KGET-TV entertainment personality and lifelong animation fan Rick Bentley steps into the animated world of Oinkersfield in new episode premiering Friday, May 22

LOS ANGELES, CA — Award-winning entertainment reporter and broadcaster Rick Bentley is heading to Oinkersfield.

Wonkybot Entertainment has announced that Bentley will guest star in the hit serialized animated comedy The Swines as Sheriff Rick Boarley, the dry-witted local lawman tasked with helping investigate the disappearance of Billie Swinefill in the series’ upcoming episode premiering Friday, May 22 on YouTube.

Raised in Tennessee and known nationally for decades of entertainment coverage, Bentley currently serves as an entertainment reporter for KGET-TV, where he hosts the daily lifestyle and entertainment series Rick’s Reviews: Check Your Schedule. He also hosts a radio program and has become widely recognized for his long-running celebrity interviews, film reviews, and coverage of the entertainment industry through his “Rick’s Reviews” column and broadcasts.

But beyond journalism, Bentley has long maintained a passion for animation and voice performance. He’s the voice of the Kitchen Magician on Disney’s Firebuds and previously appeared as an alien character on Babylon 5. He has also collaborated with Wonkybot creator Stewart St John on several past animated projects, including voice work for films St John directed for The Weinstein Company and the original Wonkybot podcast series Superhero Confidential.

In The Swines, Bentley voices Sheriff Rick Boarley — a seasoned Southern sheriff with a deadpan sense of humor who has known the Swinefill family for years, particularly family patriarch Jack Swinefill. When Billie mysteriously disappears after an incident involving a disastrous casino trip to the Nibo Sequa Casino, Sheriff Boarley arrives alongside his new deputy, Deputy Johnson, to help search for the missing hog while navigating the escalating chaos consuming Hog Heaven Ranch.

“Rick has one of those voices and personalities that instantly feels authentic,” said St John. “He brings warmth, humor, and this lived-in Southern quality to Sheriff Boarley that made the character come alive immediately. We’ve known each other for many years, going all the way back to my early internet storytelling days, so having him step into The Swines felt strangely full circle.”

That history dates back to the groundbreaking interactive web series The Spot, which St John wrote and produced in the early 2000’s. Bentley was among the first entertainment reporters to cover the innovative online series and later even appeared within its blurred-reality storytelling world as a reporter interviewing the fictional “Spotmates” who lived in the show’s Santa Monica beach house. Bentley also covered The Spot Wireless, an early mobile-phone soap opera spinoff created by St John and Wonkybot co-founder Todd Fisher, considered one of the first daily serialized dramas created specifically for mobile devices.

For Bentley, joining The Swines was both nostalgic and creatively exciting.

“As someone who has loved animation my entire life, getting to step into the world of The Swines has been an absolute honor and so much fun,” Bentley said. “What Stewart and Wonkybot are building independently is incredibly exciting because that’s where many of the freshest and boldest ideas are happening right now. I’m grateful to be a part of this leading-edge animated series.”

Created by Stewart St John and produced by Wonkybot Entertainment, The Swines is a serialized adult animated comedy set in the chaotic pig-populated town of Oinkersfield. The series blends absurd humor, family drama, satire, and serialized storytelling, following the increasingly dysfunctional Swinefill family as old rivalries, secrets, and schemes threaten to tear Hog Heaven Ranch apart.

New episodes of The Swines premiere on Fridays on YouTube.

About Wonkybot

Wonkybot is an independent animation and storytelling studio founded by Stewart St John alongside partners Todd Fisher and Michael Plahuta. The company develops creator-owned intellectual property across animation, audio, publishing, and digital platforms, with projects including the award-winning Tara Tremendous franchise, the newly launched The Swines universe, and the family-focused Wonkybot Kids division.