Whether portraying a lovable child doctor on Doogie Howser, M.D., commanding center-stage with brilliant song and dance as host of the Tony Awards, or getting laughs as the womanizing Barney Stinson on the hit CBS television series, How I Met Your Mother, four-time Emmy Award winner Neil Patrick Harris—today named the Hasty Pudding’s Man of the Year—knows how to put on a show.
“We are pleased to present Mr. Harris with our Man of the Year Award honoring his distinguished contributions to the arts and entertainment industry,” said Tony Oblen, ’14, president of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. “With his enviable reputation as a host and showman, we look forward to hosting Mr. Harris for an entertaining and unforgettable evening to recognize his achievements.”
“I assume this is for that pudding wrestling competition I won last April...right?” said Harris in a statement. “It was dark and seemed quite seedy at the time—I'm stoked that it's connected with Harvard. Fancy! Can't wait!”
In 1988, at the age of 15, Harris won a Golden Globe nomination for his performance opposite Whoopi Goldberg in the drama Clara's Heart. The following year, he landed the leading role, as a teenage surgeon, on ABC's Doogie Howser, M.D. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, he earned acclaim for several made-for-TV movies, including My Antonia, Joan of Arc, and The Christmas Blessing. He landed another sitcom success in 2005 with his role as Stinson in CBS's How I Met Your Mother. Named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2010 and awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011, Harris has also served as the host of the Tony Awards four times, including in 2013. (Watch his opening number here). He will return to Broadway this spring as the star of the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Married to actor David Burtka and the father of twins, Harris publicly announced his sexual orientation in 2006, stating in People magazine, “I am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man, living my life to the fullest.”
According to a profile in New York Magazine, Harris is on the board of directors of the Magic Castle, a private club in Los Angeles where magicians from around the world gather to carouse in black tie and exchange intra-magical secrets. In 2008, he hosted the Magic Awards ceremony in Las Vegas, and recently directed another member’s one-man show. He most recently mixed his love of magic and theater in directing Nothing to Hide, an unconventional magic show that played in New York and Los Angeles.
The Man of the Year festivities will begin on February 7, 2014, when the Hasty Pudding Theatricals will host a celebratory roast for the actor. Harris will be presented with his Pudding Pot at Farkas Hall before Hasty Pudding cast members perform several musical numbers from the group’s 166th production, Victorian Secrets. (Harris will also receive a tour of the new Hasty Pudding Clubhouse, which recently relocated to the historic Hyde-Taylor House in Harvard Square.)
Tickets for the Man of the Year presentation may be obtained by calling the Hasty Pudding box office (617-495-5205).
