ABC/Craig Sjodin(LOS ANGELES) — Neil Patrick Harris had some big shoes to fill as host of the 87th Oscars following Ellen Degeneres.
The reception of Harris was split, some liking what the How I Met Your Mother star had to bring to the table — magic, dancing, sarcastic jokes — while others were not so welcoming.
Harris, 41, told the Huffington Post in a recent interview that he doesn’t think he’ll come back and host again.
“I don’t know that my family nor my soul could take it,” he said. “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.”
Harris admitted that he didn’t follow the online responses to his hosting duties last month “obsessively,” but that “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.”
He added, “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.”
Harris said he thought those in attendance were “enjoying themselves more as the show went on,” which is a surprise and testimate to his unique brand of comedy.
“I was told that as the room fills, with you know it’s four-fifths of the room didn’t win, and you get further into the award giving they get less enthusiastic and less excited. And I felt while we were doing it that people were enjoying themselves more and more, so for that I’m happy,” he added.
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