Happy Sad Confused - Neil Patrick Harris

Episode Date: November 3, 2014

Neil Patrick Harris is a jack of all trades. He joins Josh to talk about the story behind his book Choose Your Own Autobiography, how hosting the Oscars is on his bucket list, the bevy of TV movies that he has done, the many hats he has worn as a performer that includes being the president of The Magic Castle, and his role in Gone Girl (there are spoilers). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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See Golden Nuggett Casino.com for details. Please play responsibly. Hey guys, Cards Against Humanity is sponsoring both this episode and the entire Wolf Pop launch. They're so cool, they asked us to not even read an ad. Enjoy the show. Here we go, guys. A new era has begun over at Happy, Sad, Confused. Welcome to my podcast.

For those of you familiar with the show, welcome back. For new listeners, welcome to the first. fold. This is exciting. So whether you know it or not, the show's the same, but I'm very excited to announce that as of this week's episode, I am now a part of a really cool network of shows. I am such a fan of what the guys over at Earwolf do. Of course, Scott Ockerman and the gang over there have made some amazing shows like Comedy Bang Bang and how did this get made. So imagine my surprise when the great Mr. Paul Shear, previous guest of Happy Say Confused, hit me up a while back asking for my little show to potentially join his new network of shows

over on Wolf Pop. So that's what you're listening to right now. Happy Say I Confused is basically now part of the Wolf Pop network. And what is Wolf Pop? Well, all you need to know is go over to www.wopop.com. Check out an amazing roster. I'm really excited to be a part of this amazing gang, some really talented people talking about movies and TV in a humorous way, in a smart way, in a serious way. There's a lot of cool stuff over there. So go check it out, a whole batch of new shows alongside Happy Second Feud. So my thanks to the whole Wolf Pop team for bringing me in, and of course, to Paul,

in particular, for being a fan of the show and welcoming me aboard. I'm getting, I'm getting the clement. No. As for the show itself, nothing's changed. to your guys still top-notch guests weekend and week out and that brings me to this week's guest who uh is very much in the news uh this is really cool uh i got a chance to sit down for a long while with neil patrick harris uh what can you say about neal that you don't already know nothing we know everything about him that being said um he is of course well a he's going to be hosting

the oscars next year which is awesome this guy was like born for this job um but he's also like killing it right now. He's in Gone Girl on the screen right now, in theaters right now. I should mention, we talk about Gone Girl towards the end of the conversation. And if you haven't seen it, be wary, because there are some spoilers. That doesn't come until very late in the conversation, though. So when you hear Gone Girl, hear Ben Affleck penis, that's your cue to tune out. Other things to mention, this was a conversation recorded literally days before the announcement that Neil was hosting the Oscars. And it's kind of interesting, actually, because when you hear it, We talked for a while about his past hosting stuff, and in particular about his interest in hosting the Oscars.

At that time, he clearly, as you'll hear in the conversation, had not been offered the gig. So it's not dated at all, actually. If anything, I think it's more illuminating than ever to hear his thoughts on the hurdles you need to pass to host the Oscars well. So I'm kind of actually stoked that that part of the conversation is in there. I should mention Neil was in town and in my office to talk about his new autobiography, which is on the shelves right now, choose your own autobiography, which is a nice play on those great choose your own adventure books, which I grew up with. Neil Patrick Harris is a great storyteller, a smart guy, funny guy, a jack-of-all-trades, he can do it all. He can act. He can be a talk show host. He's a magician. He can sing. He can dance. And he can be a good. great guest on a podcast like happy say I confused so without any further ado again welcome to the new and improved happy say I confused keep on coming back each and every week some amazing guests coming up

I'll just mention it because I know who's coming up uh Mr. John Stewart yeah he's going to be on the show pretty soon Lisa Cudrow yeah that's happening Hugh Jackman that's happening uh if you can tell I'm psyched it's because I am the show's going great some great guests coming up. As I always, hit me up on Twitter, Joshua Horowitz, and let me know what you think, who you want to hear. And without any further ado, let's get right to it. Here's a little chat with Neil Patrick Harris. I'm trying to publish a tweet of myself grabbing my testicles. Yeah, no, take your time. And it's just keeps saying publishing tweets. And then I don't know if it's gotten gone. It's

happens. is that the 6 or the 6 plus where did you go I got the 6 plus I wasn't the big one Is it working out for you because I'm a little wary I'm scared I like it It's um It requires a bit more dexterity Right well you have that thanks to your

Now like I used to be able with the other phone to just thumb it Right But now you kind of have to like guitar fret string And you can still do it in one hand though that's a skill Because I've heard it's a two hander And I've gotten good at moving the pinky down as like You got your tweet off Oh, I did?

Okay, good. I got your thing, too. Cancel. Nice. You want to shove off? Shall we just do this thing? Dude, yes. And yes again.

Yes, a thousand times. I don't even know if we're going to talk about. I don't know. There's a hatful of things. There will be tears, probably mine, maybe yours. Who knows? Like an erection? Yeah, hopefully.

Everybody that's been on the podcast has been erect at least for half the time. The publicist liked it. Yeah, she. He likes any boner jokes. Who does it? Is that from Inception? I didn't steal it from the set. They sent me a dozen of those, and that's like, everybody steals one.

So I think that's my last one. So it's all mine. No. No. I need it. It might go, though, for the next 30, 40 minutes of this long as we talk. I can spin some shit. There is a lot to talk about, Neil, because...

Tell me the parameters with which I can speak. Do you like curse words? Do you like curse words? Fucking everything. Really? Yeah. We're not even going to bleep it. That's how adult we are here.

Okay. You ready for that? That's a yes. That's a stomach response. All right. I very much enjoyed the book, by the way. Thank you. Choose your own autobiography.

Is the book as a fan of those books growing up Cave of Time, number one, remember that one? Who killed Marlothrombie? Oh, my, that's, like, you're energizing brain activity that has not been called upon for a while. Those are my favorites. I like the ones where it was like a murder mystery as opposed to you're in some crazy galaxy fighting space aliens. But you can't be too discerning

in the context of Chujoan Adventures. No, no, no, no, no. Do they still make them? I believe they do. They've changed, it used to be a husband and wife team that wrote them and started the company and I think they've switched over now. Maybe they're just producers.

And there's other people that write them. I think, I was a little bit worried quite candidly that when we came up with the idea that the actual choose on adventure group would say no you can't do that that's all kind of legal that's ours at what point did you go to them

was the book already done or were you like just in the no it was when I had met with our book company and went over to them and asked that was my I pitched my idea and they liked it in theory and then I said but before we go any further we need to make sure that that could actually happen because I don't want to get

get a boner about something and then not be able to follow through. Right. You did, I mean, you could have justifiably gone to Drew Barrymore route and done like an autobiography. I feel like at like 18 or something. I've been asked to write over a couple years, but I just never really knew what to write about. It's kind of my downfall creatively at the moment because I'm 41, but I don't feel like I've lived enough of a life to be the guy that's, telling people lessons that I've learned. Do you know what I mean?

I don't know. It doesn't have to be that, though. You've certainly clearly, as evidenced by the book, you've gone through, you've had the iterations, the different lives. Well, this is why the Choose Your Own Adventure Structure I thought was so fun because I'm not the guy that can write a screenplay and then have overall themes of like I really have a bigger, larger story

that's eating the way that I want to tell. And same with the book. I had a wonderful childhood with great parents in New Mexico, which was kind of cool and unique. I guess, but not really worth long-form writing. Right. And I've been on lots of interesting professional adventures, but none that were, you know, worth a tell-all or scandalous or something crazy

that happened. So then this came on and I thought, oh, this is cool. I can actually talk about stuff. Right. Poignant stuff, like losing my virginity or shagging or having babies or. things that actually happen in my life, but couch them in a way that if you don't like that story and that's not what you're into reading,

you can go to right to the next. Learn a magic trick. Or if you are tired of baby talk, you can learn a recipe of Bolognay's science or something. It's perfect for a short term. And I like secret pages and everything. I just thought it was a good, it's a book that's reflective of me in a nice ways

because I think I'm in a weirdly awesome position to straddle different demographics. at the moment, because teenagers, you know, kids have watched the Smurfs and watch it a lot. Teenagers have watched the Harold and Kumar when there's high and adults have grown up on Doogie, and then the 20-somethings, you know, are Barney Stinson fans. So through all of that, I want to make sure that everyone, A, buys the book and B, get something out of it. Where did the Hedwig fans fit into that?

Ew. Those people. Actually, the Hedwig chapter was kind of an addendum chapter. I was going to say, how did you get that in there? It was very quick. We almost ended the run. We almost had to stop the presses because it seemed like it needed to be talked about, especially since that that was a great chapter that actually had a nice conclusion to it,

which was the Tonys and winning a Tony and doing that. So it seemed weird to not include it. And that's kind of where we ended it. Just past year 40 with my wiener tucked between my legs, winning a Tony Award. What's next? I feel like the light is changing in the stream. Do you sense that too? having a stroke?

You might be just having a stroke. Do you taste metal? I can't move my right size. Is that a bad sign? I'm not a doctor. You're drooling. I thought that that was affection. No, I'm just a big fan of the book.

Can I tend to drool when I get excited? Oh, you have a great collaborator on this too, David. David Javerbaum. Right? David Javerbalm is so funny. And I first met him as he was pitching ideas for musical opening numbers for the Tony Awards. And he had done Crybaby the Musical. with Adam Schlesinger, his cohort in musical crime.

And so we sat and met and he had some weird ideas. Those are the best comedic minds. You have to rein them in like half a step. Agreed, but when you're sitting at a Tony opening number lunch, you're having to really think as a producer, right, and think as your demographic being wide and thinking you want to do something mainstream, respectful, because it's an award show

and that honors the Broadway season and so his pitches were so daily show. They were very dark and as acerbic he wanted to do one called I'm doing it drunk which was the title I'm doing it drunk was like the conceit being

I've done these shows enough that I don't even need to be sober I'm singing I'm doing it drunk so that the whole song was drunk I said yeah but DJ that's like that's might have offend people. That's a weird way to start to show. Also a challenging move to drink, I mean, to sing rather in a drunk voice. It's a slur, baby, as a comedy bit. But then you're starting the show, letting everyone know that you're so quote unquote good at this that you can do it drunk, which might be conceded. That's how my mind has to think. So then his next pitch was, what about one called, it's not just for gays anymore? Where the whole conceit is that since you're you, you're encouraging the breeders to come to the theaters. And I thought, well, that's funny, but there's no way that the people from the Tony committee, the theater wing, the theater league would never allow that.

But it was kind of a fun idea. It kind of stuck with me. And so sure enough, it was the same year as Book of Mormon, which was very blue and had lots of naughtiness to it and was probably going to sweep. And so they were allowing a darker sense of humor. And that ended up happening. And DG was hilarious. And I think won an Emmy for it. And then he became my co-writer on this, because he can take my really average stories with, like, bullet point, plot points about things we did in Costa Rica.

We went whitewater rafting. We drank, you know, alcoholic beverage. David nearly broke his neck. And then DJ could turn it into some hilarious anecdotal story. You mentioned, like, the awards show thing. I mean, has this covered, like, the way you watch awards show? Shows now, considering your tenure at, you know, Tony's, Emmys, et cetera. Do you watch when Hugh gets his turn back at that, et cetera?

Totally. With a, well, not critical eye, like a, like a judgy guy. Like, I would never do it that way. From my living room. No, but I marvel at how difficult that skill set is, because you have to be juggling so many plates at the same time. you have all these bits that you've just come up with with a team of writers you've plugged them into different spots you have a big opening number you hope that people kind of don't show up to win awards because it gives you more time to finagle because when someone because oftentimes people don't read their telepromptered bit as the intro they go on and do their own little joke and when that happens four times you're suddenly six minutes over and that's a lot for an award show so then you're like how you're having to cut bits and figure out I won't do that intro I'll just come right out.

You're basically a rooting for Maggie Smith to win every award, because she's never there. Where is Maggie? Yeah, you're happy when, who is an amazing actress that won for Nurse Jackie. Oh, what even, not any Falco? No, the, the younger nurse. She won for supporting actress in the show, and she just came out and said, and blanked.

Oh, of course, yes. And then she just, she literally walked off. That was amazing. Amazing in every way, especially for us producers who were backstays. He's like, we gain two minutes. That's a win in every scenario. Best speech or non-speech. Merit Weaver.

Merit Weaver. How do you forget that name? That was awesome. So, yes, I watch it and sympathize, but it's also fun to see other people's takes on stuff. Yeah. I thought Seth Myers did a great job on the Emmys this last year. Yeah. He's got the class level.

He's got the jokes. It's nice to see an opening number that doesn't have to be a big song and dance thing. Right. Because that often crashes in burn. so it's nice to see him come out and do strong comedy that was poignant and not too mean it was just right in the pocket and I think that turned into a really good Emmy's.

Well, you have to point into your skill set that's obviously not Seth. Seth is what he is. But there could be innate comedy in that. Seth Myers doing a big opening number where there's showgirls everywhere. There's something kind of funny in that too. Do you ever think about, because I'm sure,

I know you're probably asked all the time, okay, what about, do you want to do the Oscars one day, etc.? life as like kind of a thing that you can do too much of, or is it something that will always be like, oh, look, if every couple of years I do a Tony's or Emmys or Oscars or Globes, that's a great kind of side gig. Do you know what I mean? I know exactly what you mean, and it's a tricky thing to answer because if you talk too

much about your desire to host award shows, it sounds like you're pitching yourself for the job. But if you poo it and say you're not interested in it, it sounds like you're being disrespectful for the jobs. And it's a weird job that you don't audition for or pitch yourself for a team of producers or a group of academy people

decide who they want and then they go to them. And it's a very quiet, hush, hush, phone call and you get it one day or you find out months later that someone else said yes to the job. It kind of is what it is. You don't get like an Oscar thing, like, hey, what are you doing next March 2nd or something?

Just in case, okay. Not at all. I haven't. I can't speak to what other people have done. But, I mean, the Oscars is the one that I haven't done. So in one way, I think it would be bucket listy, fun to be able to accomplish it. And yet, it is such a massive machine with billions of eyes and dollars behind it that you find yourself, at least having observed people who produced it, Adam Shankman produced it for a couple of years. So I got to observe and kind of be a part of it.

But for one of those, I opened the show when Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin hosted. And then you know how many massive big-time Hollywood producers are involved and they need it to be respectful. And so they won't want their clients or me who are A-list actors to be saying things that might get them in hot water. So it all kind of distills down into something that's much more vanilla than you would want it to be. I'm not saying that the Oscars are vanilla, but it's just... It's a more dangerous room. More dangerous.

It's not notorious for a sense of humor about his films. And publicists are stressed, and everyone's in these tight, tight gowns because that's a big deal, and so they can't breathe. And it's very strange. So to do it would be amazing, but it's a really hard thing, I think, to win over.

I think really, like, only Billy Crystal has had a lock on being classy and yet, that relaxed at the same time. And it feels like more than any other one, it feels like everyone is just geared to the next day just shitting on the host no matter what. Even in the times where I've actually liked it,

like, I was one of those few that, like, Letterman was funny. I liked a lot of the stuff he did. But like the folk war now is, he's the worst host ever. It's crazy. It's hard, but it's innate. I do it when I'm not having to be there.

I invite friends over and we make chili concaeo and we sit there and have our little things that we've filled out and five dollars plopped on the coffee table and we say really that's what they came up with or really she didn't think to learn her lines or that's what she's wearing i mean that's kind of why you watch those shows it's not because you've seen all the movies and you're cheering for your best friends it's because you want to see like what randomness happens right was was your first experience bringing it back to the events of both your life and the book yeah you were you were

nominated for clara's heart way back one was for a golden globe what do you remember of that Ceremony, besides losing to the jerkface that is Martin Lando. I was so, and I'm still very starstruck. I'm not good with knowing at what point you, as someone who is an actor, has the carte blanche right to walk up to someone else who's an actor who you may not have ever met and just start shooting the shit with them. And I've been working for a long time in a lot of different mediums, but I just still feel weird. We were just, I'm looking back at Shea, my publicist, who's a good friend, and he's in this room. We were just at the Gone Girl premiere event at it opened the New York Film Festival, and we're in the green room. And there are certain people from Gone Girl that I never acted with that I never really interacted with at all.

I'm in the movie. I mean, the same movie as them, and I'm still like, I don't know, I'm going to talk. I'm going to say. What am I going to say to him? And She said, don't go talk to them because you can, are allowed to go talk to them. So I get a badge that says, I was in Gone Girl. I was your co-star and gong girl, even though we didn't share a scene. That's just not my, I'm not good at that kind of party small talk.

I just get, I'm uncomfortable around it. So I'm not good at going up to someone and, hey, how are you? What's going on? What are you working on? Yeah, me? How's the family? It's with his hands that are very uncomfortable right now. Like guns, like I'm the gunslinger move.

Hey, what's up? That might be part of your problem. And here's another weird problem. Sometimes I see people at events and I'm, and I think, oh, they're, they, they look like a nice person, and then hours go by before I realized that I've worked with them. Right. Because I've had lots of weird little chapters that kind of squish together as I do other interesting chapters than that one little chapter.

So I saw Bo Bridges at a boxing event in Vegas, and it was for Showtime, and Bo was in a thing, and we're eating dinner with friends and in walks, Bo Bridges and his wife, and we see each other from across the room, and I think, look at that, Bo Bridges. He's a great actor. Good guy. I bet he's a good guy. and we give each other kind of the nod He sits down and we keep eating

Not until dessert Did I realize that I directed Bow Bridges In an episode of the Goodwin Games Which was Carter Bay's Craig Thomas production Where I sat for three days In a director's chair Next to the man Sharing stories about children and family

And parenthood and life And so I think Oh that's even another reason To not go up to people and say hello because I'll say Are you married? And they're like, yes, we went to Hawaii together five years ago, dumbass.

Did you cut the chapter where you did the hard drugs that are eliminated portions of your brain? I don't know what it is. I don't know what that is. You've grabbed a lot in there, to be fair. I think my mind treats a lot of these in a protection kind of way, being weirdly serious for a second.

I don't end up getting, I intentionally don't get too close to the people that I'm working with in a job because I know that we're only really together for the job, and that as soon as the job ends and dissolves, then most of the friendships don't dissolve because you don't like each other anymore, but because you're going to do other jobs

and you're meeting other people and your time is spent there. So because I had quote-unquote friendships when I was younger that just kind of dissolved, I think maybe protection-wise, I'm less inclined to have lasting depth to my conversations and stuff with people, which sounds really shallow. but um so so yeah that sounds like it would naturally be informed by early early experiences to do you what do you what do you mean do you remember that was that kind of a flip side to the fun of those early gigs where it was like a rude awakening it must be a rude awakening

for a kid too but also still just trying to like be liked by everybody where it's like wait where do you go i didn't have i've heard a lot of like quote unquote child actors talk about feeling like being on set was their real family that their actual family was not so successful. And so when they'd come to set and were welcomed and got whatever they wanted, that felt like their actual family. So when the show ended, they felt lost. Thankfully, that didn't happen. My family's amazing. Ron and Sheila, my parents still married. My brother, Brian, everyone's super cool. And being on set of a Stephen Botchko show, very much felt like work. So he was very clear that I'm a kid in an adult environment and had to work hard.

so I if anything just had to keep sort of stepping up to an adult plate but yeah those initial things are probably seared into my memory more as new things come along so when you started Dougiehaus or was it what you were like what 15, 16 something like that? I filmed the pilot

when I was just about to turn 16 so 15 and then into 16 yeah so if I met you like at whatever the height was at 16 17 18 yeah how were you a dick how big what I found you to be like How Justin Bieberish were you at the time?

You're hot. I'd like to think that I wasn't a dick. My voice was like really high, like when I see myself. And I think maybe to protect myself even more so that my S's didn't sound syllabant because I was worried that if I talk like this, it would be just not very a little too, I don't know, something. So my S's became S-Hs. So I would show all my, you know, like if you see like old footage of me on Johnny Carson or something, I'm reading all my ashes are S-A-Hs and I'm sure to talk like this. It's like Sean Connery on helium. That's exactly what I sounded like.

But no, I think it was a weird time back then. If you were on TV show, it was very different for being in the movies. And the young Hollywood, you know, that was very River Phoenix time. Like I was, I had a fake ID and was going. going to those clubs when River passed away, when the Viper Room was like a big giant deal. I didn't travel in those circles because I was a little bit younger, but that was that time. So it was Shannon Doherty at Roxbury, where like the bartender was Madonna's Hispanic fiancé for a time. And so that was all just very weird.

it was very clicky and you had to have you had to know the bouncer personally and there was a massive cluster fuck of 75 people trying to get the bouncer's attention but if you thought you were someone you could like go to the side and try and catch someone's eye and if they if they pointed at you you got in for free but if for whatever reason they were assholes and didn't want to let you in then you just got ignored so every night you'd have that horrible like am i going to be welcomed or shunned and so you'd kind of sneak your way up and hope that they liked you it's so reassuring in some way that like even at every level it's like no matter where you you're at there are three levels above you well that's L.A that's to me what L.A. is I've as in all my years that's what I've learned is that no matter where you are there's always another back room you can't get into that's exactly right that's exactly right you can finally get in you cue up and you hope you can get into the fancy trendy bar and then once you get in you there's no tables it's two crowded and those are reserved tables and if you finally get a reserve table you see like this yeah there's like a rope in the back with another guy and you're like well what's in that room and then you finally get in that room that's like the VIP room right but then you can go to the manager's office if you're like no the owner of the place so there's all these levels that you can't really achieve plus it's definitely loud in LA at all those bars which makes me sound like an old curmudgeon man but I wonder why people go out the same I found myself around the same 75 people

as the night before and we'll be at the next place the next night screaming at them the most inane conversation you could imagine one of the things I loved what up

love discovering was that one of your compatriots back and then was Stephen Dorff Stephen Dorff was he epitomized the young Hollywood vibe he was glamorous

he had a convertible he had gel in his hair. I was infatuated with little Steven Dorf. He was like my best friend for a long time and he knew everyone and he was really good. He would talk about himself in the third person. Oh, that's so good.

I was very effective in some ways and he, so he would, I'd be sort of in the wake of Steven Dorf as he would go through the crowd because he was always able to get the table or the girl or the... Are you still in touch? Because I feel like he still has that air about him

even the recent years I've talked to him. no matter what star rising or falling where every, what strategy he's in today, I feel like there's still the air of the Dorf about him. That would be a good cologne that he should mark it. The air of the Dorff. I haven't seen him in a while. He's kind of got a Mickey Rourke thing around him, you know? He's kind of got the broody.

I think my favorite picture in the book is of you two with the Dick Tracy T-shirts, which I totally remember. Do you even remember what you were wearing? We were at Century City Mall and we were in line queued up to see the 1201, Dick Tracy. And I remember that. That was the admission.

That was the ticket, was the T-shirt. Was the T-shirt? So good. Crazy. Big ears. It was all right. But yeah,

without Steven Dorff, I wouldn't have gotten to experience a lot of, quote-unquote, you know, L.A. nightlife. That's a good guy to have way back when. Yeah, it was good times. All right,

guys, time for a quick break from the podcast, just to mention that you should really head over to wolfpop.com to check out all the amazing. shows being offered there right now, including Matt Gourley's new show, I was there, too. You know Matt, of course, from shows like Super Ego and Drunk History and James Bonding. Well, this is a great idea for a great new show. If you're like Matt, then you know all the classic movie and television scenes so well. It's as if you were probably in the room when they happened, right?

Well, you weren't, sadly. And neither was he, sadly. But the good news, folks, is Matt interviews the people that were there. So on this show, you're going to listen as they tell the fly. on the wall perspective you've never heard from the inside stories about how movies and television history was made straight from the folks that were there don't miss i was there too with matt goarly brand new episode right now available to download today over at wolfpop dot com um the the period i love how you like address also kind of like in the book the um

like the bevy of TV movies that you did because frankly it sounds like some of them to go back to the memory thing like barely even register at this point just because of how many you did or I did a bunch it was I was it was a fortuitous time if anything I think the made for TV movie it goes in cycles and now that there's way more channels and a lot more content I think they've just the idea of them has been folded into good television shows right but back then, you know, ripped from the headline stories turned into TV movies and when you do a TV movie and it gets a lot of high ratings for whatever reason, then you're on the short list to do more of those. And so once a year I would get paid heartily to go to Vancouver for three and a half weeks and meet the guy that I'm playing who murdered his parents and then go like film set scenes. And so in a weird way, it was nice.

It was, I didn't have to jump onto another TV show. I could do my research. You know, and there were various types of them. There were the slashery, which of the nice, god-fearing sons actually hacked up their parents. Or it was a Hallmark Hall of Fame kind of Christmas movie where you were the sweet, complicated attorney that comes back to the small town where he grew up to realize that he needs to reevaluate. his life ideas. Called that the Doc Hollywood. The Doc Hollywood version.

See, they do it in the movies. They do it in the movies. So I loved that I was able to do them, and it certainly paid for me to exist without needing to go get a job at a coffee shop. But yeah, a fun thing to write in the book, and DJ came up with that conceit. Why don't we do a list of your TV movies

and we'll include some that didn't really happen, and the reader can try and figure out with it. Pretty plausible, so most of them. At the same time, sounds like it was like a good, you know, financially and good to keep you busy without being too busy. Was that, like, if there is a fallow period, a period where you're frustrated for whatever reason, is that the time? Because it feels like, again, to go back to like these iterations, like you've kind of consistently remade yourself or been remade, thanks to happenstance,

is that the period that if I had to pinpoint the dark time? Probably. I found that I think my own desire to rid myself of previous roles ate away at me more than other than people actually cared, right? So I think that I carried it around as baggage. Therefore, when I would audition for things and I was looking at this casting director thinking as I'm auditioning, they're not going to hire me because they just think that I'm this actor for this TV show.

And so therefore I probably didn't give the greatest audition, which then becomes a vicious circle because I don't get the job, and then it validates that that's what happened. And so during that chunk of time when I was auditioning and not getting gigs and every year or twice a year getting some great random phone call,

hey, you want to go to Toronto and have sex with Anne Archer? Okay. then I was a little bit frustrated that waiting for the next chapter to pass and Stephen Botchko I mentioned this and I've mentioned it before but Mr. Bochko when I first started Doogie sat me with my parents down at a restaurant on Pico Boulevard

and he said he gave this metaphor about surfing and that you're going to take this wave and it's going to be great and it'll be super fun and you'll have to be adventurous and it'll inevitably crash onto the sand and you will have to decide whether you want to get back on the board and paddle back out. And in doing so, know that you're going to get hit by waves as you paddle back out, and it'll be a hard time. And then by the time you get out to catch a wave, you're going to have to sit on your board with no waves coming for a while. But the way the business works and the way

life works is that there will always be more waves to catch. And sometimes you'll get nailed by them, but sometimes you'll catch new waves. And that really stuck with me. I liked the idea of longevity. And I liked his perspective that this is going to be fun, but it will end. And that was nice to hear at the beginning of that chapter. So I knew that time needed to pass, and I looked at people like Sally Field and Billy Crystal, Ron Howard, people that were able to reinvent themselves. But it takes time. You know, if you're known as the Flying Nun, it takes time to become Gidget, and then it takes

a lot longer time to then become something else. So it was around the TV movie time that I thought, why don't I just move? back to New Mexico because I'm kind of just in a groundhog day of self-imposed depression mixed with, you know, lots of pot and then just hanging out with my friends and going out at night and waking up late and eating lunch somewhere interesting and then watching TV and then going out late again. And it just seemed like it was fine for now, but what's this actually lead to? Accomplishing very little.

I wasn't a heavy drug user, so it wasn't leading towards, you know, an addiction where needed to go to rehab or something like that, thankfully. So I moved back to New Mexico and stayed there with friends, which was nice, cleared the head in lots of different ways. I was able to spend my days on dirt roads, like hiking to mountains and, you know, rock climbing and belaying my friends is, you know what I mean, like living a life that I'm choosing as opposed to living this weirdly self-imposed prison life where I'm just mad that I'm not somebody else, which L.A. can sort of

turn you into that sometimes it sounds like in reading and just looking at whatever the narrative of your life that also the theater work and the exciting roles that you started to get there really that's like that's a whole new just it was a on the roles you get to explore and it was exactly during that time when that happened that I got a call from beau shoot who was then my agent and became my manager saying that what I ever want to do Shakespeare and I had just done rent, where I was Mark in the second national tour of rent, which is super fun and edgy, and I loved the show, and I

knew it really well. But I thought I'd get to do rent, and from rent would come movie offers. And I'd be reinvented. And, you know, life doesn't really work like that. So I was back in New Mexico, and then I got this call, what I

wanted to do Shakespeare. I'd never been to college. I'd never studied Shakespeare. I'd seen Shakespeare. But Dan Sullen, One of the preeminent directors in New York to this day was doing Romeo and Julia at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego and wanted me to be Romeo. And that was a massive change for me because I realized that I had to put my money where my mouth was, kind of, that I couldn't bitch about wanting to be taken seriously as an actor with quotes around it if I can't act. So I said yes, nervously, and got to work with a guy named Dacon. Matthews who was an amazing Shakespearean actor he works all the time and he came over as a dramaturg

dramaturg and he we went through the whole text and he taught me everything about the role in the show and why Shakespeare did what he did and it was incredible what Shakespeare accomplishes in a line and what actors can spend the time that actors can spend learning just how to read a line Not even in a right way, but just in an interesting way, was very informative. So I got to do that and be terrified and do Romeo in Romeo and Juliet in an outdoor, you know, amphitheater kind of vibe to good response. It was a really good production. So that made me feel like I could actually act and sort of fueled me to want to do more of it. And as you say, so much of it is in your head, too, when you're in that audition room.

It's the worst. It's the worst on the other end, too. I'm, you know, I direct things now. and so as well. So I'm able to sit in a casting room. And all you want are for people to come in with casual confidence and have a take. But if they don't get it, they're not going to slip their wrists over it. And you meet in turn so many people who come in.

You just feel the tension. Tension, bug-eyed, sweat, clammy, self-deprecating, like, hyperventilating. And you're just like, I just calm it down. It's okay. I just want you to be okay. And that was me for a little while. Some of the theatrical experiences you detail in the book are wonderfully entertaining. You do kind of name names in a way.

For instance, the Anne H. H, like the letter H. Is it? I don't know. H. Okay, that's good to know for the future. Thank you. Where was Anne in her, was this post Celestia post her kind of?

It was. Yeah, it was. She had gone through some personal stuff. She'd come out with her. own book and she had been gotten married and had a kid to a lovely guy named Coley and was in like a great phase of reinvention and wanted to um i just heard that they were casting for proof and i had seen proof and when i had seen that show i thought that's a role that i could do well which was how because i'm i'm fast with the smart speak sometimes and so i

thought I could wrap my brain around it. And so when they were recasting it, I wanted to audition badly. And then I heard that they were going to go to H for it, which I thought, oh, that's interesting based on her life recently. Sure. But I think she's a bit older than I am. So that probably won't work out. And it turns out we have the same agent, had the same agent at the time, a guy named

Steve Doughtonville, who was amazing. And he said, I think I can make it work. And he sent Dan Sullivan, who was directing that as well. small world, a video of Anne auditioning for a movie very recently where she made herself look younger and they thought, okay, well, then that could work. So we got hired and it was very interesting. It was very interesting to watch and take ownership of a role on Broadway where there's a lot of repetition having been not really trained in the idea of repetition, what she's good at and amazing at as an actor is being so kinetic in every take. Yeah, and knowing that

every, in every take, she's going to do something different so that the editor has all these different choices, which is great. On stage, it was more complicated because it was always different. It was hard to find a sense of what was really happening. So I talk a little bit about that in the book. So did you talk to her like in the production, like in between performances being like, what you're doing is really interesting, but it's making my life hell. I mean, what's the etiquette in a theatrical production when your co-star is kind of fucking with your own performance in a way? Theater, thankfully, doesn't work that way.

It is a, you know, it's alchemy. And so she was the lead in the show, and so you had to deal with what she brought to the table. And in point of fact, she got great reviews when people went and saw her and loved her performance because you kind of didn't know what you were going to get. The only drawback was that when you were acting and having to fall in love with her on a nightly basis, sometimes it was very easy and sometimes it was much more complicated and more difficult. And so what, you know, you can't, what am I supposed to say to her? Like, please do it the same way every show.

That's kind of robotic and prickish in my own right. So I would vent about it to friends, but otherwise I just tried. And it just got frustrating to me as her suit her. as a professional suitor to fall in love with her when sometimes she wouldn't intentionally make choices to shake herself up and in doing so

made very little sense to someone who was trying to be amorous and so when they extended and kept going for I think another six weeks or something I just opted out because I was it was spinning me for a bit of a curve I mean talking to you now like obviously the guy sitting here today like what I get a sense of is that like you're very comfortable like where you're at in your own skin and and sort of able to kind of make the choices you are and look back with humor about sort of when you were maybe tighter and bottled up and had more self doubt. I mean how much for instance like obviously when you made the decision to come out which wasn't totally your own position at the time. I mean does that inform sort of where you're at today? Would you be able to have done headwig with the confidence for instance that you just had on Broadway if you were still not public about your sexuality. Do you see any connection between that decision and the ease at which you can tackle all these things today? Sure. There's definitely a connection. I don't think it's as clean as like

one, you know, one from one to the other. But I think as one gets older, all of their little life experiences, whether they're net positives or end up being emotionally detrimental, redefine how you look at things and how you evaluate your current decisions. So bigger moves like coming out publicly or moving away from the city to make a big move, like I think big boy moves, always sort of re-inform who you are. And I've been insistent in my life about having some transparency and taking ownership of how I process information. I like to read reviews and I like to read what people are saying on Twitter and what is happening in the world

so that I can be aware of how the pendulum is shifting whether Kanye West is favorable or we want so much. Yeah, exactly. Not like I'm a lemming and I'm just going to do what everyone says. saying, but I'm aware of that as an actor and as a person I just want to, I would rather have the information and

take it upon myself to process information as opposed to be insecure that I'm going to read something that's going to upset me and therefore don't read it and read things. I don't know. People don't read reviews. And I totally understand why you wouldn't want to read a review

because if you read something that is insulting and specific, you're going to obsess on it. dwell on it and then but the other side of the coin is if someone says

something glowing and says that you're the second coming of theater you're going to think that's true maybe and then

that'll affect your performance too so I want to not do either of those but I want to be aware of kind of what's being said

and then figure out how to how to process it so that was a weird tangential thing to say about your question that's okay

it was a tangential conversation but what was your question because I guess was coming out effective to the career?

Yeah, and in terms of kind of being transparent and being open and being comfortable and you probably were comfortable with yourself, you know, even not coming out publicly, but like is there a connection where, again, the guy I see today is so kind of like you know who you are, you know like

your skills. Does that kind of inform I don't know, like where you sit today in terms of like being open to trying shit out, but that might have been I guess. Sure. I have two ways to answer that. I went to, I've been through a fair amount of sort of therapy, whether it be with like a therapist one-on-one in L.A. or when I was younger, I did the Tony Robbins thing and I did the thing called the forum, which is like larger group therapy where you go to a place and are sort of immersed in trying to figure your shit out. and through that I've grown I think and learned to not be mired by things that have happened in my past

and have them affect how I'm processing and I think allowed me to be a little bit more open and stand tall and proud and certainly the coming out thing which could have been detrimental wasn't and I think was weirdly helpful in some ways but more so I pride myself on having a career where I get to reinvent and rechallenge myself and thankfully audiences are kind of buying it like they'll play along and I you know it forces you to come up with a new skill set because TV's super

different from theaters super different from movies super different from hosting from writing from directing they're all different skills and so that's fun as someone who likes to work just to challenge myself with trying something different but I love that I'm in a weird position akin to the Chujoen Adventure book that I'm

doing where you can sort of go along the ride with me and maybe be a bit of a taste maker and you can trust that like if I'm a part of that that therefore it might have some merit and try and execute things well. So that's been unique to me. That's what my, uh, that people have, have been an enthusiastic about is it my agents who would normally say, you should probably not do this gig if you want to do movies. Right. Now they say to me, go do that gig and then go do a movie. It seems like that doesn't seem to face you, which I love.

And part of the coolness is also obviously just happenstance of the times we live in where, like, you can host a show, you can be what president of the magic castle, you can Within one year I was the president of the magic castle, I hosted the Emmys, I was Barney Stinson, I was Foy in Million Ways to Die in the West, I was Desi and Gong Girl and Hedwig in a 12-month period, which was a lot of different hats. And I loved it. Like who else went out? It's been a fantastic wave to ride. Do you feel jealous that I feel like Affleck got more attention for the penis exposure than you could have gone, girl? Here's the thing about the penis.

And I feel complicit in this because I asked Ben about it and it got a lot of attention. It's been talked to you. Oh, don't. Listen, he was in a warm, steamy shower. He was. Standing upright. Right. Gravity was his friend, and as was the humidity.

I'm just saying it makes a difference. I was actively, it was post-orgasm. I was actively losing blood flow through another. By the way, spoiler alert. Might be too. I'm not going to real deal too much. I was actively losing blood flow from a different organ. And so I think the results are.

honest and candid and speak for themselves. Fair enough. You feel better? I'm just, because I read all the information, I'm just still wary of when I Google my name and see like a horrible screenshot of my weiner. Well, it's probably also, I always love the thing, the auto additional name.

Like, if you put a Neil Patrick Harris, like what the next word is that comes up? And what is it now? I don't know. We should check it out. I don't think I have internet here, but I bet penis is up there. I hope it's cock and not penis.

Do you know what I mean? Just generally speaking. Why is that? What's the connotation of cock versus penis? Penis sounds so clinical. Clinical? Okay. Cock sounds very impressive.

Yeah. You said it, not me. We're ending on a classy note. Before we go, though, you alluded in the beginning. I do have that weird Indiana Jones Fedora. It's filled with a few random questions. Don't get too excited. Why?

I love games. Yeah, we haven't been proselytized the magic. I mean, you're like the chief, like, I don't even know what the term you. I do magic wherever. You want to see a trick? Here, look. Okay, see this deck of cards? Here, pick one.

Okay. Okay, don't let me see it. Okay. Okay, just think about the card in your mind. Got it. I'm going to take the deck. I'm going to now cut it into two different decks. This is going to take about 15 minutes, guys, just so you know.

And then, okay, so that's done. Now I'm going to cut this deck into four different decks. I want you to place your card on any one of those four decks. Got it. Okay, now I'm going to put the other decks together. and now I'm going to shuffle the deck I won't even shuffle it I won't even shuffle I won't even shuffle I'll just put it back in my pocket I want you to think was your card

the seven of hearts what the thank you thank you very much I do magic sometimes I'm a jish I'm magish as a verb wait did you skip the ma what do you say magish oh majish I just want to get the par one's stout it's an action it's an action verb um pretty cool right yeah I'm

you know me I'll do this uh that David black Lane levitation. Ready? Okay, hold on. Watch, watch my feet. Oh. Here's the curious thing. Oh, I'm floating.

Can you see? Yeah, sure. Okay, Neil. Here I'm coming back down. Neil! Oh. Okay, I'm back. He actually did move back as if he was going to do the trick.

I don't understand. What do you mean? I did the trick. No, no, let's see the question. Question time. Some of them are barely folded and some of them are really folded. Does that mean they've been answered before? Some of them have been answered before.

Some of them are pretty shitty. I need to really go through that. I'm going to go through this one first. Karaoke? Question mark. You seem like a karaoke man. I hate karaoke. Seriously?

Yeah. Loat it. Why? Because you're a professional. That's why. Weirdly, I sing sometimes for a living. I don't like karaoke the same way. I don't like cabaret shows.

Okay. I don't like having to sing out of the context of some kind of story. Okay. I'm just not good at it. And I love people. that don't give a shit, and they sing karaoke, and if they're bad, that's awesome. But when I go up, I want to sing well,

and I feel like that comes across. And then it's like a performance instead of just a guy singing a song, and it makes me very uncomfortable. And when people are bad at karaoke, it's awful. And then what do you do? Applaud them? Slow clap?

Do you do a slow clap? But even if they're delusional, then they think, I killed it. Yeah. Even though they killed it. I'm with you, man. I've never karaoke done. I don't think I will.

It scares me. Next question is, favorite cartoon character. Interesting. Provocative. It is a very provocative question. Of all the things to stump you today, this is the one. Yeah, but there's so many different genres.

Well, it's good. I feel like, yeah, you can go like current, like, or childhood. I mean, you know, do you go old school? Who is the guy that goes, exit? Stage left. The hand of our barric cartoon, uh, snagelpus. I was going to say, that's not McGill Gorilla. No.

I also like the Wonder Twins. Oh, those are good. They were rad. And they could create anything. Yeah, Super Friends were cool. A bucket of water and an eagle. It was always something that had to hold the... An ice of something.

They were actually developing that as a movie years ago. Can you imagine how shitty a Wonder Twins movie would actually be? Who would be in it? I say... What are you got? Ashton Coucher and Kim Kardashian. Who's going to play you, by the way, in the adaptation of the book? Oh, that's a really great question.

probably Antonio Sabato Jr. I don't want to say it for fear of being mean. When was the last time I cried? Oh, nice. Besides this interview. Well, last night I saw the curious incident of the dog in the land.

The night time. It's a long title. Which I want to do. because the show is fucking unbelievable and I cried in that but you know when I cry most often on airplanes

there's something about the pressure is it the pressure or the gin I don't know what it is but I will be watching like the Virgin America commercial before the movie starts and I'm like oh the girls saying goodbye to her mom

oh my god I don't know I made the mistake of watching I was like oh terms of interment I haven't watched that in a while and that combined with I mean I was that's what you choose

That was a mess. That's a lot. Finish strong. I don't want that one. You can choose your end. Close how you wish. Okay. Oh.

The best sitcom of all time is... Can't choose your own. For sure. I like that you choose your own back into the interview, by the way. Well played. Do you want laugh-tracking sitcom, or do you want, like, just like funny TV show or both let's do both i would say uh family ties

solid choice solid and i would also say strangers with candy nice nice because that is hilarious gone too soon um it's been a pleasure to catch up with you we covered a lot congratulations on so many things thank you the tony um uh congratulations on headwig which i i hope that you're still like basking in that moment. What happened the day after you finished a run like that? I got to sleep a lot.

Yeah, I got a couple days of total sleep and then we were quickly in wedding mode because we went straight from there. We had blocked out a couple weeks, three weeks, to do the wedding and the honeymoon. And it was all very secretive so I couldn't let anyone know.

But I said we were going to taking a much needed trip to Europe. But those were the, you know, we had lots of clues and puzzles and things within the wedding for the guests. And so we had to write clues and letters and figure out all kinds of random minutia. So that was

spent doing that. And obviously congrats on Gone Girl, which is amazing. I mean that Fincher can do no wrong. It's like a Hitchcock movie. I never thought I'd ever get to be in a Hitchcock movie directed by David Fincher of all people. And to get to do a couple pivotal things that are very technical that

was right up my alley. So I love doing it so much. So, yes, I'm glad you saw it. Good stuff. And, of course, the book, which I can't highly recommend enough. It's super fun, interesting, and just a good time. And, you know, without being too gimmicky, it's like you could think for a second, like, so you want to straddle that line, right, of having it be a fun reinvention of the form, but also.

Well, also, I think I have interesting things to say. Like, I am a grown man, and I think there are, there's worth in hearing my story, whether it be coming out or whether it be having kids in that process because I think a lot of people have questions about those are personal things right so I'm only able to really answer them in a sentence or two on a talk show but to be able to go into more depth in the book is great and then if you you know get bored by that and you want to hear about naughty Barney Stinson you can so yes it'll make you it'll make you a little wistful yeah um maybe a little a little giggly but mostly horny. And I mean, name a book. Great expectations? Lena Dunham's.

Not going to get that there. You're going to hit all three? I don't know. Me too at three. Without endorsement, Neil, thanks for stopping by. Cheers. Pop. Pop? Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. You want to tell him? Or you want me to tell him?

No, no, no. I got this. People out there. People. Lean in. Get close, get close. Listen, here's the deal. We have big news. We got monumental news. We got snack-tacular news. Yeah, after a brief hiatus, my good friend, Michael Ian Black, and I are coming back. My good friend, Tom Kavanaugh, and I are coming back to do what we do best.

What we were put on this earth to do. To pick a snack. To eat a snack. And to rate a snack. Nemptively. Emotionally? Spiritually. Mates is back.

Mike and Tom eat snacks. Is back. A podcast for. For anyone with a mouth. With a mouth. Available wherever you get your podcasts.