'Raising Hope': Katy Perry, prison guard!

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Published on March 7, 2012 07:00AM EST

Yep, that mustachioed prison guard on last night’s new episode of Fox’s underrated comedy Raising Hope — pictured in full glory here — was indeed princess of pop Katy Perry. And the horrifying character has a name: Rikki. Yikes!

The news about Perry’s guest-casting on the show has been out for a while — and there was even a photo that the singer sent out on Twitter at the time — but it was still rather startling to see an ugly prison guard pop up on the show and vaguely resemble the most prolific pop star out there right now. And maybe even more shocking that Perry would subject herself to such a horrible wig and the addition of lots and lots of nasty hair on her lip. “I hope I don’t get type-cast,” Perry said when she put the photo out there originally. Neither do we, honestly! The truth is, though: Perry was good in the role.

First, you have to giver her props for going ugly (undercover master of all things ugly, Tyra Banks, would be so proud). And it should be said: Perry did a rather smashing job bringing Rikki to life, so much so that it was easy to forget who was playing the role. Which is, in acting terms: success! And, very smartly, she didn’t really sing — other than a silly campfire song with costar Shannon Woodward. No, her pulling out her pop guns would have only confused the issue of her acting. At the time of Perry’s casting, series creator Greg Garcia said, “She came in and did a terrific job. And now people are telling me that Katy is also a singer.” The sentiment is exactly spot-on. Kudos to Katy!

The role is just the latest move in Katy Perry’s plan to infiltrate all other forms of entertainment outside of music: Last year, she did voice work in the Smurfs movie and she appeared on SNL in December not as the musical guest — but as the host.

For those of you out there who saw Katy on last night’s Raising Hope, what’d you think? Did you think she was convincing as mustachioed prison guard Rikki? Sound off in the comments!

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