Entertainment

Watch Flea's ... Disney Show Debut

by Anneliese Cooper

Fresh off their Superbowl halftime show alongside Bruno Mars, Red Hot Chili Peppers are ready to head back to the studio for their eleventh album — but first, the group's bassist is stepping into the recording booth for a different reason: The ever-shirtless Flea will voice a character on a Disney Juniors show, "Sheriff Callie's Wild West" — which currently stars former pop princess Mandy Moore in the title role. Slated to appear in Friday's episode, "The Pie Thief," the rocker will portray the Milk Bandit, a black-masked cat who rolls into the town of Nice and Friendly Corners with wrongdoing on his mind. (But, y'know, G-Rated wrongdoing — I'd wager, stealing milk.)

Of course, this isn't the first time Flea has branched out into the wider world of entertainment — he's had a number of acting roles, including (my personal favorite) as one of the Nihilists in The Big Lebowski . But it still feels a little absurd to picture the blue buzz-cut sporting bassist standing in a recording booth and delivering lines like "I'll be outta your way, soon as I find me some milk!" with squeaky gusto. At least when he voiced Donnie on The Wild Thornberrys, his excitable proto-gibberish seemed somehow like the most rock 'n' roll voiceover job around; I wouldn't be surprised if he recorded those lines sans shirt.

Still, maybe Flea's onto something. A gig's a gig after all, and especially for a bassist who's almost exclusively a back-up singer, it might be nice to get his voice front and center. In fact, I'm convinced: Can someone scare up a role for Mark Hoppus on The Fairly Oddparents?

Meanwhile, Disney exclusively premiered a clip of the show to Rolling Stone. Check out Flea's Milk Bandit below: