NPH On Hosting The Oscars Again

"I don’t know that my family nor my soul could take it. It’s a beast. It was fun to check off the list, but for the amount of time spent and the understandable opinionated response, I don’t know that it's a delightful balance to do every year or even again. I didn’t keep up with it obsessively, but it was interesting to see just what people thought landed and didn’t. It’s so difficult for one who’s simply watching the show to realize just how much time and concession and compromise and explanation has gone into almost every single thing. Every joke. Wording of joke. Placement of joke. Canceling of joke. Embellishment for just one line. And I'm not saying that to defend everything I said as if it was the absolute best choice, but it’s also an award show, and you’re powering through 14 acts filled with 20 plus awards. So my job was to try and keep things as light and specific to this year’s set of films as possible. And if people are critical of that, it’s a big giant platform, so I would assume that they would be." - Neil Patrick Harris, speaking yesterday to the Huffington Post.

Donny Osmond Slams NPH: "No Class"

Osmond's Wikipedia page notes that he performed in a loincloth for over 2000 performances of Joseph And The Technicolor Dreamcoat. But that was classy! 

RELATED: In 2008 Osmond wrote about same-sex marriage in a now-deleted response (check the URL) to a fan on his personal website. An excerpt:

"There are many gay individuals that are members of our church. I know many of them. In fact, some of my best friends are gay. You ask how I react regarding their marriages. Well, I do support our Church leaders who say that we can accept those with gay tendencies in our church as long as they do not act upon their temptations. Everyone has tenancies to succumb to temptation, but we all have the same standard given to us by our Father in Heaven. Whether we may be tempted to be immoral with members of our own sex or of the opposite sex, we are expected to live chaste lives. This is very well explained not only in the Book of Mormon, but in the Bible as well."

Osmond also included this quote from a Mormon document:

We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets. We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.

NPH: There Was No Sock In My Tighties

"I'm glad that it's done and I'm sorry that I read Twitter."

Open Thread: 2015 Academy Awards

Weigh in with your predictions, reactions, and snark.

Architectural Digest Profiles Harlem Home Of Neil Patrick Harris & David Burtka

Via the Huffington Post:

Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka are giving Architectural Digest readers some major real estate envy, showing off their five-story Manhattan townhouse in the magazine's March issue. The couple, who tied the knot in Italy last September, told the magazine that they began searching for a New York abode once Harris' stint on "How I Met Your Mother" began to wrap in 2013. Although they'd been living in Los Angeles for nearly a decade by that point, Harris and Burtka always intended to head east with twins Gideon Scott and Harper Grace, and eventually settled on the townhouse, which is located on Fifth Avenue in New York's Harlem neighborhood.

See the article here.

Porno Pete Vs Dan Savage & God

(Tipped by JMG reader Irish Atheist)

NPH On His Gone Girl Sex Scenes

Clip recap: "Gone Girl isn't the first time that Neil's had to act in the buff, but this time he didn't have to do 'the helicopter' to get ready."

Neil Patrick Harris To Host The Oscars

Neil Patrick Harris has been tapped to host next year's Academy Awards.

Harris, 41, best known as Barney Stinson on the long-running CBS series, has also hosted TV's Emmy Awards. He has won three Emmys for hosting theater's Tony Awards. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences is eager to draw a greater number of younger viewers to the TV broadcast of the 87th Oscars. The ceremony will be shown live to more than 200 countries from Los Angeles on Feb. 22 on the ABC television network, owned by Walt Disney Co. Talk show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres emceed the ceremony this year, and drew the highest Oscars telecast audience in 14 years with 43.7 million tuning in. DeGeneres was also successful drawing a strong rating among the 18-49 demographic coveted most by advertisers.

Harris won a Tony Award this year for his lead performance in Hedwig & The Angry Inch.

NPH On His Italian Wedding

Via the Wrap:

Harris said they chose the destination because it was the first trip the couple took together. It was just one of many connections to firsts for the couple, that has been together for more than a decade. Their song is Kelly Clarkson's “A Moment Like This,” because they obsessed over the first season of “American Idol” together. “A friend of a friend knew a dude who had a castle,” Harris said, explaining how they wound up with their unique wedding venue. Elton John sang a couple of songs and introduced the couple for their first dance, which was of course to Clarkson's first hit single. His favorite captured moment came at a moment that he didn't expect to come off quite so perfectly. He had attempted to time off the launching of fireworks to the crescendo of “A Moment Like This,” but had no faith that the small town Italian “local fireworks “dude” could pull it off.

Neil Patrick Harris Marries In Italy

NPH Has A New Book

From the Amazon description of Neil Patrick Harris' new book:

Sick of deeply personal accounts written in the first person? Seeking an exciting, interactive read that puts the “u” back in “aUtobiography”? Then look no further than Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography! In this revolutionary, Joycean experiment in light celebrity narrative, actor/personality/carbon-based-life-form Neil Patrick Harris lets you, the reader, live his life. You will be born to New Mexico. You will get your big break at an acting camp. You will get into a bizarre confrontation outside a nightclub with actor Scott Caan. Even better, at each critical juncture of your life you will choose how to proceed. You will decide whether to try out for Doogie Howser, M.D. You will decide whether to spend years struggling with your sexuality. You will decide what kind of caviar you want to eat on board Elton John’s yacht. Choose correctly and you’ll find fame, fortune, and true love. Choose incorrectly and you’ll find misery, heartbreak, and a hideous death by piranhas. All this, plus magic tricks, cocktail recipes, embarrassing pictures from your time as a child actor, and even a closing song. Yes, if you buy one book this year, congratulations on being above the American average, and make that book Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography!

NPH For Heineken Light

NPH As Hedwig At The 2014 Tony Awards

Via Mediaite:

Neil Patrick Harris effectively stole the 2014 Tony Awards with his performance of “Sugar Daddy” from Hedwig and the Angry Inch. During the song, Harris ventured into the audience at Radio City Music Hall where he proceeded to take off Samuel L. Jackson’s glasses and lick them before grinding on the laps of Sting and Kevin Bacon. Harris capped thing off the show-stopping number by leaning off the front of the stage and planting a passionate kiss on his husband, David Burtka, who was seated in the first row.

NPH Wins 2014 Tony For Hedwig

Click here for the full 2014 list of winners.

Hedwig Cast Album: July 1st

Via Broadway World:

Atlantic Records will release the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the most nominated musical revival of the season, featuring Tony Award nominees Neil Patrick Harris and Lena Hall. The album is produced by HEDWIG composer Stephen Trask, Tony Award nominated sound designer and platinum-selling record producer Tim O'Heir, and the production's music director Justin Craig. The album is executive produced by Elie Landau and David Binder. On July 1, the album will be available digitally everywhere and available on-site at the Belasco Theatre. Other retail outlets will begin selling the physical album Tuesday, July 15.

(Tipped by JMG reader James)

NPH: I Turned Down The Letterman Slot

Via Mediaite:

It turns out there was some credence to those Neil Patrick Harris Late Show rumors. During an appearance on Howard Stern’s show Wednesday, Harris confirmed that CBS did try to woo him to replace David Letterman, as well as possibly Craig Ferguson, but the actor turned them down. Harris said that CBS President Les Moonves and entertainment head Nina Tassler called him in to talk about the possibility of him taking Letterman’s job. They even served him some sushi to help seal the deal. This was before Letterman announced he was retiring, so presumably the meeting came before CBS offered the gig to Stephen Colbert.

NPH: Naked For Rolling Stone

From the story teaser:

Neil Patrick Harris is wearing nothing but a bowtie and a discretely placed top hat on the cover of the next issue of Rolling Stone, which hits newsstands Friday. The biggest openly gay male star in Hollywood history is starring as the titular transsexual German glam rocker in Broadway's Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a role for which he lost enough weight to give him an eight-pack and a few light-headed afternoons. "He's so skinny, and I think that really gives him power," his fiancé David Burtka tells Rolling Stone. "His body is crazy right now."

2014 Tony Nominations Announced, Neil Patrick Harris Gets Hedwig Nod

Hedwig & The Angry Inch scored eight Tony nominations this morning, including a best actor in a musical revival nod for Neil Patrick Harris. Leading the tally is A Gentleman's Guide To Love & Murder, which landed ten nominations including best musical. Gay playwrights Harvey Fierstein and Terrence McNally both picked up best play nominations for Casa Valentina and Mothers & Sons, respectively.  See the full list here and give us your thoughts.

AP Interviews NPH About Hedwig

Behind The Scenes At Hedwig With NPH

(Via Towleroad)