines and delivers them sharply.

What I especially like about the show is how cleverly and fluently it incorporates contemporary historical events and figures into the plot. Events such as the Altamont festival, the Moon landing or the meeting between Elvis and Nixon are depicted as well as figures such as a completely insane version of Howard Hughes (who is a major supporting character in the whole series), Robert Goulet as Elvis' nemesis or good-time Charlie Manson. By the way, besides his singing voice, there are some photographs of the real-life Elvis in this show as well. After watching all 10 episodes, I can say that I would like to see a second season of Agent Elvis. We will see if it turns out to be successful enough.

This show is really funny. Making references not only to Elvis himself but to sixties culture in general. Yes, it is irreverent, violent and graphic but it is a lot of fun. Every episode had me cracking up.

Obviously this show is a tribute to the King and possibly to what he liked or would liked to have been: a spy. But it is also a nice spy show.

The characters are well written and their stories are funnier as the show progresses.

I loved how the writers decided to include every possible conspiracy theory out there just for the sake of it.

This show is not for everyone but those who like this type of animation (adult swim) and this kind of humor will definitely appreciate it.

I don´t think the show need any more episodes or seasons, it works just as it is.

Huge fan of early Archer so I really really wanted this to work but after watching whole series I just came away with meh. Mathew Machonahay as Elvis worked better then I would have thought. There was no reason to cuss as much as they all do. The violence seems a bit to much in parts. But it also seems like characters are trying to be unlikable. The commander and Cece seem like there their just to be unlikable. The storylines on interesting since this whole thing is set in 1968 the year I was born so it seems only Boomers and Gen X would get the majority of the references. Which Im fine with as Archer had that 60's spy motif to their series. But I wonder how big an audience it has. I just didn't find the humor I was looking for you don't need big out loud guffaws just the snide little in jokes of archer but this seems to almost try to hard. I think I need to forget about it for several weeks then watch it again see what I think then.

At worst, Archer and Men In Black did it better (and first).

At best, it is a fun revisionist-history spy-comedy serial.

It does break new ground from its other comps by dialing up the cartoon nudity, cartoon sex, cartoon violence, cartoon pee, and cartoon zoophilia to 11. Part of those in that list don't feel earned; like the crude humor and side character deaths feel out of place and force just for the sake of being crude.

The voice acting is great, and the animation style is fun.

At the end of it all, I did sorta wish there was more than just 10 episodes, so I think it is worth a watch, and at least a second season.