Ohhh here he comes he’s an Anteater!

JOHN OATES:That’s funny that you should say that, because I thought of that.

That was the first thing I thought of.

THE MASKED SINGER

Anteater on ‘The Masked Singer’.Michael Becker / FOX

And I’m like, oh, God, all right, sure.

So why’d you ultimately agree to do the show?

For a number of reasons.

THE MASKED SINGER

John Oates.Douglas Mason/Getty Images

It happened to fall into a really good slot where I wasn’t touring in August at that time.

I’ve got a lot of good things that are happening and I want to do that.

So it was kind of a motivation to say, hey, you know what?

I’m going to sing.

No one’s going to know who I am, and we’ll see what happens.

We’ll see what they think.

And I was really flattered when they started comparing me to some really great vocalists.

So that was flattering and fun.

Oh, you know what, I never say never to anything.

Douglas Mason/Getty Images

You’ve done so much in your career Live Aid!

but would you sayMasked Singerwas the hardest thing or weirdest thing you’ve ever done?

It was hard, I have to say.

What people don’t realize is that I couldn’t see out of the costume.

Then I’d turn to the right and take five steps to the right.

Then I’d take five steps to the left, but I was doing that while I was singing.

So try doing that sometime.

So I think I deserve a badge just for that alone.

What can you tell me about that and why that cause was important to you?

I do a lot of philanthropic work.

And it’s just a super simple song.

It comes straight from my computer, right to your ears.

So I’d never done that before.

So it’s different that way.

All the proceeds of the downloads will go to Teen Cancer America, which is great.

What surprised you the most about being onThe Masked Singer?

It was pretty intense.

So it was really weird going from the Newport Folk Festival toThe Masked Singer.

I actually got unmasked on that.

I believe that one was the one where I got unmasked.