This Jersey Shore rocker made The King a bad-ass spy on new Netflix comedy 'Agent Elvis'

John Eddie knows that for a working musician, life on the road can mean a lot of down time.

“All those years in a 15-passenger van with a trailer on the back, driving from gig to gig ... you have a lot of time to think of crazy ideas,” said Eddie, a former Highlands resident who’s been a favorite of audiences at the Jersey Shore and beyond since the mid-1980s.

For Eddie, one of those “crazy ideas” has turned into Netflix’s latest original animated series. “Agent Elvis,” debuting Friday, March 17, is a gonzo action comedy starring Matthew McConaughey as the King of Rock and Roll — who, in the reality presented by the series, is also recruited by a spy program to combat mysterious operatives.

It’s a little bit “Austin Powers,” mixed with a fair amount of “Archer” vibes. So it's no surprise that former “Archer” writer Mike Arnold serves as showrunner, head writer and executive producer on “Agent Elvis.”

“When we made this show, we kept it very much in mind that we want Elvis fans to be able to appreciate it for our twisted spin on Elvis’ history, but we wanted to capture his rock ’n’ roll, his badassery,” said Eddie. “But on the other level of it, we wanted to be able to appeal to someone who might not necessarily be an Elvis fan, who can just get into the idea that this guy was a huge rock star and he had this secret double life where he was fighting (for) truth, justice and the American way.”

The series plays fast and loose with history, but it’s consistent with Presley’s noted affection for both superhero comics and law enforcement. It has the blessing of Presley’s family: Eddie serves as co-creator and executive producer of “Agent Elvis” alongside Priscilla Presley, who voices herself in the series.

Eddie first connected with her when he toured as the opening act for Lisa Marie Presley, Priscilla and Elvis' daughter, who released her first two albums in 2003 and 2005. The Jersey Shore rocker eventually became friends with both Pricilla and Lisa Marie.

One night, over dinner around 2012, Eddie pitched Priscilla an idea: “Agent Elvis.”

“I brought her this germ, this idea that it would follow a ‘Gump’-like timeline where anything that happened in history Elvis was somehow involved in behind the scenes. But I pitched it as ‘as if directed by Quentin Tarantino,’ " Eddie said. "It’s like bloody, violent, sex, drugs, really speaking of the times.”

Priscilla was in and, according to Eddie, she thinks Elvis would have approved.

“She’s an actor. She was in the ‘Naked Gun’ movies — she appreciates humor,” Eddie said of Priscilla. “And she said that Elvis would have liked this. The movies he liked were like ‘Monty Python,’ Mel Brooks — he was a big fan of those comedies. So I think some older Elvis fans might be like, ‘Oh, Elvis would not have cursed like that,’ but I think Priscilla was very brave to let the writers have leeway.”

‘I wanted to be Elvis Presley’

Eddie, born in Virginia and now a resident of Nashville, has been a consistent force in blue-collar rock since his 1986 self-titled debut LP. He found a new level of exposure in the 21st century when Kid Rock covered three of his songs: “Lowlife” on 2007’s “Rock n Roll Jesus,” “Happy New Year” on 2012’s “Rebel Soul” and “Forty” on 2022’s “Bad Reputation”

Eddie will be back in New Jersey this summer to play the Barefoot Country Music Festival, running June 15 to 18 on the Wildwood beach.

Eddie covered Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” on his 2001 live album “Guy Walks Into a Bar” — and played it with Bruce Springsteen at a 1994 Sayreville gig.

“I wanted to be Elvis Presley when I was a kid, that was my goal,” Eddie said. “And then I wanted to be the next Bruce Springsteen. And when things started working for me was when I stopped trying to be other people and I just started writing what felt good to me, I wasn’t chasing hits anymore.

"In my songwriting and recording career, the most success I had was when I wasn’t trying to be something other than what I was in my bedroom writing songs.”

Watch: "Agent Elvis" premieres Friday, March 17, on Netflix; netflix.com/agentelvis.