Update!

Neil Patrick Harris: Emmy's Foppish, Gangsta, Robot Host With the Most

Fresh from the Tonys, the How I Met Your Mother star is in final negotiations to host the 61st annual Primetime Emmy Awards Sept. 20

By Gina Serpe Jul 13, 2009 4:33 PMTags
Neil Patrick HarrisKevin Mazur/Getty Images for Tony Awards

UPDATE: Better late than never.

More than a week after word broke that Neil Patrick Harris was the emcee of choice for the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, CBS has formally announced that the small screen star will indeed be serving as this year's host.

Though in what incarnation he'll take to the stage remains to be seen...

"I'm looking forward to the challenge of the show—adding my own voice to it, while honoring the nominees and the entire year in television," Harris said.

"But which voice to choose? I'm torn between gangsta, foppish Brit, and robot. Really proud of my robot. We'll see what happens on the night."

If a tease like that doesn't boost Emmy ratings, nothing will.

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Not that it would have been all that difficult to best last year's reality-host trainwreck tag team, but the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is by all accounts thisclose to making it up to viewers by booking the fan-loved and critic-proof Neil Patrick Harris as emcee of this year's Emmys.

Following in the grand tradition of pulling from its own network ranks, CBS and ATAS are currently in negotiations with the How I Met Your Mother star to take over the hosting reins for the Sept. 20 ceremony.

Should the deal go through—and per both Variety and the Los Angeles Times, there's no reason to believe it won't—NPH will have more than just his affable charm to fall back on during television's biggest night.

In addition to his song-and-dance-fueled hosting of last month's Tonys, Harris, who incidentally has scored Best Supporting Actor nominations the past two years running, also honed his master of ceremonies skills at both the TV Land and Writers Guild Awards earlier this year. Last fall, he served as cohost of the Creative Arts Emmys.

Nominations for the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards are announced on July 16.

(Originally published on July 2, 2009 at 8:15 a.m. PT)

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