Neil Patrick Harris hosting a variety show: A perfect match?
NBC has reportedly ordered 10 episodes of a variety show that will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris and based on the British TV series 'Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.'
Neil Patrick Harris meets the media after he was honored as Hasty Pudding Theatricals' Man of the Year during a roast at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Dominick Reuter/Reuters
Actor Neil Patrick Harris will reportedly host a variety show for NBC.
According to Reuters, the network has ordered 10 episodes of the show. It has not yet been announced when the show will debut.
The show will be based on the British TV show “Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway,” according to Reuters. “Ant” airs on ITV and stars Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.
According to Time, Harris’s show will include music, game show competitions, comedy bits, and sections involving hidden cameras. The program will be recorded in front of a live audience.
“As I watched the show, I couldn’t stop smiling,” Harris said about “Ant” in a statement, according to Time. “Now that I’ve seen many seasons, my face hurts. It’s a game changer. Nothing like this has been done before, and I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and have some fun!”
He told Rolling Stone this past May that he wanted to do a weekly variety show and that “I'm very keen on it being an Ed Sullivan kind of show. Something that would be more events-driven, with a lot more acts, a totally different structure.”
Harris recently announced that he is hosting the 2015 Oscars ceremony. He has previously hosted the Emmy and Tony Awards and won a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical this year for his role in the Broadway musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”
The actor starred on the CBS comedy “How I Met Your Mother,” which aired its series finale earlier this year.
In addition, Harris stars in the critically acclaimed movie “Gone Girl,” which is based on the bestselling novel by Gillian Flynn and was released earlier this month. He released a memoir, titled “Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography,” this month as well. The book is currently ranked at number 9 on the hardcover nonfiction Indiebound bestseller list for the week of Oct. 30.