After losing one wingman to marriage when Marshall and Lily tied the knot, he got another wingman back from coupledom when pals Robin and Ted broke up in last season’s finale…so expect the Barney moments to be at their best this year. Suiting up for season three (premiering Monday, Sept. 24 at 8 p.m./7c on CBS), Harris dished about the Slap Bet Countdown, losing his virginity (again) and, of course, being the Wizard of Awesome.
How long is it going to take to resolve last season’s cliffhanger…to finish what Barney started saying at the end of the finale?
Two seasons. [Laughs]
There was a little uncertainty for a while about whether or not the show would be coming back. You almost didn’t get the chance to finish that statement.
I was terrified—I thought a pickup was certain. We ended the season with half of a word! So I thought, It’s going to be “Legend—“ and then goodnight everybody?
Or come back for like a 30-second finale.
“—dary.” Credits. [Laughs]
With these slaps you and Jason Segel have going back and forth, does Jason ever get too rough with you? They look really real…
[Laughs] Yeah. Jason is devilish with the slaps.
And what about the slap countdown website that’s up now?
I love that. I love that they’ve been able to incorporate all the multimedia elements to it. I think there’s going to be more of that this season actually. Since we film with no audience, we’re free to riff on bits and jokes sometimes because they already get five or six takes of it as written. They’ll try something different, and then they’ll come in with some radical thing, like the stripper episode of last season, when you’re really not sure how the stripper broke her ankle. But if you go to the website, you can see sort of a racier, raunchier version that shows what actually happened.
Do you think they’ll ever do any live streaming rehearsals? “The Class” tried that last season…
Look what happened to them. [Laughs]
In your daily life, how much pressure is there to be awesome?
It’s exhausting. [Laughs] I’m like, in the Emerald City and I’m the Wizard of Awesome. [Laughs] I don’t know what to make of it. Growing up in the business, people sort of looked and pointed and acknowledged that I was this little kid actor. And now, I’m grown up and people come and actually talk about specifics of the show, their favorite episodes. “When are you getting slapped again?” “Dude, I suited up!” [Laughs] So that makes me feel like they’re not only enjoying the show, but actually watching it.
Do people complain if you’re dressed casually?
Sometimes they do, yeah. [Laughs] I say, “No, that’s my work clothes. I dress awesomely 11 hours a day.”
Are you aware that awesomeness might actually be contagious? There’s a Captain Awesome on the new NBC show “Chuck.”
Captain Awesome on “Chuck” on NBC? Is that on Monday nights at 8 p.m.? [Laughs]
Yep—coincidence?
A war is brewing. [Laughs]
Do you ever wish that Barney would fall in love?
Ooh…that might be jumping the shark. That would be funny, but it begets too many questions. What would be Barney’s type? Would he go for someone crazy? Or someone opposite him?
What dating advice would you, Neil Patrick Harris, give your character?
[Laughs] I don’t think Barney needs any help with dating. He dates plenty.
So no big love storyline coming up for Barney this season?
They just told me that we might delve into Barney losing his virginity again.
He’s losing it again?
Here’s hoping. [Laughs]
Season three of "How I Met Your Mother" premieres Monday, Sept. 24 at 8 p.m./7c on CBS.
