Neil Patrick Harris makes it look easy: Our exclusive interview

AE: So just to be one hundred percent clear, with that “normal” comment, you weren’t referring to drag queens or folks into leather or effeminate people. That had nothing to do with what you’re talking about.
NPH: I was talking about how I feel like I represent within the community, so it wasn’t a comment towards anyone else in the community, but that’s sort of how I see myself within the big picture of the community. Does that make sense?

AE: It does.
NPH: I’m not at all looking at anyone over my glasses – there’s no disapproval in what I’m saying there. That’s just what I feel like, that’s how I feel I suppose I represent if I am being. I suppose by Out making that the headline quote on the cover, it makes it seem as if I was grandstanding and unfortunately that was just a sentence within the context of a larger conversation.

AE: Lightening things up a bit, you came in at number five on our 2nd annual Hot 100 list and I’m curious if you have used your new-found sexiness cred to get a raise from CBS or are you telling David that you won’t take out the trash because you are just too damn sexy now?
NPH: [Laughing] David will have none of it. I keep trying for the sexy equal pay hike equation and for some reason CBS isn’t returning my phone call.

AE: Speaking of sexy, would Neil Patrick Harris ever do a nude scene?
NPH: I’ve done a nude scene. I did a nude scene on stage, of all things.

Harris (left) in The Paris Letter

AE: Was that in Cabaret?
NPH: No, that was a play by Robbie Baitz that I did with Josh Radnor called The Paris Letter, a Robbie Baitz three-act opus. And we were both full frontal and I had to make out with him. That was a very odd experience. Kind of freeing because you’re so worried about what people will think of your wang, and then once you’re out there doing the scene, it’s far less about your wang and certainly more about the character and the scene, so that was kind of freeing. Yeah, I’d do a nude scene if it was required. I wouldn’t ask someone if I could do this scene nude, but if it was really important to the scene, I’d go for it.

Harris in How I Met Your Mother

AE: At the CBS party, during the Television Critics Association Summer Tour last July, I watched as you stood in a circle of reporters for what seemed like an hour answering question after question and you did that with effortless ease and good humor, really working with the journalists. Not every celebrity is so helpful and I’m curious, is that as easy as you make it look or is that hard on you?
NPH: It becomes increasingly much easier the more you do it and the more you make mistakes while you do it. I was asked a question in a similar situation about … the question posed to me was, “Why do you think a gem of a show like How I Met Your Mother needs stunt casting in order to succeed?” And my answer caused a hailstorm of controversy and it made it seem like I was going out of my way to be critical of individuals and I –

Harris with Britney Spears on How I Met Your Mother

AE: [Laughing] I think I heard something about that, actually.
NPH: Yeah, and I was really answering her question as posed, so you get more political with answering those things. But those things are nice. The TCAs are nice because they want a witty quip and they’re sort of, they’ll come to you if they have something to ask you. So I was flattered that there was so much interest in How I Met Your Mother at that time. But that’s fun. It’s always nice to see the faces of the people who are writing about your show.

AE: One of the questions you were asked was about that “certain” celebrity on your show and you were so funny because you turned and looked at the journalist and said, “Oh, there’s a question that I haven’t been asked before!” It had that nice touch of sarcasm, but then you jumped back and very nicely answered the question.
NPH: Yes, there are certain conversations that continue to crop up.

AE: I don’t know if you have been asked this or if I just haven’t seen it, but earlier this year I went to a screening of Harold and Kumar: Escape From Guantanamo Bay with Dan Savage –
NPH: I love Dan Savage!