Prince is to star in an episode of Zooey Deschanel sitcom New Girl, after he courted the producers for a guest spot – thus revealing the androgynous funk master to be as susceptible to E4 binges as the rest of us.

"He contacted us last season because he's a huge fan," executive producer Brett Baer told E! News. "He knows everything about the show. He contacted Zooey [Deschanel] and Hannah [Simone] directly and asked to do the show."

Co-producer David Finkel added: "He said, 'I want to be involved in the show in a real way and I want to help Nick and Jess with their relationship,'" referring to the burgeoning romance between the characters played by Deschanel and Jake Johnson. "His thing was all about getting to Jess and trying to bring out this inner part of her that hadn't been brought to the forefront." The episode will air in the US in a prestigious slot following the Superbowl.

Johnson elaborated (in the workaday prose of his character): "Prince came on and he's really nice and he told us he was a fan of the show. And his whole group, like he travels with the whole band, they all watch the show. It was really neat because we're all such big fans of him." He promised that the episode would be "really fun".

"He's genuinely funny," Finkel added. "He's got a very quiet, wry sense of humour but he kills. There's a moment in the episode where he's sitting in between Zooey and Jake on a bench. And it's a silent beef and he's just looking between them trying to figure them out. And it's hilarious. He has crazy comic instincts." It's not yet clear whether Prince will be playing himself or not.

As well as being slightly too familiar with frothy sitcoms, Prince is rumoured to be one of the headliners at Glastonbury this year. An unnamed 'insider' told Gigwise today that he will be headlining above Outkast, and that Metallica will also play the festival.

He's also been working with Rita Ora, and last year announced an album with his new all-female band 3rdEyeGirl called Plectrum Electrum, which is yet to get a release date – though he posted a new track, Da Bourgeoisie, in November. His representatives seemed to confirm a 2014 UK tour to the Mirror recently, when they answered their enquiries with "EVERYTHING U THINK IS TRUE".