CBS's "How I Met Your Mother" has gained much of its attention for scene-stealing Neil Patrick Harris, banishing thoughts of his sincere childhood role on "Doogie Howser, M.D." On "How I Met Your Mother" he plays womanizing, catchphrase-spouting Barney, inspired by Harris' role as a party animal version of himself in the stoner comedy "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle."
"I'm having a ball," Harris said at a CBS party last month. "I just walk in, make some funnies and walk out, no pressure."
Harris, who's a magician in his spare time, compared acting to performing a magic trick.
"You want an audience to watch you perform, and you don't want to bring too much baggage to it," he said. "Speaking as someone who at 15, 16 and 17 acquired a lot of baggage for television, it's nice to sort of change the game a little bit and try a different avenue."
That change began when he spent two days working on "Harold and Kumar."
"It seemed like this little lark, and if anything, I was nervous it would look bad, and it turned out really well," Harris said. "You have no idea how many people come up to me. I was eating at a restaurant and some little skater kids, like 11 or 12 years old, were quoting lines from 'Harold and Kumar,' racy, blue lines. And I'm like, 'Dude, you're, like, 12, what are you even watching this movie for?' "
Harris isn't the only one playing a character that might feel familiar to some viewers. Alyson Hannigan's Lily is generally sweet-tempered, but occasionally reveals a saucy side that brings to mind her "American Pie" character ("This one time, at band camp ...").
And Jason Segel, perhaps best known as the nice freak on "Freaks and Geeks," is playing a less freaky nice guy in "Mother." So far, ratings are much better than on his previous series.
"I'm always worried it might not be around because I guess that's been my experience. I still have a little bit of fear the other shoe will drop," Segel said between takes on the show's bathroom set in December.
"I remember 'Freaks and Geeks' started with this beautiful craft services table [where actors and crew can get free food on set] and then slowly as the episodes went by, there was less and less there until by the final episode it was just a box of Corn Pops and some Half and Half. I think that it's not that feeling here."
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A long way from "Doogie Howser, M.D.," Neil Patrick Harris is having fun on "How I Met Your Mother."
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First Published: February 6, 2006, 5:00 a.m.
