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Gold Standard: Neil Patrick Harris is going to host the Oscars? Of course he is!

Neil Patrick Harris will be hosting next year's Oscars. You are probably not surprised by this.
(Jeff Christensen / Associated Press)
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Neil Patrick Harris will be hosting next year’s Oscars.

Of course he will.

The inevitability of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ choice to tap Harris as host goes beyond the fact that he has successfully presided over the Tony Awards four times and the Emmys twice. It speaks to the small pool of able candidates willing to give up a few weeks of their lives (compensated, in the words of one-time host Alec Baldwin, with “chicken-feed” pay) for a gig that’s all but impossible to pull off in a way that satisfies everyone.

Tina Fey has said she would never host the Oscars. (“Too many dresses to try on,” she joked to The Times when asked.) And, apparently, once was enough for last year’s host, Ellen DeGeneres, who, with producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, led the telecast to its biggest television ratings in 14 years, drawing in an average audience of 45.4 million viewers.

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DeGeneres probably, understandably, figured it was best to leave us wanting more. What was she going to do if she returned? Take another selfie and break Twitter again?

The problem hosting the Oscars is that the show’s rigid format -- 24 award categories, 24 speeches, 24 opportunities for long-winded winners to be played off the stage -- limits what anyone can do. Factor in the audience’s jangled nerve endings -- spending eight hours prepping to brave the red carpet gantlet will leave anyone in a foul mood -- and you’re facing a tough, uptight crowd. (Right, Seth MacFarlane?)

As 2009 host Hugh Jackman told The Times after his gig, the best you can hope for is a big opening because after that, “It’s just a room full of people -- increasingly upset people -- who haven’t won.”

Enter Harris, who, on a smaller scale (sorry, Emmys and Tonys), has dealt with this sort of pressure before and lived to see the next day -- and win four Emmy Awards for his work. He can sing. He can dance. He does magic. He’s able to jump through hoops! Literally! And if he can nail the dismount with the cast of “Bring It On,” we’re guessing he can handle anything Disney’s upcoming adaptation of “Into the Woods” can throw at him.

The Oscars will be held Feb. 22 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Twitter: @glennwhipp

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