Hollywood – Is Barney any better than Doogie? That’s the question Neil Patrick Harris asks himself a lot now that he’s on a hit TV show again – CBS’ Monday night sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” 7:30 p.m., KCNC-Channel 4) – and his irreverent character is becoming something of a pop figure.
Harris, 32, had been longing for the days when the “Doogie” reference – from his TV days as the eponymous “Doogie Howser, M.D.” – would not be attached to his name. And now that those days are here, Harris can’t help but wonder: “Going from Doogie to Barney, is that a step up? It’s more of a horizontal step, isn’t it?”
It’s the kind of thing a grown- up child actor worries about, even before a pilot is picked up for a series. “The first thing he said to us when we told him he got the part was, ‘Guys, couldn’t you have named me something cool?”‘ said Craig Thomas, creator of “How I Met Your Mother.” Harris’ portrayal of suit-wearing sidekick Barney is one of the fall season’s breakouts. The fast-talking, seemingly rich, who-knows-what-he-
does-for-a-living player is being quoted in conversation, and the Internet is filled with his Barneyisms, including: “Suit up,” “What up” and “Have you met Ted?”
He’s the kind of guy you’d love to pal around with, but would never recommend to your sister for a date.
“You can’t be a single person living in a major city without knowing a Barney,” co-creator Carter Bays said.
“He swoops in like a superhero in the superhero costume,” Thomas said. “We’re gonna learn more about him – how did Barney become Barney?”
But the Barney that best friends Bays and Thomas had imagined for their pilot script was nothing like the tall, lean, blond Harris. The original was more of a “Jack Black-John Belushi jovial fat guy who probably died in his late 30s because of too much steak and beer, but still would wear a suit and stuff,” Thomas said.
The line of Jack Black lookalikes wanting to play Barney outside the “How I Met Your Mother” casting office was pretty long. But Bays and Thomas had watched “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” and couldn’t get Harris out of their heads. “He just comes into the movie and hijacks it when he’s there,” Thomas said.
“We called our casting director and told her she had to get Neil Patrick Harris in here,” he said. “The next thing you know he was in there auditioning and he was so head-and-shoulders funnier than anyone else we had seen. We didn’t have to change much of the dialogue. He’s so funny that he just comes in and makes the dialogue his own.”
“I don’t often get to play someone so extreme,” Harris said “… I jumped at the opportunity. I didn’t have much fear going into the audition because I didn’t think I was going to get it. I wasn’t that portly, Jack Black kind of guy. But I am always looking for a funny and Barney’s always kind of looking for a funny.”
