|
Live on the TV Stage with Tony Awards Host Neil Patrick Harris
by Troy Rogers
 With
the 63rd Annual Tony Awards airing on CBS on June
7 from 8-11pm, the one true thing that you have
to admire about this year's Tony host, Neil Patrick
Harris, is that the former child actor worked
incredibly hard to not be pigeonholed by his popular
late '80s character, Doogie Howser M.D.. After
stepping away from the small-screen at the end
of Doogie Howser, Harris took to the theater stage
for a role in the Tony Award winning musical Rent
in an effort to diversify his talents to earn
critical praise as a credible stage actor. Since
then, Neil Patrick Harris has never looked back
to the past for success ... that is, unless he's
poking fun of his former TV doctor persona in
various TV appearances and movie cameos.
After shaking the Doogie stereotype, Harris landed a role in the hit sci-fi Starship Troopers before going back to the stage for roles as The Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald in the Tony Award-winning production of "Assassins," plus acclaimed performances in the Broadway productions of "Cabaret" and "Proof" to name only a few of Harris's impressive Broadway credits. Also making a name for himself in the film world with hilarious appearances in both Harold & Kumar movies, Neil Patrick Harris currently stars as Barney Stinson in the CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother and has come to peace with the fact that Doogie Howser is part of who he is but not the definitive element in his Emmy nominated career.
With the 63rd Annual Tony Awards about to take to the CBS network stage on Sunday, June 7, we put on our stage shoes to join a conference call with first time Tony Awards host, Neil Patrick Harris, to find out the differences between acting on stage and preparing to host before a live audience, how he feels about live television, what former Tony hosts inspired him the most, and what it's like to have former Price Is Right host, Bob Barker, as a TV dad.
THE DEADBOLT: What are the similarities or differences in preparing to take the stage as an actor and preparing to take to stage as a host?
 NEIL
PATRICK HARRIS: Well, far less memorization
as the host. You sort of are preparing for to
create a vibe and then everything is scripted
on the teleprompter. So, with the host, you’re
dealing with a time issue all of the time. If
speeches run long because they’re awesome, then
they won’t cut them off. But then that cuts
out 45 seconds from the next bit, so you’re
constantly seeing, ‘Well, should we lose this?
Should we expand it? Will Ferrell ran out into
the audience and hugged somebody. Should we
reference that in the next bit?’ So you’re kind
of constantly writing, trying to be spontaneous.
That being said, you’re a personality and not
at all an actor as the host. I think getting
up on stage as an actor is far more pure.
THE DEADBOLT: How does this gig compare to the feeling of taking to the stage for the first time?
HARRIS: I feel like I have much more perspective and I’m a bit more jaded this go-round. And the first time I went up on stage, that was just sheer terror, because you gain a sense of security as you accomplish these things in chapters past. So the first time you’re up, not only are you concerned about practical elements like remembering your blocking and remembering your dialogue, but you’re battling your own insecurities as to whether you’re good or they’re going to like you. But with the hosting thing, this is probably my seventh or eighth, ninth hosting thing I‘ve done and a lot of them have been in the last year and a half, so I feel confident that I can represent well. For me it’s all about coming with unique and clever material that’s not going to make me seem like host #75.
THE DEADBOLT: Are there any intimidating elements to doing three hours of live television?
HARRIS: No, none at all. See, I think that’s what’s fun. That’s the job, you know? That’s where you’re the ringmaster, because if anything starts to get boring, you have to have a sense that might be happening and pick things up again. So you’re constantly trying to gauge how things are going and you’re dealing with an awards show that is going to give a handful of awards to people that no one has heard of and you’re going to do "in memoriam" for a bunch of people that have passed away. So there’s going to be some understandable lulls, but hopefully we can keep things at a tight enough clip that you’ll want to watch through all of them.
THE DEADBOLT: Do you have a favorite past host that inspired you?
 HARRIS:
I’ve been watching a lot of Hugh Jackman stuff
because he has this great charisma when he’s
up there. He makes you not really care what
he’s talking about. You just kind of want to
watch him do stuff and that’s the perfect role
for a host to have. So if I can steal 10% of
his magnetic magnetism, I would feel a success.
THE DEADBOLT: Every time I look at you now I always think of Bob Barker as your dad.
HARRIS: [laughs] I think Bob Barker is my dad. Everyone laughs at me when I say that, but if you watch that episode carefully, Bob Barker could be Barney’s dad. And he’s unemployed at the moment, so I think he could use the work.
|
