Neil Patrick Harris Declined Late Night Show
Mike Pont / Getty Images Entertainment / Getty Images
Actor Neil Patrick Harris declined an offer from America’s CBS network to take over the host role from David Letterman in The Late Show.
The actor revealed he was a frontrunner for the show after David retires in 2015.
During an interview with Howard Stern, Neil said he met with CBS chairman and CEO Les Moonves to discuss his possible role as the host of the show, but eventually he declined because of the nature of the show.
Harris said he would probably “get bored” of the format, adding, “I don’t have any interest in doing ‘monologue, commercial, sketch, guest, guest musical act, goodnight.”
He also said that Moonves tried to get him to take over from Scottish comedian Craig Ferguson, who is also leaving his position on The Late Show, but Neil declined that one too.
He said, “It’s still nightly. You’re still coming up with the same content and now you’re just getting bitter that no one’s watching it.”
He considered to host a weekly variety show for the network, however.
He added, “I think if it’s weekly and people really want to see it – and you trust that there’s a lot of really great s**t on there – then you’re going to get the guests to want to come on your thing.”
“A weekly thing, you’d have more time to prep for stuff. You could do pre-taped stuff that would be really exciting, you could flesh it out a little bit more and have more acts.”
Harris is currently taking a break from television to star on Broadway’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch, for which he was nominated for his first Tony Award.
